All of the sessions from DCHA’s 2022 Opioid Response Symposium are available for viewing here.
Sessions include:
May is a month to celebrate and honor our hospitals, health care workers and nurses who have sacrificed so much in the last few years. Nurses are the heart of heath care and hospitals help miracles happen! The District of Columbia Hospital Association loves our DC health care community!
Every day, more than 30,000 dedicated health care professionals go to work in DC hospitals. Thank you to all the HEROES working to take care of us – no matter what!
For decades, it has been commonly understood that individuals experiencing a medical emergency shouldn’t wait for treatment. Treatment guidelines for individuals experiencing heart attacks, strokes and traumatic injuries prioritize rapid response. The medical community refers to the “golden hour” — the 60 minutes within which an injured or sick person should receive definitive treatment from the time of injury or onset of symptoms. If care is delayed beyond this hour, the risk of serious, long-term complications or death significantly increases. New systems of care, often regionalized, emerged to ensure that no precious time is lost in transporting, stabilizing, treating, and transferring patients.
Yet, for people experiencing a psychiatric or substance use emergency, a similar urgency coupled with system change hasn’t prevailed. Even in 2022, too many hospitals, crisis teams, first responders, and others needing to get people into behavioral health treatment quickly must rely on outdated, manual processes to locate clinically appropriate care, which cause critical delays in care. In their search for placement, clinicians are calling behavioral health facilities and programs one-by-one, leaving messages, faxing paperwork, and waiting for calls to be returned. The seemingly simple act of transferring a patient to behavioral health care is requiring clinicians to spend countless hours on repetitive administrative tasks that take them away from direct patient care.
The result is that, far too often, children, adolescents, and adults experiencing a behavioral health crisis wait hours or even days for placement in clinically appropriate therapeutic treatment. One study documents an average length of stay in the hospital emergency department for psychiatric admissions of 18 hours, compared to 5 hours for non-psychiatric admissions.1 Others have estimated average boarding times of between 6.8 hours and 34 hours for patients needing psychiatric treatment.2,3
Today, these wait times are likely even longer as the pandemic has made the ED boarding crisis worse in two ways. One, hospitals are at or beyond capacity with patients with COVID-19 and other serious physical conditions coupled with ever increasing staffing shortages. Two, the pandemic, and the associated anxiety, stress, and isolation, have contributed to an increased need for behavioral health care, particularly among children and adolescents. Children’s hospitals reportedly saw a 45 percent increase in pediatric self-injury and suicide cases between January and July 2021.4 In 2020, pediatric mental health-related hospital emergency department visits increased 24 percent for children ages 5-11 and 31 percent for older children and adolescents.5
XFERALL’s mission is to drastically save time for clinical staff and reduce the amount of time patients spend in EDs waiting for a transfer to the most appropriate care center by applying innovative technology solutions. The platform enables real- time communication so that clinicians needing to place a patient can request placement at as few or as many facilities as they choose; receive responses from facilities or programs that can accept and treat the patient; and share clinical information — all within minutes and within a single source. This coordinated approach allows caregivers and patients to be engaged in the decision-making process as well.
The District of Columbia Hospital Association and XFERALL, the nation’s leading mobile patient transfer platform, have entered a partnership that offers DC hospitals a new process for transferring acute and behavioral health patients to clinically appropriate health care facilities. To learn more, join us on May 10 for a free webinar, Behavioral Health Patient Transfer & Placement Technology, and learn about this program and how it can support improving access for patients in crisis.
1 Nicks BA, Manthey DM. The impact of psychiatric patient boarding in emergency departments. Emerg Med Int 2012; 2012: 360308.
2 Weiss AP, Chang G, Rauch SL, et al. Patient and practice-related determinants of emergency department length of stay for patients with psychiatric illness. Ann Emerg Med. 2012;60(2):162–71.
3 Tuttle GA. Access to psychiatric beds and impact on emergency medicine. Chicago, IL: Council on Medical Service, American Medical Association; 2008.
4 Pediatricians, Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists and Children’s Hospitals Declare National Emergency in Children’s Mental Health, October 19, 2021.
aacap.org/aacap/zLatest_News/Pediatricians_CAPs_Childrens_Hospitals_Declare_National_Emergency_Childrens_ Mental_Health
5 Ibid
Every day at the workplace presents new encounters, situations, and challenges for the health care professional. You may find yourself dealing with angry, hostile, or noncompliant behavior every day. Your response to this defensive behavior plays a critical role in determining whether or not the incident will escalate into a crisis situation. These 10 de-escalation tips provide strategies and techniques to help you respond to difficult behavior in the safest, most effective way possible.
