$133.1M in expenses

Lehigh valley hospital - hazleton (LVH-h) is part of lehigh valley health network (LVHN), a multi-hospital system located in allentown, pennsylvania and is the only inpatient health care provider in the greater hazleton area serving a population of over 80,000 people within three counties. There is a continued increase in the hispanic community with the population of the city of hazleton being greater than 55% hispanic, many of whom speak spanish as the primary and preferred language. We offer quality continuum of care services beginning at birth in the family birth and newborn center, acute inpatient medical and surgical services, emergency services, inpatient rehab at the gunderson center for inpatient rehabilitation and home care services through lehigh valley home care-hazleton. Outpatient diagnostic testing and rehab services are provided at the health & wellness center at hazleton, the health center at mountain top, and LVHN- station circle in hazle township, as well as outpatient cancer treatment at the LVHN topper cancer center - hazleton. Lehigh valley physician group (LVPG), a subsidiary of LVHN, is a multi-specialty medical outpatient care provider. LVPG-hazleton (LVPG-h) is the outpatient medical provider group aligned with LVH-h. Additionally, LVH-h has a robust community engagement program that delivers health and wellness education programs and health screenings free of charge to the community. A community health needs assessment (chna) is conducted every three years. We deliver our programs and services with compassion and high standards of quality to the residents of the greater hazleton area regardless of race, sex, religion, or economic status.strategic directionstrategic planning in health care organizations involves creating objectives and setting goals for where the organization sees itself long term and how it can strengthen access to efficient and affordable care to the community served. LVH-h's strategic goals and priorities include increased patient satisfaction, provider recruitment, improved emergency department services with focuses on transfers and admissions, reduction in length of stay, integration of musculoskeletal (MSK) services and growth of the new cancer center.the master facilities plan that was developed in fy22 and was ongoing in fy23, continued into fy24 to include the health & wellness center at hazleton and clinics at LVHN - 26 station circle and 1000 alliance drive (dessen center), to determine what services would best be located at these facilities to allow greater access to primary and specialty health care to meet the growing needs of our community. All musculoskeletal services were combined to station circle leaving space at the health and wellness center for expansion of otolaryngologic head & neck services and obstetrics & gynecology. These relocations will eventually allow for increased primary care access at 1000 alliance drive.quality carequality health care is care that is safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient, and equitable. At LVHN, our mission is to heal, comfort and care for our community. This is done through collaboration with all levels of health care providers. Standard of care and best practices are always the goal.through continuous quality improvement activities, we strive to identify ways to bring about improvements that result in improved outcomes for our patients. This involves a team effort that strives to encourage collaboration across all disciplines and enable best use of our available resources. Processes specific to quality management include monitoring and evaluating data, formulating strategies for improvement, and sharing information with key stakeholders to initiate process changes as needed. Specific areas of attention include care of patients with stroke, heart failure, sepsis, all cause readmission rates, mortality, patient safety and risk management along with compliance with state department of health regulations as well as those of the accreditation commission for healthcare. Below are some examples of programs at LVH-h and some recognitions from fy24 that illustrate our commitment to best practices and quality patient outcomes:- achc 3-year accreditation through january 28, 2027- achc 3-year primary stroke center accreditation through february 3, 2027- CMS 3 star rating for 2024- received american heart association get with the guidelines 2024 stroke gold plus with target: stroke honor roll elite and target: type 2 diabetes honor roll achievement award- received american heart association get with the guidelines 2024 heart failure gold plus with target: heart failure honor roll and target: type 2 diabetes honor roll achievement award- chest pain center accreditation from american college of cardiology through july 21, 2026- accredited with atls as level IV trauma center through october 2025.- college of american pathologists lab accreditation through april 16, 2026- pennsylvania perinatal quality collaborative bronze designation award obstetrics department for maternal substance use, substance exposed newborn and immediate post-partum long-acting reversible contraception- LVH-hazleton is a member of vizient, INC., the nation's largest health care performance improvement company that compares hospital quality and patient satisfaction. Hazleton is in a cohort of 364 hospitals in fy2024 and continues to focus on patient safety and evidence-based guidelines to provide quality care to patients.new/expanded serviceslvh-h is always looking for ways to provide our community with access to quality medical care, whether it is through new or enhanced services or by directing them to specialized care at one of our sister hospitals at LVHN. Here are just some of the new or enhanced services LVH-h provided in FY-2024comprehensive cancer centerin august 2023, the 32,000 SQ. FT., $20 million topper cancer center at LVH-hazleton opened. The center houses medical oncology with seven exam rooms, a procedure room, and a phlebotomy lab; radiation oncology with two exam rooms, a procedure room, a linear accelerator, and a CT/sim; an infusion suite with 14 private infusion rooms; and a session suite with two exam rooms and one procedure room for rotating providers. Previously, infusion services were provided at an off-site medical office