Catholic Healthcare Partners

Exec to be Catholic Health chief

After 16 years of increasingly taking on higher responsibilities, local hospital executive Steven Mickus will no longer call Toledo home.

Mr. Mickus, 58, is shedding dual roles on regional and corporate levels for Catholic Health Partners, the Cincinnati-based parent of Mercy and Ohio's largest health-care system. He will oversee operations of Catholic Health's 31 hospitals and 14 nursing homes in three states as president of health-care operations and chief operating officer out of Cincinnati. He will no longer be chief executive of Catholic Health's northern division.

Among Mr. Mickus' tasks will be expanding into more Catholic Health hospitals the electronic care-coordination system started about three years ago at Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center to streamline patient care. St. Vincent has cut patients' average length of stay while improving quality and freeing up bed space, and patients and families are informed of their coordinated treatment plan from the start of admissions.

Mr. Mickus said the care-coordination idea cropped up out of a routine visit he made to St. Vincent's emergency department a few years ago, when he three saw Life Flight patients quickly tested and treated. Coordinating tests and treatments should be done throughout a hospital so patients can safely be discharged more quickly, he said at the time.

"It just flowed," Mr. Mickus recalled of his observations. "If we can do that for three trauma patients, why can't we do it for 300?"

Other Catholic Health partners, including St. Rita's Medical Center in Lima, Ohio, have instituted the care-coordination system, which also is in beginning stages at Mercy St. Charles Hospital and Mercy St. Anne Hospital. Other health-care systems have visited St. Vincent or shown interest in the system that improves efficiency.

Catholic Health announced two other executive changes that also will take effect July 1.

John Starcher, Catholic Health chief executive for eastern and southern divisions, will assume Mr. Mickus' role as chief executive for the northern division, which includes Mercy and facilities in Lorain and Lima. Andrea Price, Mercy's president and chief executive, will report to Mr. Starcher, one of the executives reporting to Mr. Mickus, according to Catholic Health and Mercy.

Catholic Health northern division executive Samantha Platzke is being promoted to a position with the parent company, although she will remain in Toledo and be available to Ms. Price. Ms. Platzke will be Catholic Health's senior vice president of operations and systems effectiveness after last serving as the northern division's senior vice-president, chief financial officer, and chief transformation officer.

Humility of Mary Health Partners Part of Top 10 Health Systems in ...

(Vocus) July 15, 2010

For the second year in a row, Catholic Healthcare Partners (CHP), parent company of Humility of Mary Health Partners (HMHP), has been named one of the nations Top 10 health systems by Thomson Reuters . The recognition is based on the clinical performance of CHPs hospitals including St. Elizabeth Health Center, Youngstown; St. Joseph Health Center, Warren; and St. Elizabeth Boardman Health Center, Boardman.

This national recognition affirms HMHPs commitment to providing quality health care for the communities we serve, said Bob Shroder, president and CEO, HMHP. We are proud to be part of CHP and the systems commitment to excellence and quality health care.

According to Thomson Reuters, Top 10 health systems had 12.3% fewer mortalities, 13.2% fewer complications and 5.4% better patient safety than peer systems. In addition, patients returned home sooner with average lengths of stays more than a half day shorter than similar systems, and with better longer-term outcomes.

Top 10 health systems outperformed their peers by a wide margin. They provided better care, saved more lives, had fewer medical complications, and made fewer patient safety errors even though they treat sicker patients, on average. They set the standard for the industry, says Dean Chenoweth, senior vice president, Performance Improvement and 100 Top Hospitals Programs for Thomson Reuters.

We are honored to be recognized for the second consecutive year as a Thomson Reuters Top 10 Health System, said Michael Connelly, president & CEO, CHP. CHP is the largest health system in the top 10, the only Catholic system and one of only three multi-state systems to earn this important, independently verified recognition. We are delighted at this recognition of our continuing efforts to improve and enhance clinical quality and patient safety.

Researchers from the Thomson Reuters 100 Top Hospitals analyzed quality and efficiency of 252 health systems across the country to identify the top 10. Because the award is based on analysis of objective clinical data, health systems cannot apply for and do not pay to receive the Thomson Reuters award.

The Thomson Reuters study assessed all US health systems with two or more short-term, general, non-federal hospitals. Researchers looked at eight metrics that gauge clinical quality and efficiency. These include: Mortality, medical complications, patient safety, average length of stay, adherence to clinical standards of care (evidence-based core measures published by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services), 30-day mortality rate, 30-day readmission rate and HCAHPS patient satisfaction. Three of the criteria are new for this year both 30-day measures and patient satisfaction.

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