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Tag: hospital

12 Va. hospitals rank among top in the nation

Healthgrades released its 2021 list recognizing the top 250 hospitals in the United States, and 12 Virginia hospitals made the cut — with two breaking the top 100. The 12 Virginia hospitals are among the top 5% of the nation’s hospitals in terms of rankings.

The only Virginia hospitals to earn a spot in the top 100 (or top 2%) of all U.S. hospitals surveyed were Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church and Sentara Princess Anne Hospital in Virginia Beach.

The America’s Best Hospitals list is based on hospital performance, clinical outcomes, patient safety and patient experience. Nearly 4,500 hospitals across the country are surveyed and analyzed for their treatment of 32 conditions and procedures, including heart attack, heart failure, respiratory failure, sepsis and stroke.

The top hospitals from Virginia (in alphabetical order) are:

  • Bon Secours Memorial Regional Medical Center, Mechanicsville
  • Bon Secours St. Francis Medical Center, Midlothian
  • Chippenham Hospital, Richmond
  • Henrico Doctors’ Hospital, Richmond
  • Inova Alexandria Hospital, Alexandria
  • Inova Fairfax Hospital, Falls Church
  • Inova Loudoun Hospital, Leesburg
  • Johnston-Willis Hospital, Chesterfield
  • Parham Doctors’ Hospital, Richmond
  • Retreat Doctors’ Hospital, Richmond
  • Sentara Careplex Hospital, Hampton
  • Sentara Princess Anne Hospital, Virginia Beach

“Now more than ever, consumers understand the importance of researching hospitals and finding the best organization to meet their health care needs,” Dr. Brad Bowman, Healthgrades’ chief medical officer, said in a statement. “Especially in this era of COVID-19, we commend the recipients of the Healthgrades America’s Best Hospitals Awards for their commitment to providing superior outcomes and keeping their communities safe.”

Inova Fairfax also ranked in the top 50 for best cardiac surgery and top 100 for best cardiac care and stroke care. Sentara Princess Anne earned critical care and stroke care excellence awards.

 

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Sentara Norfolk General Hospital names new president

Norfolk-based Sentara Healthcare announced Wednesday it has hired Liisa Ortegon as the new president of Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, one of the state’s largest hospitals. She replaces Carolyn Carpenter, who left to join Johns Hopkins Health System as its capital region president.

Ortegon most recently served as senior vice president of operations and chief nursing executive at Houston Methodist Hospital, Texas Medical Center, a 1,000-bed academic medical center affiliated with New York’s Weill Cornell Medical College.

Sentara Norfolk General Hospital has 525 licensed beds and in 2018 generated nearly $1 billion in net patient revenue. With 29 years of health care experience, Ortegon has also served as chief nursing officer (CNO) for 12 HCA hospitals and CNO with chief operating officer duties for HCA Horizon Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. Sentara Healthcare includes 12 hospitals in Virginia and North Carolina, more than 300 care sites and 30,000 employees.

“I have always believed patients are at the center of everything we do and I was delighted to learn Sentara’s mission and values were very much aligned with mine,” Ortegon said in a statement. “I know that together we will continue to improve health, and health care, in our corner of the world.”

Ortegon earned her bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Texas, her master’s degree in administration from the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio and her doctorate in business administration from Northcentral University in San Francisco. She also earned an executive certification from the Wharton School of Business.

 

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Estes Express Lines, family commit $2M to Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU

The Children’s Hospital Foundation announced Wednesday that Richmond-based Estes Express Lines donated $150,000 — with another $1.85 million committed from the Estes family — to support the construction of the Wonder Tower at the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU.

The 16-story Wonder Tower will be home to the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU’s pediatric trauma center, emergency room, inpatient units, operating rooms and space for imaging and family amenities.

The two Estes donations were matched by the Children’s Hospital Foundation, bringing the total investment to $4 million. The hospital is running a campaign to raise $100 million for the project, and the foundation is matching the first $25 million in community contributions. Estes Express Lines provides freight shipping services to regional, national, international and global clients.

