iVantage Names Logansport Memorial Hospital Top 100 Rural and Community Hospital

Logansport Memorial Hospital was recently named one of iVantage Health Analytics’ Top 100 Rural & Community Hospitals in the United States.

“Logansport Memorial is proud of the efforts of our physicians and staff who have contributed to our achievement of this designation,” said Perry Gay, President and CEO.  “As a hospital, we are committed to our patients and community as a key partner in their overall health and wellness. We consistently look for innovative ways to pursue a patient-centered approach to healthcare that meets the needs of our patients and exceeds their expectations. It takes our entire team – engaged providers, forward-thinking executives, and exceptional staff at all levels to achieve results and outcomes that lead to designations like this. We will continue building upon the successes we have reached thus far, and hope to work toward many more.”

Logansport Memorial Hospital scored in the top 100 of rural and community hospitals on iVantage’s Hospital Strength INDEX®. The INDEX is the industry’s most comprehensive rating of rural and Critical Access Hospitals. The results recognize that the Top 100 Rural & Community Hospitals play a key role in providing a safety net to communities across America – measuring them across more than 70 different performance metrics, including quality, outcomes, patient perspective, affordability, population risk and efficiency.

The list of the Top 100 Rural & Community Hospitals and more information about the study can be found at www.iVantageINDEX.com.

“Rural healthcare encompasses more than 60 million Americans and the facilities which comprise our Top 100 Rural & Community Hospitals play a vital role in ensuring the long-term sustainability of the rural health safety net,” said Michael Topchik, senior vice president of iVantage Health Analytics. “Our data analysis shows that this group of top performers exhibits a focused concern for their community benefits and needs, regardless of scale, reimbursement and people’s ability to pay.”

About Logansport Memorial Hospital
Logansport Memorial Hospital is an 83-bed, HFAP accredited, regional medical center providing healthcare services to residents in Cass County and the surrounding areas of north central Indiana.

About iVantage Health Analytics
iVantage Health Analytics (iVantage) is a leading provider of healthcare analytic and decision support tools. Health system and hospital leadership teams across the country rely on the company’s software and services to deliver customized insights on clinical and financial performance, strategic planning, market assessment and contract optimization. Employing a full array of public, private and proprietary data, iVantage tools and solutions - from dashboards and pre-formatted reports, to industry and custom guided analytics - are designed to help its clients move from data to action. In addition, iVantage analytics and tools are the basis of continuing thought leadership and insight in the areas of healthcare policy and research. Learn more at www.iVantageHealth.com.  

Tenured Logansport physician set to retire

Dr. David Morrical, an internal medicine physician with the Logansport Memorial Physician Network, has announced his plans to retire this year. He will take his leave from the hospital effective April 10, 2015 after nearly forty years of service to his patients and community.

“This was not an easy decision for me to make,” commented Dr. Morrical. “I have enjoyed my time in medical practice at Logansport Memorial Hospital and I will miss taking care of my patients. But I want to take the opportunity to spend time with my wife, my adult children, and my grandchildren." 

Although I will no longer be practicing medicine, I still call Logansport ‘home’ and I plan to remain in the community upon my retirement. David Morrical

“As Dr. Morrical prepares for this transition, we thank him for his years of service to our hospital, our patients, and our community,” comments David Ameen, CEO of Logansport Memorial Hospital. “He has also been a well-respected community member, donating many hours of community service to the Boy Scouts and to other local organizations. We wish him well in this new phase of his life.”

If you are a patient of Dr. Morrical and would like to find a new provider, please call our Find-a-Doc service at (574) 725-3463. LMH staff will answer your questions about your healthcare needs or concerns and help place you with a provider who can meet them for you. We will work to ensure that you do not experience a disruption in your care and are placed appropriately as soon as possible. Please talk with staff about any other questions you may have.

Logansport Memorial Hospital hires new Nurse Practitioner

Laura Hess, FNP-C

Logansport Memorial Hospital is pleased to welcome Laura Hess, FNP-C to the medical staff as part of the Logansport Memorial Physician Network. She will join the providers at ExpressMed Logansport, providing urgent care for patients in Logansport and Cass County.

