2009 NAHC, Cerner BeyondNow 'Excellence in Innovation' Award Goes to Suncoast Hospice

October 11 , 2009, LOS ANGELES, CA — The National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC), the nation's largest organization representing the hospice and home care industry, and Cerner, a global supplier of healthcare solutions, are proud to announce Suncoast Hospice in Clearwater, FL, as the 2009 winner of the Excellence in Innovation Award.

The award was presented to Suncoast during NAHC's 28 th Annual Meeting and Exposition taking place Oct. 10 – 14 in Los Angeles, CA The Home Care & Hospice Excellence in Innovation Award has been created to showcase successful programs and service delivery models that advance the practice of home care and hospice and the role of these vital services in the nation's healthcare system.

Suncoast Hospice achieved this award through its Communications Practice Program. As the number of patients continued to increase, in order to continue to provide the highest quality end-of-life care for each of them, Suncoast recognized that simply providing additional staff would not be sufficient. The hospice leveraged its vast experience and brought more skills and services to each patient's bedside, and also moved from reliance on face-to-face and voice communications to integration of newer modalities of video, email, and web-based tools to enhance the patient care experience.

"Suncoast Hospice has proven its commitment to excellence with this creative, innovative program that leverages the best of today's technology and proven practices, taking each to greater heights and enhancing the overall patient experience," NAHC President Val J. Halamandaris said. "Suncoast truly is a worthy winner of this year's award and stands as a shining example for others in our community."

"Within Cerner, we believe in the value of innovation and we try to embed it within our own philosophies as a business," said John Landis, senior vice president of Cerner, who leads the company's home care, long-term care, and retail pharmacy arms. "Cerner BeyondNow, in conjunction with NAHC, wants to continue to do its part in encouraging all of you to continue to collaborate and to innovate together. This award represents just one small way that we can do that." He and the thousands of general session attendees congratulated Hospice of the Florida SunCoast and welcomed Gay Madden, the hospice's vice president for information management, along with several of its business partners to the stage.

"It is my pleasure and honor to accept this award on behalf of SunCoast Hospice," Madden said. "We really worked hard figuring out how to make all of our information and communication technologies integrate with patient care, and in doing so we were able to change the way care is delivered at the bedside and shorten cycles so that people could get to where they needed to be more rapidly to meet the needs of our patients." She added that the hospice has shifted from viewing its electronic medical record merely as a means of documentation and instead as a communication tool as well; has decreased redundant communications between caregivers and sped up response times to inquiries from patients and their families; and has created an adaptive atmosphere that embraces technology and positions the hospice for further improvements in the future.

Suncoast's program uses the electronic medical record (EMR) as a communication service and tool. Shifting the concept of the EMR from documentation to communication service ensures that patients and families are not the sole conduit of information between multiple care providers. All staff members, regardless of their location, have access to real-time patient information and can proactively determine whether a patient visit is needed or a phone call will suffice. Notably, the Suncoast program also incorporates all management, not just clinicians and field staff. The program has allowed the hospice to eliminate any redundancy and miscommunications easily and effectively.

In one example, the Suncoast consulting team met recently with a pharmacist, who expressed passion for delivering the highest quality care for his patients, but said he rarely meets or speaks to them directly. Through Suncoast’s program, while at a patient's bedside, the caregiver can add the pharmacist in conference directly via a broadband link. With videoconferencing, the pharmacist and patient can see each other, and as one Suncoast caregiver pointed out, "A picture is worth a thousand words." The program brings a more personalized touch more frequently to each patient interaction.

"The project is so successful because it was about what we do and who we are — patients and families and the staff who care for them," Mary Labyak, Suncoast president and CEO said. "We focus on communication as viewed by our patients and families and external customers. We also see that the ability to embrace and understand change, and to comprehend that change, must be a constant in our industry and is essential for competition and success. There is a component of leadership development and behavioral change that occurs, which supports the organization well beyond the parameters of communications practices. We see a shift in leadership from a reactive position to a creative, proactive one."

The goals of the Excellence in Innovation Award are:

1. To acknowledge and reward individuals, home care organizations, or hospices that develop innovative programs that expand upon the traditional role of home care and hospice as part of the continuum of healthcare services;
2. To identify and promote examples of innovations in home care and hospice from which other organizations can learn; and
3. To inspire creativity and encourage further innovation in the home care and hospice field.

Individuals or organizations that have developed and implemented such programs are eligible for nomination. The nominated innovation may relate to changes in clinical, operational, financial or other practices, and will be judged by the degree to which it:

• Demonstrates that it has made positive differences in people's lives;
• Demonstrates innovation in the delivery of home and/or hospice care services (improved outcomes; improved market share, improved financial performance; improved customer retention; improved customer and employee satisfaction);
• Has bridged gaps in policies and/or services that existed before;
• Has the potential for use by other organizations or in other settings;
• Has been evaluated and shown to be effective;
• Has shown measurable and specific outcomes; and
• Includes a well-articulated plan for sustainability as well as for promotion for adaptation by other organizations.

For both 2009 and 2010, the Excellence in Innovation Award makes available $10,000 to an individual or organization that delivers home care and/or hospice services. For more information, including the award nomination process and downloadable forms, please visit the NAHC website here.