A publication for Hartford HealthCare employees December 2014

“Welcome to Advance Camp Charlie”: Climbing a mountain of changeWe’ve been climbing a mountain. The summit still lies ahead, but we’ve climbed far and great progress has been made.

Elliot Joseph, Hartford HealthCare’s president and chief executive officer, used a mountain-climbing metaphor to describe the work we’ve been engaged in over the past several years, and to define what the peak looks like.

“We’ve been on an incredible journey in building Hartford HealthCare,” he told about 400 participants in the annual State of the System meeting held Dec. 5.

NetworkNews

Continued on page 3

Hartford HealthCare’s Medication Assistance Program was awarded the Making a Difference Together trophy Dec. 5 at the Hartford HealthCare State of the System program. Read more on p. 3. Pictured left to right are: Tracy Church, senior vice president and chief human resources officer, Hartford HealthCare; Stephanie Antonelli, dialysis social worker, Hartford Hospital; Silvina Orlando, cardon representative, MidState Medical Center; Priscilla Barber, pharmacy buyer, Hartford Hospital; Eric Arlia, pharmacy director, Windham Hospital; Amanda Cecala, drug recovery technician, Hartford Hospital; Lisa Durland, pharmacy IT manager, Hartford Hospital; Allison Amenta, drug recovery technician, The Hospital of Central Connecticut; Jason Laabs, performance improvement consultant, Hartford HealthCare; Cindy Wasserman, PAA, Hartford Hospital; Michael Rubino, pharmacy director, Hartford Hospital; David Girouard, pharmacy director, The Hospital of Central Connecticut; Elliot Joseph, president and chief executive officer, Hartford HealthCare; Teri Duarte, Patient Accounts, FACT team manager, Hartford Hospital.

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Earn your wellness credits for a gift you won’t find under the treeWould you throw away a gift of up to $500? That could happen if you miss the March 31, 2015, deadline to complete your wellness credit requirements.

So far, fewer than one-third of Hartford HealthCare’s eligible employees have completed the Compass health assessment — a simple and confidential online questionnaire that takes less than 15 minutes to fill out.

More than half of eligible employees have yet to fulfill the second part of the wellness credit requirement by visiting their doctor for preventive care.

Employees and their spouse or partner covered by a Hartford HealthCare medical plan must complete BOTH requirements by March 31, 2015, to qualify for the full credit of $250 for employee-only coverage and $500 for employee and spouse/partner/children or family coverage.

If you have not seen your doctor since Jan. 1, 2014, make an appointment for a preventive care visit. If you’re up to date on preventive care, Aetna will provide verification of your preventive care visit

(and that of your spouse/partner) directly to RedBrick Health. If for some reason your information is not automatically transmitted, all you have to do is complete and submit this form.

Complete your Compass Health Assessment at our wellness partner website, RedBrick Health or call RedBrick at 1-877-207-0136.

For details about the wellness credit, please read our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) at the HHC&Me Employee Service Center website or at our wellness partner website, RedBrick Health.

If you completed the requirements by Oct. 31, 2014, your wellness credit will appear in your Jan. 15, 2015 paycheck. If you complete the requirements by March 31, 2015, you will see the credit retroactively once your information is processed. Once you have met the requirements and your information is processed, the credit will be reflected on your pay stub each pay period as a discount to your medical insurance premium contributions.

Here’s what you can expect to see:

If you cover… Paystub description for Paystub description for medical deduction without medical deduction with wellness credit wellness credit

A domestic partner Medical-Dp-Pretax MED w WellnessCredit DPPostTax

Yourself, spouse,children, family MEDICAL Before Tax MED w WellnessCredit BeforeTax

Network News is a monthly publication produced by a sub-committee of the Hartford HealthCare Communications Council. Please send story ideas to networknews@hhchealth.org. The committee will make every effort to consider your story idea, but due to space constraints, editing may be necessary.

