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Radiologist earns quality honor; UMMC cops telehealth award

Published on Thursday, January 14, 2016

Published on January 14, 2016

An associate professor of radiology receives the monthly Q Award for promoting quality and improving patient safety, while C Spire and UMMC garner recognition for a "breakthrough" telehealth pilot program that improved the health of 100 Mississippians.

Quality leaders tap radiologist for monthly award

Dr. Cyrillo Araujo, center, associate professor of radiology, receives congratulations from Dr. Phyllis Bishop, professor of pediatric gastroenterology and chief quality officer, and Dr. Timothy C. McCowan, professor and chair of radiology, after receiving the Q Award at the Medical Executive Committee's January meeting.

Presented monthly, the Q Award is given to a Medical Center physician who promotes quality and improves patient safety.

Araujo was nominated for the award by Dr. Scott Prechter, chief resident in radiology, who praised Araujo for “putting quality and safety of the patient at the forefront.” The initiatives Araujo has championed include streamlining the peer review process, becoming personally involved in root cause analyses when needed, maintaining updated quality and safety information on the department's website, and actively encouraging residents to keep patient safety and quality a very clear priority.

According to Prechter's nomination, Araujo “is an integral part of teaching quality and safety to residents.”

"He led the initiative to start the Veriphy System to monitor lung nodules as well as more acute findings aimed at reducing mortality as well as saving hospital dollars through catching patients who would otherwise fall through the cracks.”

Prechter described Araujo as “one of our confidants and mentors with regard to morbidity and mortality conference. As a chief resident, I would routinely discuss cases with him that I would present in conference. He offered valuable insight that made the conference more productive.”

To nominate a physician for the quality award, select the “Q Award” link under the UMMC Yellow Pages on the UMMC Intranet. 


 

Medical Center 'breaks through' with telehealth award

UMMC and C Spire have received the TMC 2015 Telehealth Award for a breakthrough telehealth pilot program that dramatically lowered the cost of care and improved the health of 100 Mississippians struggling with chronic diabetes.

The mobile service unit of the Mississippi-based telecommunications and technology firm and UMMC's Center for Telehealth were among 10 projects recognized by HealthTechZone.com, a leading health-care technology news source.

HealthTechZone.com is a unit of TMC, a global integrated media conglomerate for the communications and technology industries.

The award honors innovative technologies and solutions that help improve health-care delivery and overall wellness. Award winners were judged based on their ability to improve health-care delivery and management.

Kevin Cook, CEO of University Hospitals and Health System, said the hospital system expects to save $189 million in Medicaid every year by just helping individuals better manage their diabetes.

"After seeing the improved health and quality of life for individuals participating in this program, we're ready to expand the benefits to other chronically ill populations,” Cook said.

After expanding operations, UMMC plans to enroll 1,000 new patients per month in Mississippi and surrounding states by the end of this year.