that quickly outgrew its space, and patients who needed radiation therapy needed to travel to other locations due to lack of service in the community. The need was clear, and this expansion has allowed patients to receive many of their treatments in a centralized location without the need to travel long distances. There was a 46.6% increase in patient visits in fy24 VS fy23. The opening of this center also allowed for space for pulmonary doctors to see patients which increased convenience to care for those patients diagnosed with lung cancer, a prevalent cancer in the region.emergency servicessince becoming a level IV trauma center in 2015, the trauma program at LVH-h has continued to provide optimal care and reduce the likelihood of death or disability to injured patients who enter its emergency department (ed). Because of the continued efforts of incessantly being prepared to stabilize and treat the most serious life-threatening and disabling injuries prior to transfer to a level 1 trauma center, the pennsylvania trauma systems foundation (PTSF) continues to recognize LVH-hazleton as a certified level IV trauma center through october 2025.LVH-hazleton emergency department (ed), along with all our health network hospitals, continues to be challenged with high patient volumes. The emergency department patient flow team continues to focus on improvement in efficiencies of operations of the ed, reduce patient wait times, patient experience and improve patient throughput. This multi-disciplinary team consisted of ed staff, lab, radiology, pharmacy, housekeeping, food service, EMS, and registration. LVH-h ed continues to maintain strong performance of left without being seen (LWBS) at .93% and a 5-percentile point increase in patient experience in fy24 VS fy23. On average, the ed los for admitted patients decreased by 84 minutes and ed to admission conversion percentage improved by 1%. Through well-established teams and processes, approximately 40% of trauma patients can remain at LVH-h for surgery and care close to home - this is very impressive for a community hospital. In the care of patients presenting with chest pain, several critical assessment metrics (i.e. Door to ekg) showed notable decreases from fy23 to fy24, and for patient with stroke-like symptoms, marked improvements were noted in both door to CT scan (10 minute reduction) and door to needle (12 minute reduction) times in fy24.

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Hospice servicesin partnership with lehigh valley hospice, inpatient and home care hospice services are provided to our local community. This is the only inpatient hospice program serving the greater hazleton area. The program model is designed to deliver patient-centered care rather than disease-centered care and to provide comfort and care to terminally ill patients and their families. In fy24, hospice services were provided to 50 LVH-h patients for a total of 235 days of care which was an increase from prior year.telehealth servicesas technology has advanced, the ways health care can be provided have changed and advanced too. At LVH-h, patients are benefiting from secure telehealth technology that allows them to access and receive quality, specialized care conveniently. In fy2024, LVH-h added inpatient telehealth virtual surgery and telehealth physiatry to its growing list of telehealth services that include heme/oncology, infectious disease, neurology, advanced intensive care unit (aicu), burn, neurosurgery, toxicology, psychiatric evaluations, maternal fetal medicine, and palliative care.orthopedic and occupational health (melissa)in fy24, LVH-h and LVPG-h continued the plan for operational and clinical musculoskeletal and occupational medicine integration to provide better, quicker access to our patients and to meet the growing needs of our patients. It is ideal for patients to have elective surgeries like total joint replacements close to home with coordinated continuum of care for optimal outcomes and cost containment. Fy24 showed an 12% increase in total orthopedic surgical volume including total joint replacements. Elective total joint replacement volume increased 68.7% in fy24 VS. Fy23, and los decreased from an average of 1.93 days in fy23 to 1.63 days in fy24.with the growing manufacturing and e-commerce/distribution footprint in the area, positioning these comprehensive services within one of the largest industrial parks led to greater relationships with businesses and an increase in occupational medicine services to meet the demand.athletic training and school-based behavioral health programan athletic training (at) contract between LVH-h and the hazleton area school district (hasd) continues for the next 8 years. This partnership has continued to evolve with support for student athletics through staffing, specialized training, and investment into preventative and rehabilitative equipment and programs. The contract also includes a non-athletic component whereby LVHN brought physical and mental health education to the classrooms in both virtual and in-person methods. In the second half of fy24, LVHN was successful in recruiting a school-based behavioral health therapist for hasd for live in-person counseling sessions which was complemented by tele-therapy. Thirty-five students were referred and over 200 therapy sessions were completed. The program is achieving its goals of improving students' mental health and resiliency through evidence-based individual therapy and case management services for students along with mental health education for faculty to help students address their trauma. It has also shown improvement in school performance and strength in their overall well-being.retail pharmacyplans to build a retail pharmacy on the campus of LVH-h were initiated in fy24 to improve access to over the counter and prescription medication for both colleagues and patients. The goal is to allow patients to obtain their medications upon discharge from the hospital with greater ease to ensure compliance with their discharge plan of care. Provider and staff recruitmentsignificant investment into recruitment of primary and specialty physicians and advanced practice clinicians to meet the growing needs of our community continued for LVH-h and LVPG-h in FY 2024. Despite the historical challenges to attract