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Joseph used familiar mountaineering terms like “base camp” and “advance camps” to illustrate the progress made toward creating healthier communities. From a loosely connected group of hospitals and other health services, HHC has become an integrated health care delivery system, with multiple access points and a unified goal.

Like proficient climbers, we have come to rely on better tools (like H3W and our balanced scorecard metrics) and stronger teams (through our H3W leadership principles) for direction-setting as the ascent grows steeper.

We know we need to climb because the environment around us is changing fast. Disruptive forces — such as the emergence of retail medicine and the drive toward population health management — are not passing storms like hurricanes, Joseph said. They are more like climate change, representing a permanent shift for our entire industry.

HHC is well prepared for change because of our hard work and the lessons learned along our climb, he said. But new agility and greater focus are needed as we leave our current advance camp and scale the heights ahead.

A new tool in 2015 will be Lean daily management — teams involved in continuous process improvement through a standardized approach that reduces wasted steps, and improves service and quality. (Read more about Lean on page 7.)

“We have done remarkable work on our journey together,” Joseph said. “It’s been hard work, but it’s been gratifying. I hope you feel just a small sense of the pride I feel when we consider how far we’ve come.”

“Welcome to Advance Camp Charlie” Continued from page 1 Medication Assistance Program Team wins

The Making a Difference Together Award

In October 2012, the Departments of Pharmacy Services at Hartford Hospital, MidState Medical Center, The Hospital of Central Connecticut and Windham Hospital launched a Medication Assistance Program as part of HHC Thrive.

The Medication Assistance Program team’s goal is to support our patients’ opportunity to receive needed medication therapy, regardless of their economic status, while maintaining the financial strength of the hospitals.

The program does this by enrolling patients in manufacturer compassionate-use programs that provide free medication to qualifying applicants.

The most common enrollment is for chemotherapy or dialysis treatments, which cost thousands of dollars per dose and can result in a large financial burden to the patient.

Since its inception, the program has saved patients more than $1.9 million. Patients can focus on their physical and mental health instead of the cost of staying alive.

This team collaborates across the system to support our mission of improving the health and healing of the people and communities we serve by increasing access to the best available care.

They demonstrate our values of caring and integrity as well as excellence and safety. Congratulations to this team on their great work.

Let’s give ourselves a hand—We achieved our goal!For the first time since introducing our hand hygiene compliance goal on the balanced scorecard in 2013, Hartford HealthCare is proud to announce we met our goal in November of 90 percent compliance performing hand hygiene upon entering and exiting a patients’ rooms.

In February 2014, Hartford HealthCare’s baseline rate was 54 percent compliance.

“We are so proud of our staff for achieving this goal. Every day, we touch the lives of our patients and their families. Having clean hands demonstrates our commitment to our values of excellence, integrity, safety and caring,” said Pepper Sobieski, RN, BSN, CPHQ, director of quality, Hartford HealthCare.

Our success was the result of a number of efforts over the past year and a half that included unwavering commitment, enhanced education, anonymous observer validation, real-time feedback and individual accountability.

“Communication and feedback have been critically important on this journey,” said Pepper. “By clearly communicating our opportunities for improvement, recognizing our successes, offering daily feedback, and being 200% accountable, we were able to make a difference.”

While we’ve attained our goal, we cannot stop here. “The ultimate goal is 100 percent hand hygiene compliance. It’s what our patients expect and what they deserve when they entrust us with their care,” said Pepper.

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.................................Do you have a

GOLD MEDAL MANAGER ? The HHC Manager Recognition program spotlights managers who are models for excellence in managing people. A Gold Medal Manager:

❒ Sets clear expectations and feedback to help us do even better

❒ Recognizes team members for great work and celebrates accomplishments

❒ Shares what is going on in the organization and helps us understand how we fit in

❒ Inspires us to go above and beyond

❒ Is visible, accessible and available to listen to my ideas

❒ Talks with me about my career

❒ Admits when he/she doesn’t know the answer, then finds out and gets back to us

❒ Seeks feedback about how he/she can do better

❒ Lives the H3W Leadership Behaviors

❒ Is someone other managers can learn from

If you can check most or all of the boxes, nominate your manager for recognition. Selected managers will be honored every two months.

