Advocate Health Care Network

Programs: Advocate condell medical center provides inpatient and outpatient healthcare services to the community regardless of the patients' ability to pay. Included in this program service are the provision of charity care and trauma care. As part of its community benefits strategy and its mission, the medical center is committed to promoting initiatives that enhance access to health care for the uninsured and underinsured. An example of this is condell medical center's provision of charity care. The medical center offers a very generous charity care program - requiring no payments from the patients most in need, and providing discounts to uninsured patients earning up to six times the federal poverty level and to insured patients earning up to four times the federal poverty level. The medical center also considers a patient's extenuating circumstances to qualify patients for charity care. For uninsured patients, the medical center will presumptively provide charity care if the financial status has been verified by a third party and, in some cases, the patient is not required to submit a separate charity application. If presumptive criteria is not available for uninsured patients, then financial assistance eligibility is available using an income-based screening. Condell medical center extends its income-based financial assistance policy to its insured patients as well, also taking into consideration the insured patients extenuating circumstances. Although the charity care policy is very generous, condell medical center continues to review and refine its policy in an ongoing effort to ensure that financial assistance is available to those who receive assistance when they need it. The medical center maintains highly visible signage and brochures in multiple languages to inform patients of the availability of financial help and financial counselors. Information about the medical center's charity care program and charity applications is provided to all uninsured patients during registration and is mailed to them in advance of the first patient billing. After that, each uninsured patients bill includes summary information regarding the charity care program. In the area of trauma care, condell medical center is dedicated to providing expert emergency care - today and in the future. The medical center's level i trauma center cares for the most seriously injured people in its service area. As is the case with all illinois level i trauma centers, condell medical centers trauma center is staffed by on-site, 24-hour-a-day trauma surgeons; features 24-hour surgical and nonsurgical services, such as radiology and anesthesia; and can accommodate helicopter transports. In 2016, the medical center had 1,958 trauma visits.

health care and fitness services are provided by physicians, nurses, clinicians and other associates employed by and affiliated with condell medical center. Medical center clinicians provide care to the community for minor injuries and illnesses through its immediate care centers, regardless of the patients' ability to pay. Physicians, nurses and other clinicians lead prenatal/childbirth and parenting education classes and diabetes education classes, as well as support groups for diabetes education, heart disease, breast and other cancers, lactation/breastfeeding, bereavement/loss and caregivers. Condell medical center partners with the lake county health department/community health center to provide imaging services to qualified individuals at rates significantly below cost. Fitness and wellness classes and services are provided at the advocate condell fitness centers, which provide income-based sliding scale membership rates.

