IASIS Healthcare


 



In October 1999, IASIS exploded onto the healthcare scene when it acquired hospitals in Arizona, Florida, Texas and Utah with $800 million in shared net revenue. In 2004, IASIS added North Vista Hospital in Las Vegas to its family. Today, IASIS is a $1.3 billion company with over 9,000 employees, 15 hospitals, three ambulatory surgical centers and Health Choice, a Medicaid managed care plan in Arizona.

Though only five years old, IASIS has already established a reputation for being a dynamic and growing organization, by staying true to its philosophy of owning good hospitals, constantly working to make them better, and by focusing on people by recruiting and retaining the best physicians and quality, caring staff.

IASIS has many accomplishments. Nearly all of our hospitals have renovated and expanded their emergency departments. Remarkable imaging technology can be found in all of our facilities. Five hospitals have robotic surgical systems, and IASIS has begun to equip operating rooms with “smart” technology that makes surgery safer and more efficient. New services, like bariatric surgery, wound care and pain management have been added. And, IASIS is investing more than $30 million in advanced clinical technology, which will bring electronic patient records and barcode scanning for medication safety to all of our hospitals.

Through all of the changes, thousands of IASIS employees, physicians and volunteers have remained dedicated to improving the health and lives of the patients we serve. Whether you’ve been an employee at an IASIS hospital 15 years or 15 days, we can all share pride in the achievements of the past five years and look forward to a great future of providing excellent healthcare.

The Chairman’s Award

The Chairman’s Award is the highest honor an IASIS employee can receive. Presented annually, it honors employees who demonstrate an extraordinary commitment to serving their facilities and their communities. This year’s winners are not only exceptional employees—but also exceptional individuals.

They are outstanding citizens who have won the respect of others for their dedication to helping others with no regard for personal gain. Chairman’s Award winners are selected based upon commitment to community causes or activities, personal involvement with community service programs that directly address area needs, recognition among co-workers for contributions to the hospital, and commitment to patient care and work performance.
The Legend of the Starfish

A small boy stands on the beach, the waves lapping on his feet, throwing starfish that have washed up on the shore back into the ocean one at a time.

Noticing the boy and the scores of starfish washed up on the beach, a man walks up and says, “You know, you can’t make much of a difference here.”

The boy, starfish in hand, looks up at the man. “But I can for this one,” he says.

Mary Bobo
Admitting Representative, Jordan Valley
Mary’s cookie sales raise money for many good causes, like an orphanage in Ecuador that badly needed clothes, medical supplies, and hygiene items.		  

  Lita Candelaria
Registered Nurse, ER, Pioneer Valley
For the past five years, Lita has devoted her vacation time and nursing skills to the Diabetic Camp of Utah, a two-week program for children and adolescents with diabetes.

Chris Coleman
Director, Finance, Health Choice Arizona
The Arizona Lost Boys is a community resource center for Sudanese war refugees. As treasurer of their Board of Directors, Chris helps keep track of the group’s expenses and donations.		  

  Marilyn Foard
Coordinator, Intake and Assessment,
St. Luke’s Behavioral
Marilyn volunteers to register women to vote, provides assistance to people looking for work, and serves on the board of Chapter I, a school program for underprivileged children.

Erik Frederick
Director, Safety and Building Services,
Southwest General
Erik has promoted the Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Tie-One-On campaign and organized presentations for high school students on the dangers of drunk driving. He also teaches hundreds of elementary school students the importance of fire safety.		  

  Maria Galdos
Controller, Memorial Hospital
Maria assists the Nativity Catholic School in Tampa with budgeting and reviewing expenses and provides financial guidance to parents having trouble making ends meet, helping them to develop workable budgets and teaching them how to decrease their debt.

Jimmy Grimes
Director, Engineering, Odessa Regional
What started out as a temporary 18-month job at Odessa Regional Medical Center turned into three years and counting for Jimmy, age 71. He volunteers with the Lions Club, the Boy Scouts, church youth groups and Senior Citizens on Fixed Incomes.		  

  Patricia Hutchings
Coordinator, Quality Management, Park Place
Patricia’s quartet “Clouds of Glory” sings at retirement centers and at area churches, and makes an annual trip to Colorado to perform for the Wayside Cross Mission, which houses homeless men and women.

Karla Johnson
Director, Quality Resources, Davis
Karla volunteers with and serves as president of the local chapter of Safe Kids Coalition, which sets up car seat checkpoints in Utah’s Davis County. She also teaches water, fire and pedestrian safety and the importance of wearing helmets.		  

  Shannon King
Manager, Admitting, Mesa General
Shannon volunteers with the Phoenix Fire Department’s Alternative Response Team, which provides comfort to families in crisis situations. She commits to at least one 24-hour shift a month.