For details and a nomination form visit https://myhhc.hhchealth.org/humanResources/lod/SitePages/Recognition.aspx. Work together with team members or ask your H3W facilitator or HR consultant for help.

ICP partners with Health New England in shared-savings agreementBeginning Jan. 1, 2015, ICP will become a strategic partner with Health New England (HNE), a provider-owned, nonprofit insurance carrier, in a shared savings agreement, providing care and services to patients with HNE Medicare Advantage plans.

HNE, which is part of Baystate Health, is a health maintenance organization headquartered in Springfield, Mass. Hartford HealthCare — and ICP members — will become part of its very successful network of physicians, hospitals and other health care providers for HNE Medicare Advantage patients. HNE currently has more than 145,000 members; more than 4,300 participating physicians; and 14 participating hospitals.

During open enrollment in October, ICP patients had the opportunity to enroll in the HNE plan, which is the only 4.5-star-rated Medicare Advantage plan in Connecticut, the top-ranked plan in Massachusetts and the 13th

top-ranked plan in the United States by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). The NCQA a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of health care, accredits and certifies a variety of health care organizations. Its Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS®) is the most widely used performance-measurement tool in health care.

“HNE is owned by providers and is known for delivering high-quality care. It has a culture of quality, which is the culture we are fostering within ICP,” said Debra Hayes, ICP’s chief operating officer.

“By working with HNE, we will increase our focus on improving care coordination and preventive care and take another step in leading the movement in our industry toward higher-quality care, better health, an enhanced patient experience and lower costs,” she said.

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“Connect to Healthier”Good brands are recognizable. Great brands are remembered — down to their taglines. Think “We bring good things to life” (GE), or “Just do it” (Nike).

When HHC’s senior vice president and chief strategy and transformation officer Jim Blazar showed samples of these firms’ symbols at Dec. 5’s State of the System meeting, people instantly recalled the taglines.

“There is hard work and real value in branding — creating a feeling, a ‘space’ for your brand in people’s busy lives,” Blazar said. And at HHC, he explained, we have been building our brand for more than three years now. The gear logo is not only being recognized more in our market; it has begun to take on meaning — to stand for something.

After months of planning and consumer research, our brand offers the promise that HHC will help you “Connect to healthier.”

It’s not just a nice phrase, Blazar stressed. “Connect to healthier” is based on HHC’s philosophy of “Connecting with purpose.” Even our logo depicts the quote marks of an ongoing dialog with our patients, partners, communities and providers.

Here’s what consumers told us they sought in health care — and how HHC could best help them:• Knowing that that they’re getting the right, most

appropriate care• Getting care locally – close to home• Convenience and easy access to care• Care that’s not confusing

“Healthier is not just about getting better,” Blazar said. “It’s about making the whole experience better.”

“Connect to healthier” clearly connects with consumers. In consumer market research, more than 90% found the tagline appealing and said it “talks about things important to me.”

The new tagline will unify our message in the market, and in 2015 will replace the various hospital-specific taglines

(such as “Beyond Advanced” and “Central to Your Life”) that have been used.

But there’s one thing “Connect to healthier” is not, Blazar said. “It’s not simply an advertising campaign. It’s a way of thinking and acting, of engaging with our communities.

“You’ll see and hear ‘Connect to healthier’ in ways that extend far beyond advertising,” he added. “We want people to encounter our brand, our messages, in unexpected ways — through eye-catching placements, in unusual contexts, and visual treatments that cause you to pause.”

HHC president and chief executive officer Elliot Joseph explained HHC’s brand this way: “The evolution of our brand means, when all the people we care for — our patients, customers, consumers and clients — see that logo they can expect us to behave, speak and serve in a uniquely Hartford HealthCare way.”

