Lancaster Physician Winter 2018 - 25

winter 2018

Health Care Insights

WellSpan Health was the first in Lancaster
County to institute a "Warm Handoff Program"
to facilitate addiction treatment for overdose
patients. Through this partnership with Lancaster County Drug and Alcohol Commission
and the RASE Project, we have helped overdose
patients in our WellSpan Ephrata Community
Hospital Emergency Department get access to
treatment and recovery programs.
WellSpan also received a state grant to
participate in the Pennsylvania Coordinated
Medication Assisted Treatment (PacMAT)
program to help address the opioid problem.
Medication assisted treatment (MAT) combines
the use of medications and behavioral therapy to
treat people with opioid use disorder. WellSpan
and its partners will expand access to MAT
to uninsured, underinsured, and privately
insured patients across central Pennsylvania,
with WellSpan Philhaven serving as the region's
medication-assisted treatment hub.
WellSpan Philhaven's addiction specialist-led
team will coordinate care with physician practices in the community that can administer MAT,
as well as work with behavioral health services
and community partners such as the RASE
Project and county drug and alcohol agencies.
Jan Bergen replied:
One of our responses to these issues has been
our merger with Penn Medicine. We have a long
history of working with Penn, and the merger
is the next step in that evolution. I believe it
enhances both LG Health and Penn.
We are developing ways for residents of
Lancaster County to take advantage of services
either at Penn or provided by Penn physicians
here in Lancaster. It has expanded our service
offering and access to research. At the same
time, we have been able to share with Penn
our approach to primary care and family
medicine, areas in which Penn is looking to
expand its capabilities. I believe our relationship
greatly strengthens us for whatever the future
might bring.
In terms of meeting community health needs
such as obesity, mental health, and tobacco and
drug use, LG Health has a robust community
outreach effort of which we are very proud.

Using a data-driven approach to understand
need, we develop partnerships with other providers and community-based organizations.
We know we can't solve all these problems by
ourselves, but we can provide leadership and
resources. We are also on schedule to open a
new, free-standing behavioral health facility this
summer. Addressing these issues is a role we
take seriously, and we have a great track record
of success. I think the way we do community
outreach in Lancaster can be a model for other
health systems.
Regarding policy debates in Washington or
Harrisburg, LG Health works with industry
colleagues to advocate for solutions that will best
meet the needs of patients and communities,
and that will give providers a clearer sense of
the future so that we can plan accordingly.
Name a trend in health care
that you believe will be a
game-changer for Lancaster
County.
Philip Guarneschelli replied:
Increasing access to research and clinical trials
that are making the most advanced treatments
and medical devices available right here in
Central Pennsylvania.
UPMC Pinnacle has more than 180 active
research studies underway, including national
cardiac and cancer clinical trials. Since 1997,
PinnacleHealth CardioVascular Institute's
clinical trials have transformed cardiovascular
medicine and made new therapies available
to our community before they were available
elsewhere. UPMC Pinnacle has been a leader
in clinical trial participation and procedure
volume for an innovative, non-invasive
procedure called transcatheter aortic valve
replacement (TAVR), where a malfunctioning
valve is replaced with the new one. The next
generation of studies we are embarking on
now evaluate additional minimally invasive
valve repair or replacement for conditions
related to the mitral valve, which is structurally more complex than the aortic valve.
We continue to participate in studies that
evaluate devices that help patients with
atrial fibrillation or abnormal heartbeats.
Atrial fibrillation is the most common type
of arrhythmia and affects nearly five million

LANCASTER

PHYSICIAN

Americans by reducing their quality of life
and increasing the risk for stroke.
Finding new and innovative ways to help
these patients will be life-changing for many
in our region. We believe our new relationship
with UPMC and UPMC's passion for innovation will bring even more advanced care to
the region.
Another trend is the implementation of a
unified electronic health record (EHR), a computerized version of a traditional paper medical
chart. An EHR reduces error, improves patient
safety, increases profitability, and improves
patient engagement and satisfaction. It brings
together all information for each patient and
securely stores it digitally. Patients' health information is available no matter where they seek
care within UPMC Pinnacle. In addition, the
UPMC Pinnacle patient portal, MyPinnacleHealth, offers free, secure access to portions of
the patient health record. Patients can view test
results, communicate with their providers, and
schedule appointments from their computer
or smart phone.
Carrie Willets replied:
I can't wait to see how technology will continue
to be leveraged to transform and improve
care for our communities. When WellSpan
accepted the challenge of transitioning to a
single electronic health record earlier this year,
it gave us the ability to reimagine the power of
leveraging a variety of technologies to transform
care and the patient's experience.
Continued on page 26

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Lancaster Physician Winter 2018