OSF HealthCare Ranked In Top Integrated Healthcare Systems
For the seventh year in a row, OSF HealthCare has been ranked in the Top 100 Integrated Healthcare Networks among the 582 in the United States. Specifically, OSF HealthCare was ranked 33rd by Verispan, as reported in the January 31 issue of Modern Healthcare. OSF HealthCare includes OSF St. Francis Hospital, OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center, OSF Saint James – John W. Albrecht Medical Center, OSF St. Joseph Medical Center, OSF Saint Francis Medical Center, OSF Saint Clare Home, OSF St. Mary Medical Center, OSF HealthPlans, OSF Medical Group, OSF Saint Francis, Inc., OSF Home Care, and OSF Healthcare Foundation.

Verispan has been ranking integrated systems for the past eight years, and this year’s Top 100 was chosen from 582 non-specialty regional integrated health networks from around the country. According to Modern Healthcare, “Using survey data and independent research, Verispan awards points to 33 weighted factors used in eight categories of comparison: hospital utilization; financial stability; physician networks and integration; services and access; contract capabilities; outpatient utilization; integration; and technology integration.”

OSF HealthCare, owned and operated by The Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis, Peoria, includes OSF Healthcare System consisting of six acute care facilities, one long-term care facility and two colleges of nursing. It also has a primary care physician network consisting of 194 physicians and 48 mid-level providers, known as OSF Medical Group. OSF HealthCare owns OSF Saint Francis, Inc., comprised of healthcare-related businesses, and OSF Healthcare Foundation, the philanthropic arm of OSF Healthcare System and OSF Home Care. Additionally, OSF HealthPlans, Inc., a subsidiary of OSF Saint Francis, Inc., is a licensed managed care company in the State of Illinois with about 100,000 members.

Back to top

Excellence In Cardiac Care Leads To Elite Accreditation
OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center is the first medical center in Rockford, the fourth in Illinois and the 90th in the nation to achieve accreditation as a Chest Pain Center. This elite, three-year accreditation was announced by the Society of Chest Pain Centers on December 28, 2004.

Accreditation is earned by medical centers with emergency departments that are able to provide a full-spectrum of emergency cardiac care, rapid diagnosis and fast track treatment. A multidisciplinary team composed of members of the OSF Saint Anthony Regional Heart Institute, Trauma and Emergency Services and medical center administrative staff worked to obtain Chest Pain Center status.

"People benefit by quickly learning why they are having chest pain," said Dr. Eric Benink, medical director of OSF Saint Anthony Trauma and Emergency Services. "OSF Saint Anthony emergency department physicians are prepared to make rapid clinical assessments to determine if people need to be taken directly to our cardiac catheterization lab for fast treatment or have electrocardiogram readings and symptoms closely monitored."

After a written application was completed, an onsite review team from the Society visited OSF Saint Anthony. The Society found OSF Saint Anthony demonstrated its leadership in both providing and improving cardiac care in the following ways:

• working with area emergency service providers to improve care for patients suffering from cardiac symptoms who are being transported to the medical center;
• implementing an emergency assessment process to care for those with acute cardiac syndromes;
• creating an observation program to monitor and evaluate low- and moderate-risk patients being treated in the emergency department;
• designing and equipping the emergency department to function as a chest pain evaluation center that provides optimum care;
• ensuring physicians and nurses are specially trained to care for patients with acute cardiac syndromes;
• maintaining continuous quality improvement programs to evaluate and improve care.
• having administrators, medical staff, nurses and support staff dedicated to supporting the Chest Pain Center accreditation;
• sponsoring community outreach programs that include free screenings for total cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure.

"This accreditation is very meaningful to me and important to the community," said cardiologist Ken Stevens, Regional Heart Institute cardiologist and member of Rockford Cardiology Associates. "It means the physicians of the Regional Heart Institute and OSF Saint Anthony Trauma and Emergency Services are dedicated to maintaining a cardiovascular program that exceeds nationally established criteria for excellence. It also demonstrates our dedication to the community to provide outstanding cardiac care in all areas of the medical center."