Laura received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, Indiana. She went on to receive her Master of Science in Nursing as a Family Nurse Practitioner from Indiana Wesleyan at the Fort Wayne, Indiana campus. She is a registered nurse with the Indiana Board of Nursing, and is certified in CPR and First Aid. She is also a member of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. She is looking forward to serving this community in a new way, as a bilingual nurse practitioner who speaks fluently in Spanish. She will be a welcome addition to the ExpressMed team.

ExpressMed is open for patients Monday – Friday from 9 am – 7 pm, Saturday from 10 am – 6 pm, and Sunday from Noon – 6 pm. ExpressMed is a walk-in clinic, so no appointments are necessary. If you have questions about being seen as a patient, please call the clinic directly at (574) 722-9633.

Logansport Memorial Hospital and Four County Counseling Center partner for ER Navigator Program

Logansport Memorial Hospital and Four County Counseling Center are pleased to announce a partnership to establish a Care Navigator Program for Logansport Memorial Hospital Emergency Department. The new service began on November 1, 2014. 

The ER Care Navigator will work with the ER staff and assists patients with healthcare access and timely care. Specific goals for the program include:

• Improving patient connection with primary care providers to decrease emergency room time spent with non-emergent conditions and chronic disease management; 
• Increasing patient connection to insurance options;
• Connecting to relevant social services in order to reduce healthcare barriers; and
• Improving patient connection and timely access to needed mental health and substance abuse services.

Chief Executive Nurse Jeanette Huntoon commented, “The addition of the Care Navigator will greatly enhance our ability to care for ER patients in need of additional services after discharge. Patients may be enrolled in the program and the Care Coordinator will have both face-to-face and phone contacts with the patient for a period of time after discharge to ensure follow-through with appointments and connections to needed services.” 

“A similar program began at Dukes Emergency Department in July 2013,” stated Donna Henry, Vice President of Residential and Clinical Programs for Four County Counseling Center. “We have had great success with this service in Peru and look forward to implementing Care Navigation in the LMH Emergency Department.”

Marckolyn Dillon has been hired as the LMH Emergency Department Patient Navigator. A graduate of Trine University, she has worked in the roles of Adults Case Management, Care Manager and Client Care Coordinator at Four County Counseling Center. “I am very enthusiastic about helping people. I enjoy problem solving and breaking down barriers that prevent people from gaining access to the resources and treatment they need to improve their quality of life. I look forward to working closely with Four County, Logansport Memorial Hospital, local law enforcement and community resources and be a liaison for patients,” commented Ms. Dillon. 

Big Changes for Better Health

Keeping you "well and good" by making a care delivery transformation

In my time as CEO here at the hospital, I have focused on specific goals for LMH that direct and improve what we can provide for this community. Like most other healthcare organizations, we have had to make changes along the way to ensure that we deliver what our community needs from us. At LMH, we’re making BIG changes… but we want to make sure you know why we’re doing it.

When you need medical care, you just want your doctor to make you feel better. In a perfect world, your doctor’s office would stay in touch with you, the hospital, and any other specialists or healthcare professionals who treated you, so that everyone would be on the same page and working together to keep you healthy.

But the truth is, we don’t live in a perfect world.

What’s happening now is that doctors are generally paid for every service they provide for you. This can lead to you having to go through and pay for tests and screenings that you may not really need. Or you could need to have the same test or screening performed multiple times, because you see different physicians that are trying to treat the same problem. This kind of duplication does not really help you or the providers who are treating you… instead, it just makes things take longer and cost more.

Hospitals around the country – including Logansport Memorial Hospital – know that this is happening and understand that it is frustrating for our physicians and patients. That’s why we are trying to address the issue by making some changes to the way we provide care for you. 

But we also know that change can be confusing, so we want to help you understand what’s happening. You’re going to start seeing and hearing more about how Logansport Memorial Hospital is becoming a Patient-Centered Medical Home and Accountable Care Organization. All that really means is that we will have much more of a team-based approach to caring for you. This team – including your primary care provider, nurses, health coaches, care coordinators, and others – are going to depend on you to take an active role in your healthcare. Your team will work with you and listen to you to determine what you need and want for your health. Then, they will work together to coordinate the services that you receive from us, from other specialists, and from community agencies and organizations. 