The Red Cross is experiencing the worst blood shortage in over a decade. Low blood supply levels can force hospitals to defer patients from major surgery. Blood donation is desperately needed.
General Messaging
What is Causing the Blood Shortage Crisis?
Critically Needed Blood
Reasons to Give Blood
Call to Action
Sources: American Red Cross, Give Blood, One Blood
Sample Graphics
On February 16, 2022, The Joint Commission shared required documentation for COVID vaccination among health care staff. The Joint Commission will now be requiring health care facilities to provide the following documentation:
New Requirements
Vaccination Rate Calculation
The District of Columbia Hospital Association (DCHA) and XFERALL, the nation’s leading mobile patient transfer platform, have entered a partnership that offers DC hospitals a new process for transferring acute and behavioral health patients to clinically appropriate health care facilities.
The District, as is the country, is experiencing a high volume of behavioral health patients, which results in an increased need for crisis services. DCHA and XFERRAL both recognize the importance of a collaborative approach to creating innovative solutions with diverse partners to support behavioral health access.
XFERALL reduces transfer times for medical and behavioral health patients between health care facilities.
This is one of many projects DCHA works on to ensure behavioral health needs are being met. DCHA works on many initiatives that focus on serving the behavioral health community.
“Partnering with XFERALL on this important effort provides our members with an additional tool to continue our commitment to safe, high-quality patient care for all of the individuals our hospitals serve,” said Jacqueline D. Bowens, President & CEO, DCHA.
XFERALL’s partners in other states have achieved reductions in wait times for transfer to appropriate care by as much as 86 percent.
“We’re excited to bring our innovative platform to DC hospitals to help reduce wait times for essential medical and behavioral health care,” said Nathan Read, CEO, XFERALL. “Too many patients in crisis are waiting too long for care. We know that outcomes are better when patients care is not delayed and is accessible in their community. In partnership with XFERALL, DC hospitals are working to deliver solutions that address the serious challenges of crowded emergency departments, clinician burnout, and delays in care.”
DCHA is the unifying voice for hospitals and health systems in the District of Columbia and works to advance health policy to strengthen the District’s world-class health care system to ensure that it is equitable and accessible to all.
The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) in August last year identified boarding times for patients in hospital emergency departments as at an “all-time high.” This is for all patients waiting to be transferred to a different facility for needed treatment, whether a behavioral health facility or hospital providing a higher level of acute care.
ACEP identified two reasons for increasing boarding times: 1) hospital staffing shortages and 2) influx of seriously ill patients, with COVID-19 and with other emergent conditions, in part due to patients’ delaying necessary medical care during the pandemic.
For patients needing behavioral health treatment, even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the average wait time in an acute hospital ED conservatively was estimated at eight hours. Anecdotally, however, hospitals across the country often reported much longer wait times as clinically appropriate, available psychiatric beds were hard to identify, particularly for certain populations, such as children and adolescents, older patients, and those with co-occurring conditions.
Today, just five months after ACEP raised concerns about all-time high boarding times, the problem is yet more serious as the country is experiencing an even-higher number of COVID-19 cases, fueled by the Omicron variant, and even more acute staffing shortages.
For hospitals using XFERALL to automate and expedite acute medical and behavioral health patient transfers, the picture is not as bleak. In Texas alone, hospitals using XFERALL to transfer medical patients between August 2020 and July 2021 got a response from a receiving hospital to their transfer request in less than 1 minute, 18 seconds and secured acceptance for patient transfer in less than 20 minutes. Over the last two years, even during the pandemic, XFERALL’s partners reduced behavioral health patient transfer times by 86%.
XFERALL empowers health care systems and providers to quickly identify medical and behavioral hospitals with the capacity and capability to accept patients for transfer. The XFERALL technology automates the patient transfer process, creating less work for the health care provider and improving emergency department capacity by reducing transfer times. By automating the patient transfer process and increasing visibility into a wider network of potentially available beds, XFERALL eliminates the need for nurses and other clinicians to make labor-intensive phone calls and faxes to identify clinically appropriate care for patients needing transfer.
There is no easy fix to the nation’s health care staffing crisis, and the end to COVID-19 remains elusive. The good news is that hospitals nonetheless can reduce care delays and mitigate the consequences of the staffing shortage by implementing internal logistics and operations that accelerate the effective and efficient transition of patients to appropriate treatment. Improvement starts with questioning old habits of picking up the phone and faxing clinical information and being open to modernizing the patient transfer process. There’s never been a more urgent time to do so.
