Sacred Heart Health Services

Programs: Avera sacred heart hospital (sacred heart health services) leads delivery of healthcare to its region through over 1,200 employees (as well as approximately 80 physicians on its active medical staff) who coordinate care to deliver patient care as an integrated unit. Avera sacred heart and its affiliates (referred to collectively as sacred heart health services) also work seamlessly to meet the needs of the communities they serve in southeast south dakota and northeast nebraska. In addition to the 93-bed hospital and a 6-bed hospital in yankton, avera sacred heart includes one nursing home and a congregate housing facility, a hospice house; and in creighton, neb. , has a 23-bed critical access hospital, long-term care facility, and two clinics. It also manages three hospitals and two nursing homes. (continued on schedule o)avera sacred heart operates under the tenets of the roman catholic church and in accordance with the philosophy and values established for avera health, a sponsored health ministry of the benedictine and presentation sisters. Avera sacred heart engages in activities designed to improve the health of the individuals and communities that it serves in response to a calling to heal the sick, the elderly and the oppressed. Requirements of the irs community benefit standard for tax-exempt organizations are integral to avera sacred heart hospital's larger charitable mission of improving health and quality of life. Specifically, avera sacred heart is governed by an independent board including community leaders, business and clinical healthcare experts. The board has a history of commitment to act with the highest integrity and has been proactively evaluating opportunities to voluntarily adopt governance best practices for the benefit of the community. * sacred heart health services makes medical care accessible to the communities it serves regardless of ability to pay, of which there were 3,459 inpatient admissions, 87,586 outpatient visits, 40,894 clinic visits and 66,831 nursing home resident days in fiscal year 2017. The hospital received a three-year accreditation from the joint commission. The national organization of state offices of rural health (nosorh) and ivantage honored avera creighton hospital and avera sacred heart hospital for "excellence in quality. " avera sacred heart was given the healthcare information and management systems society (himss) analytics stage 7 award. Avera sister james won a south dakota association of healthcare organizations quality excellence award. Avera sacred heart was recognized with a hurst gold standard of nursing award. Avera sacred heart was named a "2017 top 100 rural & community hospitals in the u. S" by the national rural health association's rural health policy institute, ivantage health analytics and the chartis center for rural health. Avera sacred heart received american college of radiology accreditation. Avera sacred heart was given an "a" patient safety grade by the leapfrog group. Sacred heart health services operates 2 full-time emergency departments, one in yankton and one in creighton, nebraska, which provide emergency care regardless of ability to pay. Sacred heart provides clinical services needed to operate the emergency center and provides on-site emergency medical, rescue and medical transportation services. In addition, avera sacred heart, through its integrated network of providers, provides non-emergency services to the community it serves. It makes these services accessible to the community through participation in government programs like medicare and medicaid, regardless of ability to pay. Avera's charity care policy provides discounted and free services to patients who lack the resources to be fully responsible for the health care they receive. The charity care policy is designed to ensure the communities served by avera facilities have access to needed healthcare services. The avera sacred heart board of directors oversees services delivered under the charity care policy including assessing community needs, approving eligibility criteria and monitoring the effectiveness of the program in providing community access to medical care. Eligibility for discounted or free services under the charity care policy is based on income and asset levels and family size. Applications for coverage under the program may be obtained at any avera sacred heart patient registration area or by calling the avera sacred heart or avera creighton business office. Sacred heart health services maintains records to identify and monitor the level of care provided under the charity care policy. Sacred heart health services had charges forgone for charity for the fiscal year ended june 30, 2017 of approximately $4. 2 million. Sacred heart health services takes its mission to improve the health and quality of life of the people it serves a step further by reaching out to meet the broad health needs of the community. It strives to identify community needs beyond basic health care, respond to them, aiming to make a positive, life-enhancing difference in the community. Sacred heart health services takes a strategic, community needs-based approach to delivering benefits to the community. Avera sacred heart hospital demonstrates its commitment to providing community benefit through specific accomplishments:e-technology: avera sacred heart utilizes an eicu program. Eicu is a telemedicine-based system that aids in the care of icu patients at avera sacred heart and across the avera system. Patients receive constant, around-the-clock monitoring and interventions from a remote care team in addition to the care they receive from their bedside team. Avera has also implemented an e-pharmacy program where facilities without 24 hour a day pharmacist coverage can access pharmacist services remotely. Teaching hospital: avera sacred heart is a teaching hospital, which reflects a strong commitment to education, research and a high level of care. In the summer of 2007, the hospital opened the avera professional office pavilion & education center to enhance their commitment to medical education. The avera pavilion is the new home of the unique yankton ambulatory program for the third-year medical students of the sanford school of medicine of the university of south dakota. The program challenges medical students to solve clinical problems and experience the doctor-patient relationship through the year. Yankton is only one of three communities in the state where a campus is provided for the sanford school of medicine. The office for the dean of the yankton ambulatory program of the avera sacred heart yankton campus is located on the first floor of the pavilion. A unique component to the pavilion is the expansion and enhancement of educational facilities. Along with a 116-seat auditorium, there are also three conference rooms, all equipped with the latest in audiovisual technology. Residency/health professions training: at any one time, 10 to 15 sanford school of medicine of the university of south dakota medical students are in training at avera sacred heart hospital. In addition, students in nursing, pharmacy, physician assistant programs, radiology and respiratory therapy also affiliate here. Avera sacred heart also has a radiology technologist school, which graduates 6 to 8 new radiology technologists each year. Preventive care a priority: avera sacred heart has taken steps to enhance preventive care for people of all ages through the many educational programs, health screenings and fairs that are held throughout the year. Avera sacred heart holds screenings throughout the region at their rural health clinics, as well as in yankton. The hospital is now connected to the ask-a-nurse program that provides general information concerning health-related topics. Our web site incorporates the "adam" software that provides a unique level of health-related information to the consumer. In 2009, avera sacred heart hospital introduced planet heart (in conjunction with the avera heart hospital) and an in-house cardiovascular screening package to keep the people we served better informed about their health. Based on community needs, we are continually striving to provide more preventative tools and risk assessments to our population.