Implementing these changes means that our doctors and providers at Logansport Memorial Hospital will work on keeping you as healthy as you can be. We want to treat you – and all of our patients – as a whole person, focused not only on healing you when you’re sick, but helping you stay healthy. It’s our mission to make your health our passion, and we’re passionate about this because we believe it’s the right thing to do – for you.

So let’s recap, okay? We now deliver care by placing you, the patient, at the center of your care decisions. This means that the most important person in the process is YOU! For these changes we’re making to work, we need you to take an active role in your own health and well-being too. It’s true that we still don’t live in a perfect world, but lots of us in the healthcare community – especially those of us at Logansport Memorial Hospital – are working hard to make it better. 

Feel free to contact me at any time – at the hospital, in the community – if you have additional questions about these ongoing changes. You can also visit www.logansportmedicalhome.org to learn more.

Pulmonology Services return to Logansport Memorial Hospital

As a rural hospital, we are challenged in many ways. One of our biggest challenges is providing access to specialized care that’s local and in our community, which many of our patients need and want. We know that many of our patients suffer from respiratory problems and have requested pulmonology services. As part of our 2013 Community Health Needs Assessment, we made “access to care” a top priority for targeted improvement over the next three to five years.

Logansport Memorial Hospital is pleased to announce that we now offer pulmonology services for our patients with the addition of Dr. Francois Fadel to our physician network. He shares some information in this article about what he does, and why it’s beneficial for patients to have pulmonology services that are close to home.

What is pulmonology?
“Pulmonology is a subspecialty of internal medicine that focuses on diseases of the lungs and bronchial tubes, which can include evaluating the heart and the upper respiratory tract (made up of the nose, pharynx and throat),” indicated Dr. Fadel. “A pulmonologist is a physician who studies internal medicine and then completes additional schooling and training to diagnose and treat conditions and diseases of the chest. These can include pneumonia, asthma, tuberculosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, emphysema, lung cancer, and other complicated chest infections. Pulmonologists can also treat and help active or previous smokers who have respiratory symptoms or shortness of breath. We can assess the patient’s lung function, and optimize treatment of their lungs, as well as aid in smoking cessation.”

Who needs a pulmonologist?
“Patients who have a chronic cough, difficulty breathing, persistent lung infection, or any other breathing-related problem typically need specialized services, like those that a pulmonologist provides. To determine how serious your condition is, I will typically conduct pulmonary function tests (PFTs) to measure how well your lungs take in and exhale air,” he says. These tests also check how well your lungs transfer oxygen into the blood.

A pulmonologist is one type of asthma and allergies specialist that may be helpful to use when treating various chest and lung conditions. As we move into Fall, the seasonal changes may cause certain allergies to flare-up or worsen, making it harder to breathe. Asthma can also be affected by seasonal changes.

"Asthma symptoms differ from patient to patient, so there are a variety of tests that I can perform to help determine what approach may be the best to take," explains Dr. Fadel. "A variety of additional tests can be performed, and they just help me learn more about your lungs and how they function. Once I have the results, I prefer to work together with the patient to decide what feels right and is best to do in treating their specific allergies, asthma, or other condition."

Respiratory therapists can assist pulmonologists by performing these tests, and Logansport Memorial Hospital is fortunate to have a fully-staffed respiratory therapy department and pulmonary rehabilitation facility on-site. Pulmonary rehabilitation is a program designed to teach you about your lungs and how to live better with your lung condition. Additionally, LMH has a sleep laboratory on-site to assist with the treatment of sleep disorders. These on-site programs make receiving pulmonology services more convenient for our patients.

Primary care physicians can refer you to receive the specialized services of Dr. Fadel. You can learn more about your referral options by calling (574) 753-1384.