Elena Mesa
Director, Marketing and Public Relations,
Town & Country
Elena was a member of a Rotary Club Foundation Group Study exchange program to India. She traveled across India helping administer polio vaccines to children. On her return, she helped establish a Rotary Club chapter in the Upper Tampa Bay area.		  

  A. Christine Minix
Director, Laboratory, Mid-Jefferson
Christine volunteers with the Port Arthur Independent School Board and is active in a program that collects and distributes hats, coats, gloves, and school supplies to underprivileged children.

Jessica Murray
Infection Control Nurse, North Vista
Jessica tutors teens for the SAT, and has helped another find grants for college. She gives back because “you just have to be good to people. Someone did it for me. Now it’s my turn.”		  

  Octavio Nunez
EKG Tech, St. Luke’s
Octavio assists the underprivileged in his community by repairing and cleaning houses. He also translates and edits educational material being sent to third world countries through his church’s “In Touch” mission program.

Dianne Player
Registered Nurse, ICU, Salt Lake Regional
Dianne volunteers with “Operation Smile,” a surgery team that repairs cleft palates and cleft lips for children in countries around the globe. She has traveled to Brazil, China and the Philippines, where one in 15 children is born with a cleft palate.		  

  Rhonda Strack
Registered Nurse, ER, Tempe St. Luke’s
Rhonda has been a counselor at Camp Courage, which helps children with serious burn injuries. She also organizes fundraisers throughout the year for the Arizona Burn Foundation.

Sandra Wendt
Supervisor, Centralized Scheduling,
Palms of Pasadena
Sandra serves as the Health and Welfare Coordinator for her church, organizing health fairs and arranging free services such as screenings and community lectures by health care professionals.		  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LESSONS I'VE LEARNED

You’re Only as Old as You...

Sometimes I really do feel older than my years. Granted when one has been working in the same industry for more than 40 years (42 to be precise) there may be those occasional collisions with reality that cause the head to spin and beg the question: “How did something once so familiar change so fast?”

One such incident occurred several weeks ago when I attended an open house which showcased our new operating room system at Town & Country Hospital. One of the great things about my job is the opportunity afforded me to see first-hand the many technological advances that we are initiating in our hospitals. There is not a month that passes where I do not attend one or more of these open houses and I am always like the kid at Christmas where everything is GEE WOW!

This time, however, was even more so because I sort of grew up in the operating room, working as a scrub tech on the 3-11 shift at a university hospital during undergraduate school. I have never lost my love for the department or my respect for the folks who make it hum. To say this is a different world is quite an understatement.

As I walked into this room, it was nothing like the place I once worked. There was nothing on the floor except the table. There were several high resolution TV screens suspended from the ceiling. There was a suspended tower which was the power source for all the optical equipment. In the corner was a rather intimidating computer station that allowed a nurse to control all aspects of the environment with a key stroke. (All at the direction of the surgeon, of course.)

Here comes the “walking barefoot in the snow six miles to school...uphill...both ways” part of the story. In my day nothing was automated or powered or fiber optic or even outpatient. The surgeon’s hands were the only high-tech instrument in the room.

As I looked in amazement at all the wonderful technology in this room I realized that I shouldn’t really feel old but should feel blessed that I could be a small part of a company that embraces change and technological advances. But I am also proud that we still recognize and respect that it is the hands and the hearts of the doctors, nurses and techs that are the most valuable tools in the OR.

Improving Patient Care
In a complicated medical case, many people are involved in caring for a patient, including doctors, nurses, technicians, therapists, social workers and often even more healthcare professionals.

That’s why the role of case manager has become increasingly vital, to coordinate the work of all these people and to keep the patient and family informed about what’s happening.
“From admission to discharge, case managers individualize the patient’s care plan by collaborating with other health team members,” says Bill Hammock, IASIS director of case management.

Hospital case managers are typically nurses or social workers. They use clinical strategies and a unique set of skills to manage the patient’s hospital experience and coordinate a seamless hand-off to post hospital caregivers such as a home health agency or a rehabilitation facility. Case managers consider their primary customers to be physicians and patients, but they interact with almost every area of the hospital.

IASIS recently restructured the role of case manager to have more of an impact on patient care and on controlling health care costs. As a result, case managers are more focused than ever on point-of-care collaboration with physicians and patients.

“The case manager can make a valuable difference by coordinating a patient’s care and by helping to assure the appropriate level of care for each patient, but it is definitely a team effort,” Hammock says.