Want to see what “Connect to healthier” means? View a short video at hartfordhealthcare.org/connect.

Hartford HealthCare senior vice president and chief strategy and transformation officer Jim Blazar unveils HHC’s new brand promise “Connect to Healthier” at the State of the System Dec. 5.

State of the System 2014HHC experienced a year of successes and advancements in Fiscal Year 2014. You can read and download the State of the System book

Included:• Message from Elliot Joseph• Member statistics and milestones• Community Benefits summary• Balanced Scorecard and Strategic Framework

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This month’s TechTip will focus on Outlook “Quick Steps.” Quick Steps are shortcuts to any multi-step action you can think of, such as moving emails to a specific folder and marking them as read, or forwarding an email to your

team and flagging it at the same time. It allows you to do repetitive tasks faster. You can use existing Quick Steps or create your own.

Let’s take a look at how to create a Quick Step:1. In Mail, on the Home tab, in the Quick Steps group, click

the Create New Quick Step.

2. Using the dropdown, click an action type from the list or click Custom.

3. In the Name box, type a name for the new Quick Step.4. Click the icon button next to the Name box, click an icon,

and then click OK.5. Under Actions, choose an action that you want the Quick

Step to do. Click Add Action for any additional actions.6. To create a keyboard shortcut, in the Shortcut key box,

click the keyboard shortcut that you want to assign.New Quick Steps appear at the top of the gallery on the

Home tab in the Quick Steps group.Remember, if you have suggestions for future TechTips

topics, please email techtips@hhchealth.org.

By Joseph Venturelli, Vice President/Chief Technology OfficerTechTips

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S N I R

H3W

HealthNation for the Holidays!

Hartford HealthCare was the proud sponsor of the holiday gift wrap station located on the second floor of the Westfarms Mall. All proceeds will benefit the Hartford HealthCare Cancer Institute. HHC gift wrap is also being provided to Auxiliary gift shops throughout the system.

Melissa Dethlefsen, Sharon Nicoll, Ken Popillo, and Sean Fallon, all from Hartford HealthCare Rehabilitation Network, provided information on rehab services.

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The event featured a large banner that promoted Hartford HealthCare Medical Group’s “Care within 24” initiative.

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Hartford Hospital’s Dr. Joseph (Pepe) Wagner demonstrates how the daVinci robot works.

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Hartford HealthCare’s HealthNation event took place at Westfarms Mall on Saturday, Dec. 6, and showcased HHC entities and their services.

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Thinking Lean to improve our workWhat can health care learn from other industries?

When it comes to operating more efficiently, improving

things constantly and involving more people in

problem-solving, the answer is “quite a bit.”

Just ask Kim Barnas. She’s the president of two

Wisconsin hospitals in the ThedaCare System and

the author of “Beyond Heroes: A Lean Management

System for Healthcare.” As the special guest speaker at

this year’s State of the System meeting, Barnas shared

how “Lean” concepts, first developed by the automotive

industry, helped her and her colleagues better serve

patients with redesigned processes, reduced waste and

greater team engagement. They found real improvements

when they developed a systematic approach to what is

called ‘daily management” in Lean.

This year, Hartford HealthCare will begin to implement

Lean, beginning with designing a daily management

approach incorporating standardized team huddles

and leadership rounding, among other practices,

systemwide. Executive vice president and chief

operating officer Jeff Flaks is the executive sponsor

of this effort, which is part of the system’s balanced

scorecard for this fiscal year.

Flaks stressed that Lean is “an evolution, an

expansion of what we are doing with H3W,” not in

any way a replacement for How Hartford HealthCare

Works, or “just one more thing.” In H3W we already

have a standard process for facilitated monthly

work group meetings with a monthly message, dash-

board review, idea generation, and recognition. This

solid foundation with a monthly rhythm sets us up so

well to move from “monthly to daily management.”