Meet Dr. Francois Fadel
Dr. Fadel is an expert specialist practicing in four specialties – internal medicine, pulmonary/respiratory medicine, critical care medicine, and undersea and hyperbaric medicine. He is triple board-certified by the American Board of Medical Specialties in internal medicine, pulmonary/respiratory medicine, and critical care medicine. He completed a fellowship of double certification in critical care medicine and pulmonary/respiratory medicine at The State University of New York in Brooklyn, New York.

He utilizes the most advanced technologies and procedures to diagnose and treat respiratory conditions, including lung cancer. As the only critical care and pulmonology physician serving Logansport and Cass County, he looks forward to establishing his practice and providing an exceptional level of specialized care for our community.

New State of the Art Laboratory Technology at The Medical Foundation Laboratory in Logansport Memorial Hospital

The Medical Foundation Laboratory at Logansport Memorial Hospital has enhanced its laboratory capabilities to respond to physician requests for blood tests with new equipment. 
Laboratory administrators recently unveiled the new instrument at a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by lab and hospital employees. This new system, called the cobas® 6000 analyzer series, analyzes blood samples for routine and innovative chemistry tests ordered by physicians.

Officials from the Roche Group, The Medical Foundation stand with leadership and laboratory employees from Logansport Memorial Hospital, preparing to cut the ribbon on using new state-of-the-art cobas 6000 analyzers.

“The cobas 6000 analyzer series will make our lab much more efficient,” said Robert Tomec, M.D. and President of The Medical Foundation.  “This system provides broad testing capability to continue to enhance our practice of laboratory medicine for years to come. This is just another step in our commitment to continuously improve our quality of patient care, while providing our medical staff with the tools they need.”

This highly compact system consolidates more than 95% of routine testing, therefore requiring fewer analyzers, which optimizes lab staff efficiency.

“We receive more than 57,000 test requests per month, and that demand is continuing to grow,” said Diane Janowiak, Vice President of Operations at The Medical Foundation. “Therefore, we found ourselves needing to accomplish more every day, and it was beginning to take a toll on our personnel resources and aging equipment. With increased demand, we knew we needed to make improvements in order to maintain our goal of producing fast and accurate test results.”

“Our partnership with The Medical Foundation continues to serve us well, but more importantly, it continues to serve our patients well,” comments David Ameen, President and CEO of Logansport Memorial Hospital. “Installing state-of-the-art equipment like these analyzers gives our physicians additional access to enhanced testing methods that may be beneficial for our patients. Having the ability to perform these tests on-site and receive timely results is another exceptional feature of installing this type of updated equipment. We are fortunate to have this partnership in place to respond to physician needs in providing high-quality patient care.”

Manufactured by Roche Diagnostics, the cobas 6000 analyzer series integrates multiple technologies to give us efficiency and the flexibility to grow as our needs change. 
Upgrading the laboratory was a tremendous task, however, according to Janowiak, the transition was so smooth that few people in the hospital noticed it was going on.

“Whenever you take on this type of project, you worry how it will affect the daily workload and if it will slow down the process,” said Janowiak.  “However, the entire process was painless thanks in large part to Roche Diagnostics. Their team kept everything moving on schedule without interfering with our normal day-to-day processes.” 

About Roche
Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is one of the world’s leading research-focused healthcare groups in the fields of pharmaceuticals and diagnostics.  As the world’s biggest biotech company and innovator of products and services for the early detection, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases, the Group contributes on a broad range of fronts to improving people’s health and quality of life.  Roche is the world leader in in-vitro diagnostics and drugs for cancer and transplantation, a market leader in virology and active in other major therapeutic areas such as autoimmune diseases, inflammation, metabolic disorders and diseases of the central nervous system.  In 2006 sales by the Pharmaceuticals Division totaled 33.3 billion Swiss francs, and the Diagnostic Division posted sales of 8.7 billion Swiss francs.  Roche has R&D agreements and strategic alliances with numerous partners, including majority ownership interests in Genentech and Chugai, and invests approximately 7 billion Swiss francs a year in R&D.  Worldwide, the Group employs about 75,000 people.  Additional information is available on the Internet in the U.S. at www.roche-diagnostics.us or globally at www.roche.com.