Health Matters
When choosing benefit plans, our goal is to provide employees with competitive benefits at an affordable cost. This is challenging because of increasing healthcare costs. Like other U.S. employers, IASIS has experienced double-digit increases in healthcare benefit costs during the past three years. In 2003, IASIS spent approximately $30 million on medical benefits alone. While the changes we made to our healthcare plan at the end of 2003 slowed the rate of growth, costs continue to outpace inflation. And even with our best efforts, we expect healthcare costs to continue to increase in 2005.

With our annual enrollment period and the New Year quickly approaching, here are some steps that each of us can take to help manage healthcare costs in 2005.

• During the annual enrollment period, review plan features to ensure you choose the plan that best meets your needs.

• Consider the amount and types of medical coverage you and your family will need and select the option that provides you with that level of coverage.

• Compare out-of-pocket costs under the plan options and determine which medical plan works with your budget.

• Understand the types of drugs that your doctor prescribes and request a less costly generic or preferred brand-name drug when possible.
 

 

When a surgeon walks into an OR-1 surgical suite, he doesn’t have to maneuver through a maze of surgical carts, equipment and electrical cords scattered across the operating room floor. Everything he needs drops down from the ceiling.

The surgeon doesn’t have to wait while someone walks across the room to dim or brighten the lights. With touch-screen control, the surgical team can change the lighting, turn equipment on and off, or reposition the operating table in an instant.

The surgeon no longer has to twist his body uncomfortably to view laparoscopic images of the surgical field on a monitor sitting to the side of the operating table. Flat-screen plasma monitors can be positioned anywhere the surgeon wants them, even at eye-level right in front of the operating table.

And if the surgeon is teaching a new technique to other surgeons, they don’t have to be in the room. They don’t even have to be in the hospital, because the OR-1 can broadcast live video of the surgery to remote locations—all over the world.

Welcome to the operating room of the future—already in use at an IASIS hospital. Two of these new high-tech, fully automated, “smart” operating rooms have been installed at Town & Country Hospital in Tampa.

Inside the OR-1
The OR-1 is primarily used for minimally invasive procedures, in which surgeons operate through small incisions while they watch images of what they’re doing on nearby monitors. In the OR-1, cameras can change positions with a single command, and monitors can be placed where the surgeon can see them comfortably. The result is a better view and less fatigue for the surgeon.

And because the OR-1 equipment is up off the floor, the environment is safer for the surgical team and the patient.

“I love walking into this operating room because I know I’m working with great technology that truly helps us to do surgery better,” says Alfredo Fernandez, M.D., a Town & Country surgeon who uses the OR-1 for bariatric surgery and other procedures. “The OR-1 enhances our ability to perform minimally invasive procedures, and for the patient that often means shorter hospitals stays, less trauma and scarring, and faster overall recovery.”

Broadcast capabilities from the OR-1 can transmit live video of a procedure to remote locations, allowing surgeons to consult on cases with other doctors or to teach new procedures to physicians who are not actually in the OR.

Cutting-Edge Care
Smart operating room technology is designed to make the OR more efficient, too. The new system can be customized and pre-programmed to meet the precise needs of each surgeon and procedure, which cuts down on the time it takes to prepare the operating room between procedures.

“IASIS is committed to bringing innovative medical technology to our hospitals and we’re already looking at more smart operating rooms for other IASIS facilities,” says Sandra McRee, president and COO of IASIS. “By giving our physicians and employees this kind of progressive technology, we can provide an even higher quality of healthcare.”


Top 5 Surgeries:
1. Total Joint Replacement
2. Bariatric
3. Major Large and Small Bowel
4. Tracheostomy
5. Coronary Artery Bypass

10% of our company’s net revenue
comes from these types of surgeries.

Bariatric surgery is the fastest growing surgical service, with the number of cases at IASIS hospitals increasing 38 percent from 2003 to 2004.

IASIS hospitals are filled with praise-worthy heroes who are inspiring their children to enter the healthcare field.

“Mom always encouraged us to be caring,” says Kelly Kasny, whose mother, Tina, has been an RN at Palms of Pasadena Hospital for 14 years. “By watching her, I’ve learned that a nursing career has security, flexibility, and the opportunity to advance professionally—all things I want out of my own career.”

Kelly recently graduated from Florida State University with her nursing degree and her mom was able to “pin” her during the graduation ceremony.

“I was so very honored and proud,” says Tina, adding that she explained to her children that her career has its ups and downs, but ultimately, nursing is very rewarding.

Early Ambitions

While Kelly is already applying for jobs, another daughter of an IASIS employee is a bit farther from her own career goal. Eliza Martinson is only 4 but already wants to be just like her mommy, the education coordinator at Jordan Valley Medical Center.

“She associates the hospital with all the nice people she meets and with babies, since I used to work in Labor and Delivery,” says Karen. “She wants to have an office here so she can go look at the cute babies every day.”