“We are a family-owned business that’s had the honor of working with thousands of Richmond-area families for nearly 90 years,” said Rob Estes, president and CEO Estes Express Lines, one of the largest privately-owned freight carriers in North America, in a statement. “Children deserve the best possible medical care when they need it, and we’re proud to support Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU, as a company and as a family.”

Some parts of the Wonder Tower will be named for Estes, including the hospital’s loading dock. 

“We’re grateful they’ve added their voice and support to our mission to build a world-class pediatric hospital in Richmond,” Children’s Hospital Foundation President and CEO Lauren Moore said in a statement about Estes. “They’re truly a values-focused company and family, and their gifts reflect the importance they place on protecting children and their childhoods.”

Construction on the Wonder Tower is expected to be completed in spring 2023.

“It will be a beacon of hope for kids and families across the commonwealth, while helping us attract and retain top talent so our children have access to be the best care, close to home,” Children’s Hospital of Richmond CEO Elias Neujahr said in a statement.

 

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Virginia sees record daily COVID-19 rises

Just after surpassing more than 5,000 coronavirus-related deaths, Virginia hit its highest daily average of new COVID-19 cases for the third day in a row.

As of Monday, the state’s seven-day average of new cases stands at a record high of 4,480. On Saturday, Jan. 2, the average was 4,168; on Sunday, Jan. 3, the average was 4,313.

As COVID-19 cases continue to surge following the holidays, some of America’s large metropolitan hospitals are feeling the strain, pushing occupancy limits and overwhelming staff. In Virginia, however, the situation doesn’t yet appear as dire.

According to Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association spokesman Julian Walker, intensive-care unit beds are currently at 82% occupancy statewide; for comparison, 2019’s statewide average was 67%. With “surge beds” – beds repurposed for ICU use – factored in, he says, the state is currently operating at 55% ICU bed capacity.

“Capacity isn’t as much a concern,” says Walker, explaining that staffing may prove the greater issue due to health care workers becoming ill or quarantining due to an exposure; VHHA does not track figures on employees out of work because of the pandemic. “I wouldn’t say that we’re at a critical point in Virginia, but that doesn’t mean that things aren’t heading in an upward trajectory.”

Virginia recorded 31,361 new COVID-19 cases and 271 deaths last week, according to the Virginia Department of Health’s Jan. 4 update. The current seven-day positivity rate is 15.8%, up 3.5% from a week ago, with an average of 4,480 new cases reported daily.

Walker says 2,765 patients in Virginia are currently receiving in-patient care for COVID-19, roughly 2,400 of which have confirmed positive tests — a leap of more than 1,100 hospitalized COVID patients over the past month.

“Hospitals certainly experienced a bump post-Thanksgiving, and the unfortunate expectation is that in the post-holiday period that there may be another bump, which leads to continued escalation in the number of cases, including the number of people that are hospitalized,” Walker says. “The concern is that if the numbers continue on this trajectory, that could become problematic.”

Dr. Nicolas Restrepo, vice president of medical affairs for Valley Health’s Winchester Medical Center in Winchester, says his health care system has worked to increase capacity.

In the spring, the system maxed out at 40 COVID-19 patients; two days ago, Valley Health reached a new high of caring for 148 individuals for COVID-19. Restrepo says PPE supply chain improvements and gains made in testing have helped increase their capacity.

Still, he says the pandemic is hard on his staff.

“It’s taxing,” says Restrepo. “It is definitely creating a lot of wear and tear on the staff and challenging their resilience. But they’re an incredible group of people, and they continue to move forward, and they continue to support one another, and they continue to provide tremendous care to their patients.”

The state has reported 367,536 cases and 5,132 deaths since March.

Meanwhile, 87,618 people in Virginia have received one dose of a COVID vaccine, and 404,675 doses from Moderna and Pfizer Inc. have been distributed as of Jan. 3, VDH reported. Two doses of each vaccine are required to be fully vaccinated.