To learn more about the work with DC-area hospitals and behavioral health teams, contact Jennifer Witten, senior vice president, government affairs and policy, at Jennifer.Witten@xferall.com.
The District of Columbia Hospital Association (DCHA) at its December 15 Board of Directors Annual Meeting, voted to elect a new slate of Board officers for terms beginning in January 2022. DCHA is the unifying voice for hospitals and health systems in the District of Columbia and works to advance health policy to strengthen the District’s world-class health care system to ensure that it is equitable and accessible to all. The DCHA Board of Directors sets the strategic direction for the association. The 2022 Board Officers are:
Dr. Hasan Zia, Board Chair
President & Chief Operating Officer, Sibley Memorial Hospital
Anita Jenkins, Vice Chair
Chief Executive Officer, Howard University Hospital
Dr. Christopher King, Secretary
Associate Professor, Georgetown University Medical Center
Dania O’Connor, Treasurer
Chief Executive Officer, Psychiatric Institute of Washington
John Rockwood, Immediate Past Chair
President, MedStar National Rehabilitation Hospital & Senior Vice President, MedStar Health
Jacqueline D. Bowens, President & Chief Executive Officer
District of Columbia Hospital Association
In addition to the new Board of Directors, DCHA appointed one At-Large member and welcomed a new addition to the Board with the departure of James Linhares from BridgePoint Hospital Capitol Hill:
Kathy Hollinger, At-Large Board Member
President & Chief Executive Officer, Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington
Ryan Zumalt, Board Director Chief Executive Officer, BridgePoint Hospital Capitol Hill
“DCHA is privileged to have such an esteemed group of individuals serve the association, our hospitals and the residents of the District of Columbia,” said Jacqueline D. Bowens, President and CEO of DCHA.
Peer recovery and outreach coaches from five District hospitals gathered for an in-person meeting at Unity Health Care, a community health center, on September 9. The group met to discuss strategies for eliminating barriers and increasing community support for patients entering substance use treatment programs. For the peers, having a strong relationship with community partners is a key component of the referral process, and often determines whether a patient is linked to treatment.
“I loved putting a face to the name of providers we talk to every week,” said Veronica Williams, a hospital-based peer recovery coach from United Medical Center. “The in-person meeting was great because we got to experience the facility first-hand and got to interact with the people who we are sending our patients to, to help them know what to expect when they arrive.”
Community-based coaches also reiterate the importance of community collaboration in supporting patients in finding long-term recovery. “It was an amazing experience to meet the people at Unity, see their facility and discuss our roles in health care together. It really adds to the sense of community we are trying to establish as peers when we can get together to have a discussion on how to best serve our patient population and community at large!” said Thaddeus Wientzen, an outreach coach from MedStar Georgetown University Hospital.
A patient’s experience at a treatment center has a strong impact on their overall recovery and a negative experience can deter a patient from wanting to enter treatment again. Part of the role of the hospital-based peers is to motivate patients to enter treatment and that includes finding the right treatment provider for each individual. Face-to-face meetings and facility tours help the coaches determine the right place for each patient.
“Visiting Unity Health Care’s East of the River location was very insightful. I personally did not know all the different aspects of the center and learned that there were walk-in hours for MAT patients. I have always had an excellent experience whenever I have used Unity’s services for referrals,” said William Ellis, an outreach coach from Howard University Hospital.
Providing accessible community support is something Unity Health Care does every day by providing a full range of health and human services to meet community needs throughout the District. Nine Unity Health Care sites are fast-track providers for hospital referrals, working with peers to provide same-day or next-day appointments for substance use patients.
Unity Health Care’s Behavioral Health Program Manager Mary Wozniak shared that “meeting with the hospital peers was valuable to understand their perspectives and to reiterate the need for improved access to care with no barriers. When a patient is ready to access treatment, it’s best to connect them immediately, or you risk them returning to drug use. We hope that our open access model will help address some of that need.”
Note: All participants received a COVID-19 screening upon entry and followed CDC guidance on vaccination, mask wearing and social distancing.
L-R: Corrine Simons, William Ellis, Mary Wozniak, Dr. Andrew Robie, Ean Bond, Thaddeus Wientzen, Veronica Williams
#Treatment
#Substance Use Disorder
#DCHA
#Collaboration
#Community
#Hospitals
#Sustainability