“Embedding Lean principles with a focus on daily

management is designed to build upon our strong

foundation and create an even more effective system

where improving the work becomes the work,” said

Jamie Roche, MD, HHC vice president for Operational

Excellence. “In the end this new management system

will help us provide even better patient care and

customer service.”

Based on lessons Barnas shared, HHC is launching

Lean by first going deep in certain areas, and then

when the design is optimized spreading that learning

across the organization in a coordinated fashion. A

Lean Daily Management Steering Group and several

demonstration units (“model cells”) have been des-

ignated at the HHC System Support Office, all three

acute regions, one service line and one business unit.

These are:

• Radiation Oncology (at all HHC sites)

• Bone & Joint Institute at Hartford Hospital

• Neuroscience Center at Hartford Hospital

• CLP Lab Operations

• HHCMG (Breast practice)

• HHC: Strategy/Business Development and

Marketing/Communication

• And other areas to be determined for the

Behavioral Health Network, Post-Acute, and

Senior Care.

Those individuals in the areas involved in early

implementation will participate in design work and

Lean training sessions during the coming months. The

remainder of the system will prepare for future daily

management roll out by continuing to hard-wire H3W

practices (e.g., dashboards and idea lists) and partici-

pating in other preparatory activities supported by

H3W facilitators and work group leaders systemwide

(e.g., waste walks and process improvement initiatives

prompted by ideas generated in work groups).

“I think we will look back on this years from now,

and we will say, ‘This was one of those transformative

moments.’ This is an important time for us,” Flaks

said. “We have the capacity to do this; we believe in

it. And we will find our patients, the communities we

serve and all of us will be the great beneficiaries of

these efforts.”

If you have any questions about Lean and daily

management, please email Mohamed Saleh at

mohamed.saleh@hhchealth.org.

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SpotlightMulberry Gardens employee credits team work for her weight loss

“Working as a cook in the kitchen is not an easy job.”

Mary Delagrave, a 10-year employee of Mulberry Gardens

of Southington, was finding it more difficult over time,

primarily because she was gradually gaining weight.

“I didn’t have the energy. It was hard to breathe, and

I would get winded. It was hard to bend down and pick

things up,” she said. “I wanted to be able to breathe again.”

On Jan. 24, Delagrave started the first step of her

personal journey that has resulted in the amazing loss of

almost 35 pounds. She first began following a nutritional

program, which helped her learn about food portions and

proper diet. She then switched to preparing her own menus

and meals to make healthier choices by including more

vegetables, fruit and poultry, and eliminating red meats.

She also turned to Michele Boisvert, Mulberry Gardens

exercise physiologist, for encouragement and some

suggestions. “Mary is great at taking care of everyone

else. I told her that it was time to think about herself,”

Boisvert said.

Delagrave was self-motivated and very focused on

modifying her lifestyle to work toward her goal. “She got

fed up and made the change,” Boisvert said. “Doing this is a

physical, mental and emotional commitment. Mary didn’t

want a quick fix. She knew it was going to take time.”

Now almost a year later, Delagrave continues to eat

sensibly and pedals her stationary bike 45 minutes daily

whether she feels like it or not. She credits Boisvert with

keeping her on track with encouragement and suggestions

to stay fit.

“Exercise is result driven and every step is a process.

If you can do five minutes, that’s five minutes. Then it

becomes 15 and then 20. Just keep doing it,” Boisvert

said. She and the staff have continually encouraged and

supported Delagrave throughout the process.

The results have been very impressive. Since last

January, Delagrave has dropped three clothing sizes. But

her improved health has been the biggest benefit. “I feel

better, exercise is easier and I have more energy. I’m not

tired doing my job,” she said.

Delagrave continues to work toward her goal of losing

50 pounds. “When you are desperate, you want to change

your life. I don’t want to go back again,” she said.

“Mary feels so good about herself and is excited to keep

going,” Boisvert said. “She is inspiring other people.”