In December, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued guidance from a panel of doctors and public health experts, which set vaccination priorities that Virginia is following. After frontline care givers and long-term care facility residents and workers receive the vaccine, the next populations in line for COVID-19 vaccinations would be people ages 75 and older and about 30 million “frontline essential workers,” including grocery store workers, teachers and emergency responders. Others — including people age 65 to 74 and those with serious health conditions — will follow these groups, and Virginia public health officials expect the vaccines to be broadly available by summer 2021.

Until then, Walker stresses the need for resiliency.

“Everyone has pandemic fatigue, everyone wants this to be over,” Walker says. “There is hope in the form of the vaccine, but it’s still going to be months before the general public has access to the vaccine and months before a sufficient number of Americans have been vaccinated to reach the point of herd immunity.”

On Friday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, will take part in an online event open to the public, Facts & Faith Friday. He will be joined by Gov. Ralph Northam, State Health Commissioner Dr. Norman Oliver, VCU Massey Cancer Center Director Dr. Robert Winn and other state officials in a discussion about the COVID-19 vaccine. To register for the event, click here.

The following health districts reported positivity rates above 10% as of Dec. 31:

  • Alexandria — 10.9%, up from 8.4% on Dec. 24
  • Alleghany (Alleghany, Botetourt, Craig and Roanoke counties and the cities of Covington, Roanoke and Salem) — 13.7%, up from 11.6%
  • Central Shenandoah (Augusta, Bath, Highland, Rockbridge and Rockingham counties and the cities of Buena Vista, Harrisonburg, Lexington, Staunton and Waynesboro) — 21.1%, up from 17.0%
  • Central Virginia (Amherst, Appomattox, Bedford and Campbell counties and Lynchburg) — 24.3%, up from 17.1%
  • Chesapeake — 22.7%, up from 17.8%
  • Chesterfield — 15.6%, up from 13.6%
  • Chickahominy (Charles City, Goochland, Hanover and New Kent counties) — 15.1%, up from 10.0%
  • Crater (Dinwiddie, Greensville, Prince George, Surry and Sussex counties and the cities of Emporia, Hopewell and Petersburg) — 13.8%, up from 11.7%
  • Cumberland Plateau (Buchanan, Dickenson, Russell and Tazewell counties)  — 22.8%, up from 22.5%
  • Eastern Shore (Accomack and Northampton counties) — 19.5%, up from 11.8%
  • Fairfax — 14.5%, up from 10.5%
  • Hampton — 21.8%, up from 15.4%
  • Henrico — 13.2%, up from 8.9%
  • Lenowisco (Lee, Scott and Wise counties and the city of Norton) — 32.4%, up from 21.4%
  • Lord Fairfax (Clarke, Frederick, Page, Shenandoah and Warren counties and Winchester) — 14.7%, up from 14.4%
  • Loudoun — 16.6%, up from 11.6%
  • Mount Rogers (cities of Bristol and Galax and counties of Bland, Carroll, Grayson, Smyth, Washington and Wythe) — 23.4%, up from 20.6%
  • New River (Floyd, Giles, Montgomery and Pulaski counties and Radford) — 15.9%, up from 11.7%
  • Norfolk — 14.0%, up from 13.1%
  • Peninsula (Newport News, Poquoson, Williamsburg, James City and York counties) — 16.6%, up from 13.1%
  • Piedmont (Amelia, Buckingham, Charlotte, Cumberland, Lunenburg, Nottoway and Prince Edward counties) — 18.3%, down from 22.0%
  • Pittsylvania-Danville — 19.1%, up from 12.4%
  • Portsmouth — 19.4%, up from 18.5%
  • Prince William — 20.8%, up from 17.2%
  • Rappahannock (Caroline, King George, Spotsylvania and Stafford counties and Fredericksburg) — 17.6%, up from 12.3%
  • Rappahannock Rapidan (Culpeper, Fauquier, Madison, Orange and Rappahannock counties) — 11.1%, up from 9.7%
  • Richmond — 11.4%, up from 6.7%
  • Roanoke — 18.2%, up from 16.8%
  • Southside (Brunswick, Halifax and Mecklenburg counties)  — 12.7%, up from 6.9%
  • Three Rivers (Essex, Gloucester, King and Queen, King William, Lancaster, Mathews, Middlesex, Northumberland, Richmond and Westmoreland counties) — 14.4%, up from 13.4%
  • Virginia Beach — 18.3%, up from 13.8%
  • West Piedmont (Franklin, Henry and Patrick counties and the city of Martinsville) — 19.0%, up from 17.0%
  • Western Tidewater (Isle of Wight and Southampton counties and the cities of Franklin and Suffolk) — 13.1%, up from 10.1%