description of advocate condell medical center serving the community since 1928, condell medical center is a 273-bed non-profit acute care hospital located in libertyville, illinois. As the largest health care provider in lake county, the medical center provides a full spectrum of medical services from obstetrics, radiology services and rehabilitation to open heart surgery, neurosurgery and oncology. Condell medical center's emergency department provides level 1 trauma care and has the capacity to accommodate growing numbers of patients. In 2016, the medical center provided 1,958 trauma care visits of a total of 61,946 emergency room visits. The medical center also offers an emergency department approved for pediatrics (edap). In addition, the medical center is accredited as a primary stroke center. More than 620 physicians and 2,100 associates comprise the team of medical experts known for excellence. In addition to services located on its libertyville campus, condell medical center operates three immediate care centers throughout the county and two fitness centers. Condell medical center is the resource hospital for region 10 emergency medical services, which demonstrates the commitment to efficiently and effectively manage emergency services in a disaster. The medical center also provides community health data-driven health and wellness programs, evidence-based strategies to measure outcomes, community lectures and other services in support of its mission, values and philosophy (mvp). The mission of condell medical center is to serve the health needs of individuals, families and communities through a wholistic philosophy rooted in the fundamental understanding of human beings as created in the image of god. The values of condell medical center serve as an internal compass to guide relationships and actions. They include equality, compassion, excellence, partnership, and stewardship. The mvp calls the hospital to extend its services into the community to address access to care issues and to improve the health and well-being of the people in the communities the medical center serves. As an advocate hospital, condell medical center embraces the advocate system mvp. The philosophy of condell medical center is grounded in the principles of human ecology, faith and community-based health care. These principles arise from an understanding of human beings as whole persons in light of their relationships with god, themselves, their families and the society in which they live. Through our actions we affirm these principles. Population served condell medical center provides quality health care to individuals regardless of race, religion, creed, national origin, age or ability to pay. In 2016, the medical center recorded 16,368 inpatient admissions, 223,855 outpatient visits and 2,186 deliveries. Commitment to the community even in the face of low reimbursements, condell medical center is dedicated to maintaining a strong presence within its community and continues to monitor these expenditures to make certain that the programs and services supported are in direct response to community need. In 2016, the medical center reported over $16. 7 million in community benefit programs and services. These services are comprised of many community health programs focused on improving access to care, addressing special needs and improving overall community health. In addition to medicare/medicaid and bad debt losses, condell treats many air force military personnel and veterans administration patients at a rate below cost. Community benefits plan, goals & examples of program service accomplishments condell medical center's community benefits efforts are aligned with advocate's community benefits plan. The community benefits plan was developed to establish strategies for improving access to care and positively affecting the health of the communities served by the medical center. Included in the community benefits plan are not only planned goals and objectives focused on addressing needs as identified through a hospital-specific community health needs assessment, but also other community benefits such as charity care, unreimbursed medicaid and medicare, that are ongoing community benefits programs. The plan sets the course for strengthening existing partnerships and building new ones with individuals and organizations within the medical center's service area in order to leverage and maximize the impact of its programs. The medical center has set multiple goals and objectives to accomplish this strategy. The community benefits plan goals and examples of some medical center programs and services that address these goals are provided below. Goal a: optimize advocates capacity to manage an effective community health strategy by implementing regular community health assessments (chnas) and using data from these assessments to guide program development. Partnering to assess community needs condell medical center collaborated with the lake county health department in the community health needs assessment (chna). In partnership with the hospital, the health department conducted two additional surveys of communities within the condell medical center service area - waukegan and wauconda, illinois. The medical center used the results of the health departments extensive community health assessment, which used the mobilizing for action through planning and partnerships (mapp) process, and the health department community health improvement plan, to inform the chna. Condell medical center also focuses its internal strengths to assess community needs and to guide program development. Results of the chna were reviewed by community health staff with the condell medical center cancer committee in 2016. As a result of the cancer data analysis, colorectal screening was identified as a health issue of focus. An educational session on colorectal screening and prevention was presented in waukegan, a high needs community, in both english and spanish. The session was presented in partnership with the waukegan public library, the american cancer society, and erie family health center, a federally qualified health center in waukegan. Goal b: undertake or support initiatives that enhance access to health care, prevention and wellness services across the lifespan and within the diverse communities advocate serves. In addition to condell medical centers very generous charity care program as described in line 4a, the medical center partners with the lake county health department to provide medical imaging (radiology) services to uninsured lake county health department patients. These radiology services, as well as women's health and other services are provided on a heavily discounted, below cost basis to patients served by the public health department. Condell medical center is continuing to work with the lake county supplemental nutrition education for women, infants and children (wic) program through the look what we can do! Group. Wic will attend the groups sessions at condell medical center and educate the participants about wic services to increase wic enrollment for clients who qualify. Goal c: positively affect the health status and quality of life of individuals and populations in communities served by advocate through evidence-based programs, addressing identified needs and a commitment to health equity. Diabetes education during condell medical centers pursuit to establish a certified diabetes education program, most diabetes education classes and one-on-one counseling sessions were offered free of charge to the public. During 2016, the hospital completed a multi-year diabetes education and screening initiative in the antioch community, a medically underserved part of the service area. Ninety-four counseling sessions with a diabetes educator were provided, the average hemoglobin a1c level of those attending the sessions decreased and the participants increased their knowledge of diabetes self-management as measured through a pre-and post-test. Ninety-six percent of participants completed the post-test scored 70% or better. A final education session was held in february 2016. Nine participants received education from the certified diabetes educator, and a podiatrist. A total of 7 hemoglobin a1c tests were administered and two individual counseling sessions with the dietitian were provided. School-based health programming the medical center continued working closely with two area school districts on wellness initiatives, including health education programming, sponsorship of fitness activities and implementation of the coordinated approach to school health (catch), an obesity prevention initiative, in the 2015-16 school year. , the catch intervention resulted in a 10 percentage point increase in test results for 4th graders, and an 8 percentage point increase for 5th grade students. The primary goal of community health initiatives is to focus on communities of higher need with