About The Medical Foundation
The Medical Foundation is a nationally recognized non-profit laboratory system that has played a major role in the continuing technological evolution of laboratory science for over 100 years.  Located in Northern Indiana, the Foundation serves over 1,250 clients including hospitals, general physician and specialty practices and surgicenters throughout Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Illinois.  The Medical Foundation provides services in areas such as Blood Bank, Centralized Chemistry, Hematology, Immunology, Molecular Genetics, Microbiology, Cytology and Flow Cytometry.  In January 2014, the Foundation reached an agreement with Logansport Memorial Hospital to begin managing the laboratory at the hospital.  This agreement came after a 15 year relationship with The Medical Foundation providing top-quality, cost-effective health services.  

Logansport Memorial Physician Network welcomes new pediatrician

Oluyemisi Akintunde, MD

Logansport Memorial Hospital is pleased to welcome Oluyemisi Akintunde, MD to the Logansport Memorial Physician Network. She is a board-certified pediatrician who will join our other three board-certified pediatricians - Dr. Beverly Ahoni, Dr. Craig Pawlowski, and Dr. Namita Saghal - as part of LMPN Pediatrics.

Dr. Akintunde received her medical degree from the University of Ilorin in Kwara, Nigeria. From there, she went on to complete her residency in Pediatrics at the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia. She also completed an internship with Howard University Hospital in Washington, DC. She is board-certified by the American Board of Pediatrics.

She loves working with children, and it’s that passion that motivated her to pursue a career in Pediatrics. She is eager to work together with parents to support and care for healthy babies, kids, and young adults in our community.

View her website profile here.


Dr. Akintunde is now accepting new patients. Her practice is located inside the pediatrics suite in Medical Office Building West at Logansport Memorial Hospital. If you would like to make an appointment with Dr. Akintunde, please call (574) 753-4151.

Logansport Memorial Hospital partners for cardiology services

Logansport Memorial Hospital has signed a partnership agreement with Franciscan St. Elizabeth Health and Franciscan Physician Network to provide Cardiology services effective June 2, 2014 at Logansport Memorial Hospital. The new outpatient based Cardiovascular Clinic will be staffed by board certified physicians Bassel Artin, M.D.; Barry J. Karas, M.D. and Adel S. Yaacoub, M.D. The cardiologists specialize in the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of heart and vascular disease. The clinic will be open Monday – Friday from 8:00 am – 5:00 pm.

David Ameen, President/CEO, Logansport Memorial Hospital comments, “We are pleased to offer expanded cardiovascular coverage and local access to full-time cardiology services. By offering these services at LMH, we are facilitating the continuity of care for our patients and working to ensure the coordination of care with our patients’ primary care providers. We are confident that Franciscan St. Elizabeth Health Heart Center with the Franciscan Physician Network is a good fit for our community and hospital. We are looking forward to the partnership.”

“We are excited to partner with a hospital system that shares our commitment to high quality patient centered care,” said Terry Wilson, regional chief executive officer of Franciscan St. Elizabeth Health. “We want to assure patients that our team of medical professionals is dedicated to providing the Logansport community with the highest level of cardiac care.”

The Cardiovascular Clinic will be located in Suite 50 at Logansport Memorial Hospital. 

###

About Logansport Memorial Hospital
Logansport Memorial Hospital is an 83-bed, HFAP accredited, regional medical center providing healthcare services to residents in Cass County and the surrounding areas of north central Indiana.

About Franciscan Physician Network
Franciscan Physician Network is a member of Mishawaka, Ind.-based Franciscan Alliance, one of the largest Catholic health care systems in the Midwest with 13 growing hospitals and a number of nationally recognized Centers of Health Care Excellence.
Franciscan Physician Network has offices located in Logansport, Lafayette, West Lafayette, Monticello, Mulberry and Crawfordsville. Woman’s Clinic, Lafayette OB/GYN and Premier Healthcare for Women in Lafayette are also members of Franciscan Physician Network.