These are the 10 Virginia localities that have seen the most cases in the state, as of Jan. 4:

  • Fairfax County: 46,096
  • Prince William County: 26,664
  • Virginia Beach: 17,819
  • Loudoun County: 14,569
  • Chesterfield County: 13,658
  • Henrico County: 13,126
  • Chesapeake: 9,759
  • Richmond: 9,635
  • Arlington County: 9,290
  • Norfolk: 9,169

Globally, there are 85.2 million reported COVID-19 cases and 1,845,408 confirmed deaths, as of Jan. 4. The United States, which has the most confirmed cases and deaths worldwide, has seen 20.6 million confirmed cases so far, with 351,590 deaths attributed to the coronavirus since February.

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In good health

Virginia’s patient satisfaction rate held steady in a recently released nationwide survey, but just three hospitals in the commonwealth received the highest marks. Overall, Virginia patient satisfaction trails the national average by just 2%.

The patient satisfaction scores come from the annual Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems conducted by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

The Virginia results of the latest survey are shown on Pages 42-43. It’s important to note that the survey was conducted in 2019, assessing patient satisfaction prior to the coronavirus pandemic. The results are provided by Virginia Health Information, a Richmond-based nonprofit organization offering an array of data on hospitals, nursing facilities, physicians and health insurers in the commonwealth.

In addition to the patient satisfaction survey, VHI annually provides Virginia Business with service line reports showing patient discharge volume by region for a wide variety of hospital procedures.

The national satisfaction survey asks patients two questions:

How do they rate their hospitals overall?

And would they recommend the hospital to friends and family?

The highest ratings in answer to the first question are 9 or 10 on a 10-point scale. The highest recommendation in response to the second question is: “Yes, definitely.”

In answering both questions in 2019, 80% or more of respondents gave top ratings to three of 82 Virginia acute-care hospitals: Carilion Giles Community Hospital in Pearisburg, Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church and Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington. Carilion Giles Community Hospital and Virginia Hospital Center also received top marks in the 2016, 2017 and 2018 surveys.

Additionally, another five hospitals scored 80% or better on one of the two questions in the 2019 survey: Inova Fair Oaks Hospital in Fairfax, Riverside Shore Memorial Hospital in Onancock, Sentara Leigh Hospital in Norfolk, Smyth Community Hospital in Marion and University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville.

The Virginia average percentages for top ratings in the latest survey were 71% for the first question (unchanged from the 2018 survey) and 70% for the second question (also unchanged from the previous year). The national averages for the 2019 survey were 73% for the first question and 72% percent for the second.

In the 2019 survey, data was unavailable from four hospitals, and an insufficient number of patients took the survey at four other facilities.

The service line reports on Pages 44-50 show consumers which hospitals are the market leaders in their regions in terms of patient discharges for a variety of procedures. VHI suggests that patients seek additional information about their options and needs from health care providers. Not all hospitals provide the same types of care.

VHI also publishes regional and statewide costs for dozens of services to help consumers compare expected costs. These and other details about Virginia hospitals.

 

$1B Inova medical campus to anchor redevelopment of Alexandria’s Landmark Mall

The city of Alexandria announced Tuesday that Inova Health System will build a $1 billion medical campus at the 51-acre site of the former Landmark Mall — anchoring a new 4 million-square-foot mixed-use development in the city’s West End that will also include residential, commercial, retail and entertainment.