Mary Delagrave, a 10-year employee at

Mulberry Gardens, took her first step on a health

journey that resulted in a 35 pound weight loss.

If you have an interesting story, or know an employee who does, please send a brief description to our e-mail box, networknews@hhchealth.org. The Network News team will do its best to include the story in an upcoming Spotlight.

In MemoriamLissa Kowalski, human resources

leader for the HHC System Support

Office, died in a car accident on

Nov. 5, 2014, while traveling to a

meeting. Lissa leaves her husband,

Jonathan and three children: Jacob,

17; Nathan, 13; and Hayden, 11.

So many of us were touched by Lissa in some way and

those who had the chance to work with her lost a trusted

colleague and a friend. We will always remember Lissa

for her booming laugh, her tireless advocacy for doing the

right thing for our employees and the organization and

her incredible passion for her work. We are a better

organization because of what Lissa did and how she did it.

Our colleagues have established The Lissa Kowalski Memorial Fund, to help support the children’s education.

You may mail a check to:

Lissa Kowalski Memorial Fund

Hartford Healthcare Federal Credit Union

4 Wethersfield Ave.

Hartford, CT 06114

You may also make a donation in person at any branch

location.

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The Auxiliary of Windham Hospital named its physician, caregiver and philanthropist of the year during its 19th Annual Autumn Gala on Nov. 22 at the Hartford Marriott Downtown. Pictured left to right are Philanthropist of the Year Eileen Ossen of the Jeffrey P. Ossen Family Foundation; Physician of the Year Dr. Michael Kilgannon; and Caregiver of the Year Juanita Vazquez, a caseworker at Windham Hospital.

Around HHCHartford HealthCare was a sponsor of the 78th Annual Manchester Road Race, which took place on Thanksgiving Day. Sporting Hartford HealthCare t-shirts, pictured left to right are: Jonathan Stahl; Dr. Kent Stahl, vice president of physician network development for Hartford Health-Care; Kate Stahl; Nathan Cohen; and Rachel Cohen.

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Leadership from Hartford Hospital’s Institute of Living (IOL) was in attendance at the most recent meeting of the Ivy League of Psychiatric Hospitals, held in New York on Nov. 13 and 14. This meeting has taken place in one form or another for approxi-mately 150 years and is held each spring and fall to discuss issues facing mental health care today. Featured speaker Dr. Harold Pincus, (center), flanked by IOL leadership (L-R): Dr. Linda Durst, medical director; Ellen Blair, APRN, nursing director; Annetta Caplinger, operational vice president; and Dr. Harold Schwartz, psychiatrist-in-chief.

Central Connecticut Senior Health Services (CCSHS) recently celebrated a $2.1 million grant received from the Department of Social Services through the state’s “Strategic Plan to Rebalance Long-Term Services and Supports.” The funding enables CCSHS to promote and develop the Connecticut Center for Healthy Ag-ing (CTCHA), a resource and assessment center for older adults and their families and/or caregivers. To acknowledge the grant, a ribbon cutting was held Dec. 3 at the CTCHA office at The Hospital of Central Connecticut, Bradley campus, in Southing-ton. Pictured left to right are Victoria Triano, Southington Town Council; Davie Zoni, state representative; Marc Levesque, CT Center for Healthy Aging; Dawn Lambert, Dept. of Social Services; Elliot Joseph, Hartford HealthCare; Trish Walden, Central CT Senior Health Services; Dr. Craig Bogdanski; Terry Lombardi.

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Backus Hospital has been named a Top Performer on Key Quality Measures by the Joint Commission. The award recognizes the hospital’s “commitment to assuring that evidence-based interventions are delivered in the right way and at the right time.” Backus was recognized for key quality measures, heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, and surgical care.

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New technology focused on reducing readmissions, delivering better outcomes

Starting in 2015, a new technology will be launched throughout Hartford HealthCare (HHC) to help the system become more fully integrated, deliver better patient out-comes and a better patient experience, improve quality, reduce readmissions and lower the cost of care.