About Franciscan St. Elizabeth Health
Franciscan St. Elizabeth Health is a member of Mishawaka, Ind.-based Franciscan Alliance, one of the largest Catholic health care systems in the Midwest with 13 growing hospitals, approximately 20,000 employees and a number of nationally recognized Centers of Health Care Excellence. Franciscan St. Elizabeth Health includes Franciscan St. Elizabeth Health – Lafayette East and Lafayette Central, as well as Franciscan St. Elizabeth Health – Crawfordsville, 

Franciscan Physician Network with offices in Lafayette, West Lafayette, Monticello, Mulberry and Crawfordsville, and Woman’s Clinic, Lafayette OB/GYN and Premier Healthcare for Women in Lafayette.

Franciscan St. Elizabeth Health is accredited by Healthcare Facilities Accreditation Program, the Community Health Accreditation Program, the College of American Pathologists, the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation, the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP), the Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care for Heart Failure and the Center of Excellence in Minimally Invasive Gynecology. Franciscan St. Elizabeth Health is also a recipient of the American College of Cardiology Foundation Silver Performance Achievement Award. For more information, please visit FranciscanStE.org and FranciscanAlliance.org.

Franciscan St. Elizabeth Health is also available through social media. On Facebook, visit Facebook.com/StEHealth; on Twitter visit Twitter.com/StElizabeth; and on Pinterest visit Pinterest.com/StEHealth.

Building a Better Relationship with your Physician

When someone asks you about your relationship status, chances are that you aren’t thinking about your primary care physician. You might have vowed to be with someone “in sickness and in health” but do you think about who it is that helps you stay healthy, or get better when you’re sick? 

Primary care plays one of the most important roles in your overall health status, and there is a relationship that’s involved with that. A relationship built on trust and communication – the relationship with your primary care physician.

Do you have one? Most people do, on some level. It takes two people to develop a relationship like this, and we want to make sure you have the information you need to be able to connect with your chosen physician. Your primary care doctor will be there for you through any health condition, and better communication between you two leads to better care provided for you by your doctor.

So where do you start? Or how do you build upon what you already have? 

Agnes Kenny, MD

Evaluate some of these suggestions from family medicine physician Dr. Agnes Kenny and see what might work well for you.

Honestly talk about your health
What makes up your health? “It’s not just what you eat or drink, but it’s also the exercise you do, the stress at work, at home, or both, and other lifestyle factors. All of these contribute to your overall health status, so make sure that your doctor is aware of things like that,” suggests Dr. Kenny. 

“Sure, it can be intimidating at first to talk openly about your lifestyle or health concerns that you have, but remember – your doctor is there to listen and to help you. He or she won’t be embarrassed, shocked, or offended by even your most embarrassing symptoms. The more that you put into you your doctor’s appointments, the more that you’ll get out of them… and communication is the place to start.”

Know your medical history
“It’s true that your health is shaped by diet, exercise, and lifestyle choices, but genetics also plays a role in our overall health,” comments Dr. Kenny. “Because of this, it’s important to know a little bit about your family’s medical history so that you can accurately understand your own. This does not mean that you need to have memorized every little cold or illness that Grandma, Grandpa, and Great-Uncle Jack ever had – but you do need to know about some of the major conditions,” she says. 

Did any of your grandparents have cancer? Did your father have a heart attack? Do any of your brothers and sisters suffer from diabetes? “Conditions like these are good to know about from both sides of your family,” she adds. “This helps give your doctor a better picture of what you may encounter later or be experiencing now with the symptoms you describe.”

Participate in your care.
You know how some relationships are all talk and no action? Well don’t let this relationship be like that. Yes, you have to communicate with your physician but you also have to actually follow through with the advice that you’ve been given. And sometimes that’s not fun – particularly when your doctor recommends that you make a lifestyle change, or three. 

“Advice from a physician is meant to help you feel your best and maintain or improve your quality of life,” tells Dr. Kenny. “For example, I have had a number of diabetes patients make lifestyle changes that have improved their health significantly. In fact, many of them are no longer diabetic as a result of those lifestyle changes. As a physician working closely with her patients, it’s very rewarding to experience that success with them.”

Trust the medical expertise that your physician has and try to implement the changes he or she suggests. And if you need help, don’t be afraid to ask for it –physicians are always willing to be supportive resources for you as well.

View Dr. Kenny's website profile here.
Visit our website!