The medical campus, which will employ more than 2,000 health care workers, will include a relocated, expanded Inova Alexandria Hospital. 

A real estate investment and development joint venture that includes Potomac, Maryland-based Foulger-Pratt, The Howard Hughes Corp. (partial owner of the mall site since 2010) of Texas and New York-based Seritage Growth Properties has reached an initial agreement with the city of Alexandria and Inova Health System to develop the project.

Seritage Growth Properties is a real estate investment trust (REIT) of Sears Holdings Co., which owns the former Sears department store. The last store that was still open on the mall site, it closed in July 2020.

Landmark Mall opened in 1965 and was once anchored by Sears, Lord & Taylor and Macy’s. The majority of the mall closed in January 2017. The big budget superhero film “Wonder Woman 1984,” which debuts on Dec. 25, filmed inside the empty mall in summer 2018.

“This plan for the future of the Landmark site is exciting, long-awaited news for our community,” Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson said of the development that will replace the mall . “This redevelopment [will] bolster our economy, providing mixed-income housing, new municipal facilities and services, and new open space in support of the health, wellness and quality of life of our entire community.”

Construction at the 52-acre former mall site could begin as soon as 2023, with the first buildings ready in 2025, according to an announcement from the city of Alexandria. The companies have yet to release further details about the development.

Inova has been looking at developing the former Landmark site for more than a year, according to a statement from the city of Alexandria. The health system’s new Inova Alexandria Hospital would be one of only three Level II trauma centers in Northern Virginia and is planned to include a larger emergency room, private patient rooms and the Inova Schar Cancer Institute at Alexandria Hospital.

“We are thrilled for the potential to build a new hospital and medical campus, one that would allow us to expand our seamless system of care, increase our services, and elevate the facilities in Alexandria and throughout the region for decades to come,” Inova President and CEO Dr. J. Stephen Jones said in a statement.

The city of Alexandria will issue $54 million in bonds to buy part of the site to use for the new hospital campus, which will be leased to Inova. The city will use an additional $76 million in bonds for infrastructure work along Duke and Van Dorn Streets, according to a statement from the city. The developers will submit plans to be reviewed by Alexandria City Council.

 

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Chippenham Hospital reaches Level I trauma status

Health care network HCA Virginia announced Monday that Chippenham Hospital on Oct. 15 was designated by the commonwealth of Virginia as a Level I Trauma Center, making it the only such center in the southern Richmond metropolitan area.

Level I Trauma Centers provide more care options for severely injured patients and the accreditation is the highest level a hospital trauma center can receive. A hospital must meet all requirements to accept a higher acuity (or severity of illness) in order to receive the designation. 

“This accreditation demonstrates the focus on patient care and the hard work our staff does every day,” Chippenham Hospital CEO William Lunn said in a statement. “This accomplishment was made possible through the dedication and collaboration of our world-class team of nurses, physicians and support teams who are trained and passionate about caring for the most severely injured patients in our community.”

In order to meet Level I Trauma Center standards, hospitals must offer 24/7 availability of surgical and medical personnel, including trauma surgeons, emergency physicians, orthopedists, neurosurgeons, intensive care physicians and cardiac surgeons as well as the latest technology and equipment, nurses and staff. There must also be an operating room with advanced imaging and cardiopulmonary bypass technology, interventional radiology capabilities and critical care services. 

For a year before Chippenham Hospital received this designation, the adult emergency care department received more than 95,000 ill and injured patients, with more than 1,300 submitted to the Virginia State Trauma Registry, according to the Virginia Department of Health.

As part of its Level I Trauma designation, Chippenham Hospital will increase its resident education and research opportunities as well as add infrastructure, including an additional ambulance bay, four trauma bays and helipads. 

Opened in 1972, Chippenham Hospital is located directly off of VA-150 (Chippenham Parkway).

 

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