providers to our small community, LVPG-h was again successful in recruiting the following number of clinicians: occupational medicine (1), podiatry (1), internal medicine (1), family medicine (1), neurology (1), and pediatrics (2). The LVPG-h staffing compliment has significantly improved and a comprehensive strategic plan continues to identify and validate the number of new providers needed to sufficiently care for our community and the best locations to place these providers.clinical staffing was and continues to be a high priority for the health network, particularly for nurses. Nursing shortages persisted, requiring a costly labor force to provide care to the community. LVH-h focused on reduction of temporary labor and recruitment of permanent staff. Initiatives and offerings that were undertaken to recruit nurses and other health care professionals include:- nursing recruitment events regionally and expanded to puerto rico and international locations- visiting area colleges with medical programs- offering sign-on bonuses- colleague referral bonuses- crisis pay- competitive wages/market review and compensation adjustments- building relationships with area colleges and universities with nursing and other clinical programstechnology/equipment/facilitiesongoing facility renovations to the hospital, which began in fy22, continued into fy24 including repaving of parking lots for staff and visitor safety, continued building exterior improvements, and hvac improvements. LVH-h invested in improved clinical equipment to support orthopedic growth and infection prevention including an upgraded equipment sterilizer. New equipment was purchased to optimally care for pregnant mothers and newborn babies as well as meet the language barriers occurring in the community.investments were made in increased education, equipment, and utilization of language technology to ensure adequate delivery of healthcare and patients' understanding and partnership in their decision-making.community health needs assessmentthe community health needs assessment (chna) was conducted in mid-2022 and based on the results of the assessment, priority areas were identified for the three-year period 2023-2025. Specific initiatives were implemented and continued in fy24 around the following priorities through partnerships with community organizations:- school-based behavioral health and preventative health services for youth: - provide mental health services and preventive health services to children in hazleton, including dental services and immunizations. - as stated earlier, a school-based behavioral health therapist was hired for the hazleton area school district - tele-therapy is also offered to meet the needs of virtual learners or alternative school placement, or for holidays / sick absences. - a school-based LVPG physician assistant provides onsite services for required school physicals and vaccinations for children (VFC)- address language barriers in health care to improve health outcomes for vulnerable populations.- diversify staff at LVH-hazleton to be more reflective of the community being served, including through human resource recruitment and workforce development efforts.- to complement the use of interpreter ipads, a live interpreter was hired for the emergency department where timely translation and understanding of medical concerns is necessary.- continue to recruit bilingual clinical and non-clinical staff.- hired bilingual guest services staff to welcome and direct patients and visitors.- LVH-h leadership members participated in a presentation entitled, "hidden cultural & linguistic barriers to healthcare within the hispanic community" to better understand cultural variations in accessing healthcare.- videos were placed in high visible areas in both english and spanish about available transportation resources and emergency department care.

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Community engagement - LVH-h held its annual free community drive-thru flu shot clinic in FY 2024. The clinic provided more than 300 free vaccines and was well received by the community. Vaccines were again provided to adults and children 6 months to 12 years of age. - LVH-h continued to support community non-profit organizations through monetary sponsorships. - LVH-h continued its outreach to individuals 60 years of age and older in our community through the vitalchoice program. The program, which has close to 400 members, is designed to help members in their personal health and wellness journey by providing them with more choices, services, convenience, and wellness programs. In addition, the program features an LVHN fitness center discount, enrollment in silver sneakers (if insurance applies), free annual wellness assessment, and complimentary, personalized training session. Vitalchoice also keeps members engaged and active through social and enrichment programs including "lunch and learns" on health care topics and services available through LVHN and other organizations such as the pennsylvania state police, free picnics, and other social activities.- LVH-h participated in 120 community events in fy24, which provided health related education and health screenings. We partnered with various organizations in the community to assure we reached as many people in our diverse community as possible. - LVH-h has a membership of almost 70 stakeholders in our community, board of associates, who attend a bi-monthly luncheon meeting to keep up to date on the services, providers, and accomplishments at LVH-h and the entire network. These members then share the information with family, friends, and co-workers.- LVH-h leaders are actively involved with area organizations such as the united way and their agencies, area chamber of commerce, rotary and kiwanis clubs, and hazleton integration project, to name a few, by sitting on boards and volunteering their time to support their mission in our community.- LVH-hazleton was the proud winner of 11 2024 standard speaker reader's choice awards in the following health categories: - best hospital-LVH-hazleton- best patient care-LVH-hazleton- best place to work medical- best medical practice- best orthopedic services- best pediatrician- best obstetrician/gynecologist- best podiatrist- best physical therapy- best rehabilitation center- best surgeon