Data Facts and iCIMS Partner to Provide Candidate Solutions to Baptist Memorial Health Care

The 14 hospitals that stretch over three states in Baptist Memorial Health Care’s (BMHC) system employ about 12,000 people. That’s a lot of jobs for a human resources department to look after.  And what makes the challenge even tougher for a health care organization such as BMHC is the vast array of state and federal rules and regulations the human resources office has to deal with.

To tackle this challenge, BMHC leveraged a partnership between Data Facts, a Memphis-based organization that provides businesses with crucial background information and iCIMS, an organization that provides on-demand web-based business solutions related to candidate and employee management. With the alliance of iCIMS and Data Facts in full gear, BMHC can initiate background checks with the click of a button.

By jumpstarting the background check, Data Facts is able to deliver a wealth of vital information about a job applicant in as quickly as 24 hours said Lisa P. May, Vice President of Resource & Development at Data Facts.

Data Facts is a national background screening company, provides comprehensive candidate screening services that support workforce safety and regulatory compliance. The company, more than two-decades old, has been providing a range of services to BMHC since 2003. During that time the two have built an excellent working relationship. As BMHC’s needs grew and regulations expanded and became more complex, Data Facts’ provided proactive health care screening solutions.

Data Facts is able to provide Baptist proper and acute screening quickly, allowing BHMC to process applications much more efficiently according to May. It greatly eliminates the chances of spending too much time on a candidate who is not qualified.  The turn-around time on processing applications is tremendously improved.

Mgma And Acmpe Name Susan Turney, Md, Facmpe As President And Ceo

Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) and its credentialing and standard-setting body, American College of Medical Practice Executives (ACMPE), recently named Susan Turney, MD, MS, FACP, FACMPE as their new president and chief executive officer. Turney, an internist, will take the helm at the Associations in early October. She succeeds William F. Jessee, MD, FACMPE, who will retire in September after 12 years at the associations. The Boards of Directors selected and confirmed Turney after a year-long national search conducted by a professional search firm under the guidance of member leaders.

Turney, who has earned the status of Fellow in ACMPE, the highest level of board certification one can earn in the medical practice management profession, will oversee the strategy and operations of MGMA, ACMPE and their affiliated organizations.

Turney has broad experience with both practice management and association management. Turney has served as the CEO and executive vice president of the Wisconsin Medical Society since 2004. Among other achievements, she founded and chaired the Wisconsin Statewide Health Information Network (WISHIN) to improve individual and community health, promote patient-centered healthcare, and advance the use of information technology to improve health care quality and efficiency.

Turney also co-founded the Wisconsin Health Information Organization and spearheaded the vision, strategy and execution of initiatives to optimize healthcare delivery and to help ensure accessible, efficient, patient-centered quality care for Wisconsin citizens. Along with her clinical practice, Turney also served as the medical director for patient financial services at Marshfield (Wis.) Clinic.

Turney served as the 2005-06 MGMA Board chair as well as in other Board and committee positions and has been an ACMPE Fellow since 2005.

Turney has served on state and national health care committees, including committees of the National Quality Forum, and fulfilled many other appointments from the Wisconsin governor and the secretary of the U.S. Health and Human Services. Turney holds a medical degree and a master’s of science degree in administrative medicine from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. She served her internal medicine residency at Marshfield Clinic/St. Joseph’s Hospital.  

UT Medical Group Appoints President And CEO

Dr. J. Lacey Smith has been named president and chief executive officer of UT Medical Group, Inc., succeeding Steven H. Burkett. 

 Smith has been UT Medical Group’s chief medical officer and executive vice president since 2008. He is a long-time faculty member at the UT Health Science Center, where he currently serves as professor of medicine and most recently was interim dean for the College of Medicine.

Smith is board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine with subspecialty certification in gastroenterology.  After completing his residency in internal medicine and fellowship in gastroenterology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, he joined the faculty there.  He joined the UT Health Science Center in 1989.

The Medical Group Partners With SergeMD for NextGen Solutions

 The Medical Group, PLLC, an 8 provider Internal Medicine group,  is partnering with  local healthcare IT provider SergeMD to deploy the NextGen ambulatory Electronic Health Record and Practice Management suite of solutions.  SergeMD is a Memphis based reseller of NextGen software that will handle the training, implementation and ongoing support for The Medical Group.  

The Medical Group’s software purchase and partnership with SergeMD affirms the practice’s commitment to investing in the latest technologies that enhance patient care and satisfaction.  The implementation of the NextGen suite of solutions will enable The Medical Group to streamline clinical workflow, efficiently document patient encounters, and will provide immediate and secure access to patient data, eventually eliminating the need for paper records. From a patient perspective, the goal is to eliminate the clipboard said Shad Williams, President of SergeMD.

SergeMD and The Medical Group will also partner on several initiatives to prepare the practice for the achievement of the Meaningful Use incentives established in the HITECH Act of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. NextGen provides a module specifically designed to report the data required for Meaningful Use.

The Medical Group has been preparing for this implementation for several months and will set the standard for patient-centered care in the Mid-South  states Williams. 