Implementation of RightCare software is under way. Once fully implemented by the spring of 2015, it will serve as the platform HHC will use to improve communication between our acute and post-acute patient care services and provide the right level of care manage-ment for our patients. RightCare’s Risk Assessment, Care oordination and Post-Care Connect tools will be embedded into existing electronic patient admission profiles and later will be embedded into the Epic electronic health record as Epic is implemented systemwide through HHC Unity: CareConnect.

RightCare is an evidence-based software tool that uses an algorithm to identify, upon admission, those patients who are at high risk for readmission and need care once they are released from the hospital. RightCare will enable care managers to more quickly know which patients need more care, and staff can be deployed more effectively, controlling costs and improving patient outcomes. Care providers and managers can begin planning post-acute care for high-risk patients within 24 hours of their admission, and RightCare’s Post-Care Connect tool electronically refers and alerts post-acute-care facilities of the patient’s needs, including any social or financial issues the patient may have.

“RightCare will help us deliver the right care, at the right time and right place,” said Dr. James Cardon, HHC executive vice president and chief clinical integration officer. “RightCare has been proven to improve patient outcomes,” he said.

RightCare is backed by more than 10 years of data and $5 million in National Institutes of Health-funded research focused on building a discharge decision-support system — a standardized, quick, easy and accurate tool to identify at-risk patients who need a post-acute referral to prevent a 30-day readmission. High-risk patients are three times more likely to be readmitted than the average patient. Research shows that 64 percent of patients who were readmitted within 30 days didn’t receive post-acute care.

RightCare Assessment identifies that need at admission and has been proven to reduce all-cause, 30-day readmissions by up to 35 percent.

Readmission rates are an issue nationally and at HHC, and reducing readmissions is one of our balanced scorecard initiatives. Medicare reserves 1.25 percent of all reimburse-ments until the end of the year and then evaluates providers on readmission rates, among other metrics. Lower readmission rates mean increased payments and,

most important, healthier communities.

“Preventing avoidable readmissions is a major goal of our system. We want to use the best technology available to better equip our staff to improve workflow to give patients the care they deserve,” said Dr. Rocco Orlando, Hartford HealthCare senior vice president and chief medical officer. “RightCare will make our entire process more streamlined and efficient, which will benefit our

hospitals and our patients,” said Dr. Orlando. Use of RightCare has been proven to improve the

quality of care and patient outcomes, reduce length of stay, reduce readmissions and their associated costs, and improve staff productivity.

“An unplanned, preventable readmission to the hospital represents an undue burden and potentially harmful event for our patients,” said Colleen Sullivan, regional director of Care Management, HHC East Region. “RightCare will be a powerful tool that our interdisciplinary teams can utilize to keep our patients safe,” said Sullivan.

Beth Lawlor, director of case coordination at Hartford Hospital, agrees. “RightCare will provide us with the tools we need to improve patient care and care coordination,” she said. “Everyone will benefit: patients, families and staff members who will find out sooner rather than later about the patient’s risk status. By moving patients in a more timely way to the most appropriate post-acute care setting, we improve the flow of patients through our system, reducing length of stay and costs while helping to ensure patients get the care they need, in the right place, at the right time.”

HHC hospitals will roll out RightCare in the first and second quarters of calendar year 2015 in the following order: Backus Hospital, Hartford Hospital, MidState Hospital, Windham Hospital and The Hospital of Central Connecticut.

Staff participating in the Right Care Interdisciplinary roundings in the Critical Care Unit (CCU) at Backus Hospital discuss the latest information about one of the patients on the floor. From left to right are Lori Godaire, MSN, RN, clinical nurse leader; Tina Poudrette, RN, acute dialysis nurse; Sarah Meegan, RN; Victoria Tyler, RN, nurse manager in the CCU and Cardiac Cath Lab; Shawn Heard, medical case worker; and Pam Harazim, RN, regional infection control coordinator.

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