In Dad’s Footsteps
Sydney Ally’s fourth-grade class recently visited his dad in the robotic surgical suite of Park Place Medical Center. Dad, Saeed Ally, M.D., is a cardiovascular surgeon. “Every day I ask my dad how many surgeries are performed, and how long did they take,” says Sydney. “I want to be a heart surgeon just like him.”

Third-Generation Nurse
Marissa Barnhardt plans to be the third generation of nurses in her family. Her mom, Karen, is a 34-year career RN and performance improvement director at Southwest General. “It’s great that she wants to work in a hospital,” Karen says. “We’ll have that in common.”

Realistic View
Gabrielle Morley, compliance officer at Memorial Hospital, has a teenage daughter whose heart is set on being a surgeon. “I’ve worked all over the hospital—in surgery, ICU, radiology—and Molly has heard about all of it, so she doesn’t have a romanticized impression of hospitals. She understands it is hard work, but she also sees how meaningful the work is, and how you can make a difference in someone’s life. I’m very proud of her.”
 

Keeping Track
Bar code technology in the
Operating Room
Southwest General Hospital and Palms of Pasadena Hospital have installed high-tech instrument-tracking systems in their operating rooms to increase efficiency and reduce equipment loss.

The Censitrac system places a bar code on each instrument, which is then scanned and recorded each time it’s used. This saves time in assembling an instrument tray and makes it possible to locate any instrument immediately. The system also helps protect against the possibility of a surgical instrument being left inside a patient, an error which occurred 1,500 times last year, according to the New England Journal of Medicine. The system also automatically measures the actual usage of individual instruments and flags them when service is due to ensure proper maintenance.

You Told Us…
The strangest gift
you’ve ever received

We asked you to tell us about the strangest gift you’ve ever received, and you shared some amazing presents. Congratulations to Darlene Wolf who won $50 for sharing her oddest gift.

Darlene Wolf
Case Manager, Park Place
Medical Center, Port Arthur, Texas
I received a pet baby possum, which I’ve named Opie.

Jeffrey Davis
Respiratory Therapy,
Palms of Pasadena Hospital,
St. Petersburg, Florida
As a gift from my grandmother, I received her complete set of false teeth.

Susanna McCullough
Medical Records Supervisor,
Jordan Valley Medical Center,
West Jordan, Utah
I got a fertility pot for a wedding gift.

Amy Mitchell
Coding Supervisor,
Salt Lake Regional Medical Center,
Salt Lake City, Utah
I got a hydraulic jack for Christmas from my husband. We are now divorced.

 

Handling Emergencies
in Texas
Two IASIS hospitals in Texas recently opened expanded and renovated Emergency Rooms. Odessa Regional Medical Center’s 8,500-square-foot emergency department added 14 patient rooms along with a fast track treatment area for patients with minor injuries and illnesses. Southwest General Hospital opened its doors on an expansion that increased its capacity to 27 beds, with two OB rooms, three trauma rooms, an isolation room, an observation room and a children’s play area.

IASIS Chairman and CEO David White and President and COO Sandra McRee helped celebrate the opening of the expanded ERs at Odessa Regional (top) and Southwest General.

Memorial RN Named
Two IASIS hospitals in Texas recently opened expanded and renovated Emergency Rooms. Odessa Regional Medical Center’s 8,500-square-foot emergency department added 14 patient rooms along with a fast track treatment area for patients with minor injuries and illnesses. Southwest General Hospital opened its doors on an expansion that increased its capacity to 27 beds, with two OB rooms, three trauma rooms, an isolation room, an observation room and a children’s play area.

Outstanding BODs
IASIS recently honored two of its business office directors for outstanding and consistent achievement. Operations CFO Derek Morkel presented the awards to Pam Hargraves, below, at Park Place Medical Center/Mid-Jefferson Hospital and Marty Brockman at Davis Hospital. They were recognized as Business Office Directors of the Year. Congratulations to the business office staff at all of our hospitals for an outstanding year.

Hair-Raising Fundraiser
Salt Lake Regional Medical Center got the extra motivation needed to raise a lot of money for the American Heart Association Heart Walk when CEO Brian Dunn put something very precious on the line: his head of hair. Dunn agreed to shave his head if the hospital met its fundraising goal of $10,000. He’s now sporting a cooler look thanks to an amazing effort by hospital staff, who raised more than $16,600 for the American Heart Association. The shaving ceremony came as a surprise to Dunn, who wasn’t aware the staff had exceeded their fundraising goal. He thought he was walking into an employee awards event, but instead, he was greeted with a barber’s cape, a stool and set of clippers.