The Society of Chest Pain Centers is a patient centered professional society with a focus on heart disease and a mission of educating the public and healthcare professionals on the importance of rapid diagnosis and treatment for those experiencing possible symptoms of acute coronary syndromes. It is guided by a multidisciplinary team of leading clinical experts in the areas of cardiology, emergency medicine and nursing. Its website is www.scpcp.org.

Back to top

Surgery Treats Previously Inoperable Heart Disease
Laser Treatment Can Improve Quality Of Life Of Angina Sufferers
Cardiothoracic surgeons of the Regional Heart Institute of OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center are now using transmyocardial laser revascularization (TMR), a new procedure used to treat inoperable heart disease in people with angina.

Angina is chest pain or discomfort that occurs when the heart muscle does not get enough blood. Symptoms include pain that feels like pressure or a squeezing pain in your chest. Pain may also occur in the shoulders, arms, neck, jaw, or back. It can also feel like indigestion. Angina is itself a symptom of coronary artery disease.

Although most people with angina are treated with angioplasty, stents, coronary bypass surgery or medications, these treatments do not always eliminate angina. Until recently, patients had no choice but to put up with the pain.

For more information, click here.

Back to top

Endoscopic Vein Harvesting Increases Satisfaction, Decreases Healing Time
The Regional Heart Institute's cardiovascular surgical teams are training surgeons and other healthcare providers from Chicago and other Midwestern hospitals at OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center in the use of an innovative, minimally invasive procedure that improves cardiac care.

This minimally invasive procedure is called endoscopic vein harvesting (EVH), which is used during 95 percent of coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgeries at OSF Saint Anthony. The experience and expertise the Regional Heart Institute surgical teams have in the use of EVH, led to the training designation.

"Our position as a leader in the use of this beneficial procedure is one of the major reasons OSF Saint Anthony has been chosen as one of a handful of training sites in Illinois. This is an accomplishment that we are proud of and benefits people throughout Illinois," says James P. Locher Jr., MD, a member of Rockford Cardiology Associates and independent physician with the Regional Heart Institute.

For more information, click here.

Back to top

Cardiac Medical Training Provided By Regional Heart
The OSF Saint Anthony Regional Heart Institute recently hosted a day-long visit by a mobile, state-of-the-art simulated cardiac catheterization lab. The mobile training unit has the latest computer-simulated diagnostic and evaluation tools. It enabled interventional cardiologists and OSF Saint Anthony cardiac catheterization laboratory staff to conduct life-like procedures.

Six cardiologists from Rockford, Sterling and Janesville, Wisconsin, received hands-on experience with the new FilterWire EX Embolic Protection System that helps reduce complications from treating saphenous vein graft (SVG) disease. SVG disease occurs when saphenous veins harvested from the leg for use in coronary artery bypass graft surgery develop atherosclerosis. The cardiologists practiced with the new system on a computerized simulated patient.

The FilterWire EX system is a low-profile embolic filter mounted on a guide wire that is designed to reduce complications during balloon angioplasty and stenting procedures in those with SVG. The filter captures embolic material such as calcium and cholesterol that can become dislodged during cardiovascular interventions. The debris captured by the filter would otherwise travel into the heart or small blood vessels where it could cause a heart attack or other complications. The system is used in peripheral, coronary and carotid vessels.

Cardiologists affiliated with the Regional Heart Institute participated in clinical research of the device that helped lead to its approval by the Food and Drug Administration in June 2003.

"Previously at OSF Saint Anthony, we provided hands-on training in the use of this technology to physicians from many parts of the country and several nations. Today, I use the filter for all my patients who suffer from (SVG) disease," said Robert L. Minor Jr., MD, member of Rockford Cardiology Associates and independent physician with the Regional Heart Institute. "This is such a large step forward in technology that we want more cardiologists trained in how to use it."

Patients with degenerated saphenous vein grafts undergoing angioplasty and stenting are at very high risk for complications. Dr. Minor explained that about 50 percent of those who undergo this type of cardiac bypass surgery will develop SVG within 10 years.

The FilterWire system makes angioplasty and stenting an even more attractive option than a second open-heart surgery. "Most patients can go home after one night in the hospital, have little or no discomfort and quickly return to their regular activities," Dr. Minor said.

Back to top