New ED Registration and Triage Areas Open At The MED

 Regional Medical Center at Memphis is continuing efforts to increase efficiencies, upgrade the physical plant and improve patient access in the hospital with renovations in the Emergency Department.  Phase 1 of the Emergency Department renovation project is now complete.

 The newly renovated area, which includes new registration and triage spaces, opened for patients and guests in July.  Patient access and comfort were key elements in the design of the new space during this first phase of construction, which began on March 28. Also improving access, the Emergency Parking Lot located on Jefferson Avenue opened June 30 for patients and guests.

 The next phase of construction is underway now to build a main entrance to the hospital. The new main entrance will be located on Jefferson Avenue. The entrance will provide a much needed “front door” for guests to access the hospital. This phase of construction along with phase 2 of the Emergency Department waiting room is expected to be completed by September.

Saint Francis Hospital – Bartlett Earns ACR Accreditation

Saint Francis Hospital-Bartlett has been awarded a three-year term of accreditation in both computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).  This is based on the result of a recent review by the American College of Radiology (ACR).

The ACR gold seal of accreditation represents the highest level of image quality and patient safety. It is awarded only to facilities meeting ACR Practice Guidelines and Technical Standards after a peer-review evaluation by board-certified physicians and medical physicists who are experts in the field. Image quality, personnel qualifications, adequacy of facility equipment, quality control procedures, and quality assurance programs are assessed. The findings are reported to the ACR Committee on Accreditation, which subsequently provides the practice with a comprehensive report they can use for continuous practice improvement.

The ACR is a national professional organization serving more than 34,000 diagnostic/interventional radiologists, radiation oncologists, nuclear medicine physicians, and medical physicists with programs focusing on the practice of medical imaging and radiation oncology and the delivery of comprehensive health care services.

Dr. James Eason Named to National Transplant Advisory Committee

James Eason, M.D., F.A.C.S., has accepted an appointment by Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of Health and Human Services of the United States, to serve on the Advisory Committee on Organ Transplantation in the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) for a term beginning in June, 2011 and ending in January, 2015.

 Dr. Eason is the program director of the Methodist University Hospital Transplant Institute, in partnership with the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC).  He is a professor at UTHSC and is a member of UT Medical Group.

 HRSA provides staff and logistics support to the Advisory Committee on Organ Transplantation, which makes recommendations to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on issues concerning organ donation and transplantation.

As program director of the Methodist University Hospital Transplant Institute since 2006, Dr. Eason has led the program to becoming a nationally-recognized Center of Excellence for liver and kidney transplantations based on volume and outcomes. Thanks to his research, the program’s physicians have the most experience in the nation in steroid-free liver transplantation.  The Methodist University Hospital Transplant Institute is one of the top 12 transplant programs in the country and the seventh largest liver program in the nation.  The transplant one-year graft survival rate is among the highest in the nation at 87.57%. This month, the program became the first in Tennessee to perform a paired kidney donation and transplant via a partnership with the National Kidney Registry.

Methodist Hospice Residence Opens

A grand opening ceremony was held at the new Methodist Hospice Residence in June. Mitch Graves, President of Methodist Affiliated Services, addressed a crowd of supporters. The new facility features 30 patient rooms, a conference room, chapel, family gathering area and a kitchen for families. One of the most unique features of the new Hospice Residence is the courtyard’s gardens and pathways.

Tumor suppressor protein is a key regulator of immune response and balance

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital scientists have identified a key immune system regulator, a protein that serves as a gatekeeper in the white blood cells that produce the “troops” to battle specific infections.

Researchers demonstrated the protein, Tsc1, is pivotal for maintaining a balanced immune system and combating infections. Loss of the Tsc1 protein was associated with a reduction in the number of certain immune cells and a weaker immune response. The work appears in the July 17 online edition of the scientific journal Nature Immunology.

Scientists found that Tsc1 works by inhibiting the pathway that launches production of the specialized white blood cells known as effector T cells. Those cells are the backbone of the adaptive immune response, designed to respond, identify and destroy specific bacteria, viruses and other threats.

 Working in mice with specially engineered immune systems, scientists showed Tsc1 also keeps cellular activity at a minimum in the white blood cells known as naïve T cells. That process is known as quiescence.

Quiescence has long been recognized as crucial to proper immune function. But until now scientists were unclear how quiescence was established and maintained in naïve T cells. “This study is the first to show that Tsc1 is a primary regulator of T cell quiescence,” said Hongbo Chi, Ph.D., assistant member St. Jude Department of Immunology, and the study’s senior author. The first author is Kai Yang, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in Chi’s laboratory.

Director Named for Patient- and Family-Centered Care at Methodist University Hospital

Joanne Cunningham has been named director of patient- and family-centered care at Methodist University Hospital.  Cunningham was the first volunteer chairman of the Le Bonheur Family Partners Council a group of volunteers who have had patient experiences.  The council guides the hospital’s improvement processes, provides advice on how to improve clinical care, and helps define patient- and family-centered care.

Cunningham’s passion for patient- and family-centered care stems from her experiences with her now 12-year-old son Jacob who has cerebral palsy.

Cunningham holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and a master’s degree in Curriculum, Instruction and Leadership with an emphasis in special education, both from the University of Memphis.

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