Writing the next chapter
By Scott Peek, Front Range Market and Saint Joseph Hospital President
Each new year begins with the promise of both hope and change. Although there are many unknowns as we navigate the challenges that we face both in the Front Range market and in the healthcare industry overall, I want to provide you with some of the latest updates we know.
A lot of exciting work is underway to expand our footprint, recruit physicians, grow and continue to focus on providing our patients with the best care and experiences.
Kaiser Permanente has implemented changes to orthopedics starting in early February, along with other transitions of service they plan to implement at the end of March, including hospital medicine, palliative care and critical care. We are working toward a smooth transition with changing coverage models and providers. We also know as we still have Kaiser patients in house and seeking care at Saint Joe’s, we remain steadfast in our commitment to provide outstanding care and service like we do for every patient who walks through our doors in need, regardless of their ability to pay.
It is important to highlight our continued commitment to GME, working with Kaiser through the end of this year, and as they transition, Dr. John Tynes and Dr. Al Steinmann are working on future plans.
Plans are already in place or under development to backfill all departing services and maintain volumes and, thanks to the outstanding reputation for clinical excellence and top-quality patient care that you’ve built and maintained, medical providers are excited to work with us and patients want to come to us for care. This includes key services like cardiology and neonatology, where we are excited to keep our longstanding relationship with the neonatologists who will remain in place as Intermountain providers, covering NICUs across the Front Range, including ours.
I would also like to share that three highly respected and experienced cardiologists have signed on to join us as employed Intermountain Health caregivers. All three doctors will be at our Heart and Vascular-Denver clinic and practice out of Saint Joe’s.
If you haven’t already, please join me in welcoming:
Dr. Bridget Beck will start with us as a general cardiologist on Monday, April 7.
Dr. Vijay Subbarao will start with us on Monday, April 14, as a general cardiologist.
Dr. Sameer “Sam” Mehta will start with us on Monday, May 5, as an interventional cardiologist.
We are optimistic that we’ll have more of these outstanding new team member announcements in the year ahead.
As always, our north star and belief in our future success is the emphasis we place on quality, safety and experience.
Intermountain Health utilizes the Vizient database to measure quality, and 2024 was the first year Saint Joe’s used these metrics. The cohort we measure ourselves against is made up of 204 hospitals of similar size and looks at data in six domains including Mortality, Safety, Effectiveness, Efficiency, Patient Experience and Equity. It is worth noting that although it takes time to orient to a new system and data, Saint Joe’s is currently ranked #51 in the cohort, which is in the 75th percentile among all hospitals. We also came in at #1 right out of the gate in the Patient Experience and Equity domains.
That is an incredible way to start, and I know we will only go up from here because at Saint Joseph Hospital, we don’t settle for being average. Thank you for your continued focus on providing the highest quality and safest care for our patients that we continue to be nationally recognized for.
Although the future is uncertain, I am very optimistic about the direction we are going. Our relationship with Kaiser has yielded incredible results, and we are grateful to their providers, whom we will miss dearly. I wish them nothing but the best and you never know how we might partner again in the future. That said, Saint Joseph Hospital has been part of Denver’s fabric for the last 150 years as a mission-driven organization, with a legacy of and unwavering commitment to serving the poor and vulnerable. We are a vital part of a top-ranked health system with strong financial performance and a reputation for being on the leading edge of clinical excellence and innovation.
Sister Maureen came back from Leavenworth and spoke to our leaders recently, and she reminded us of the uncertainty and challenges Saint Joe’s has overcome in the past to shape who we are today. Her powerful reminder was to focus on our patients, why we are here, and left us with “Now with God’s grace…do your best.” Thank you all for sharing this commitment with us.
Scott