5 Questions & a Shout Out

Good afternoon.

I’d like to answer some of your VC Notes inbox submissions today. I’ll plan to do this again on July 30 to hopefully get us back to a last-Friday-of-the-month schedule.

Just as a reminder, I read all your questions and comments and enjoy hearing from you. I’m only able to respond to some of them in this space, but I pass the rest along to senior administrators for their review and possible follow up. You can submit your question or comment to the VC Notes inbox here.

—  —  —

Q: Really appreciate Campus Police in managing the traffic situation between the stadium and the campus after the traffic lights went out due to thunderstorms. Thank you! 

A: I couldn’t agree more. Thank you to UMMC Police for stepping up to manage what could have been a dangerous situation at an intersection known for heavy traffic and pedestrians.

What they did that day is certainly not out of the norm. They routinely act to enhance our safety, and many times we don’t even see it or know about it.

We all owe Chief Mary Paradis, officers and staff our appreciation.

—  —  —

Q: We have been hearing and seeing that the Wiser cafe is slowly going back to the "fancy" menu that is being served in the main cafeteria. That is not what the employees want. We need variety. We spend more time here than we do at home. Please, can we keep Wiser cafe with the food they have now– Taco Thursday and keep the grill open? Patients and families like "comfort" food when they are here. Don't change the food at Wiser.

A: On the positive side, it’s nice to hear that you are enjoying the food in the Wiser Cafeteria. I’m sorry, though, that you couldn’t get what you wanted because the grill was down. It’s been repaired and is ready for your order.

They are making some menu tweaks to provide more variety, and as of July 1 that includes more “comfort food” options.

Give it a little time to see if the Wiser cafeteria menu options provide the types of food you’re wanting, but if later you’re still frustrated, please let me know.

—  —  —

Q: Dr. Woodward, are there any plans in place to address UMMC parking? Could bringing back parking decals possibly help the situation to separate student and employee parking? As you know, the stadium parking lot is at maximum capacity every day. For many employees, the overflow parking lot is the only area left open to park by 8 a.m. The walk from overflow to the main entrance takes approximately 10 minutes to walk; in the summer heat, employees are drenched in sweat by the time they make it to their area of employment. Why don't they use the bus, you ask? Because the bus routes do not drop off at the main entrance until the end of their route, causing employees to either be late for work, or forcing employees to arrive to work almost an hour early to be on time when using bus services. The issue employees are seeing is that students are utilizing bus services to get to their location, regardless of where they choose to park. Is there any way the students could be designated to park in overflow to reduce the walk and the time it takes for employees to arrive at their unit of employment?

A: Thanks for your submission.

I think the crux of your questions is needing to know which bus line is the most direct to the front of University Hospital. The Blue Line drops off at Shuttle Stop 13, which is the new covered stop just south of the University Hospital entrance, after only two previous stops. It sounds like that is the shuttle you want.

For our students, the Gold Line is their preferred option for non-clinical students because it drops off at locations on our education-focused side of campus. The Red Line is also helpful for them.

Detailed information about our shuttle routes can be found here.

Decals for the stadium lots are not something that we are considering.

—  —  — 

Q: Why is it that our insurance doesn’t cover infertility treatment and that there is absolutely no concern or support from the institution? With the rates of infertility among female physicians reported, I believe UMMC should be more supportive and at least start working on the matter.

A: UMMC employees are members of the State and School Employees Health Plan, and the terms and services covered are managed by the Mississippi Department of Finance and Administration, not UMMC. We routinely communicate with DFA and state officials on changes that we would like made to the health insurance offered to our employees – including health conditions and wellness services that we feel should be covered. Thank you for your comments on this topic, and we will add this to our request list.

In addition, you may want to email your concerns to DFA at KnowYourBenefits@dfa.ms.gov.

—  —  —

Q: I would like to address the walking trail behind the School for Health Related Professions. Parts of it are covered with dried mud, and some of the branches hang too low and need to be trimmed. Is there scheduled maintenance for this area?

A: I passed this VC Notes inbox item to our Facilities Services, and they’ve already started work on improving that area. Workers are trimming low-hanging branches and will pressure wash the walking path.

It doesn’t look like that area, which also includes picnic-style tables, gets used much, but hopefully after this maintenance, our employees and students will enjoy it more often.

—  —  —

Q: Dr. Woodard, will you please explain why work queues were created in the Epic system but are not being worked by an actual human being? When a referral is placed, it will be weeks or months before a patient hears from certain departments. The usual response from the staff is "no one really works that queue; therefore, the referring physician's office needs to call to notify us that referral was placed.” This is not an efficient system, and I can guarantee you that the referring physician's office personnel are busy with their own duties and don’t have the time to follow up to see if the referral has been reviewed or the procedure scheduled by a different department.

A: For the past year we have been working with the Chartis Group, a national health care consulting firm, on identifying ways to improve our access, scheduling and referral processes and putting enhancements into practice. We’ve already experienced benefits in some areas and continue to focus on others to continue improvements.

The goal for the upcoming year is to reach more than 70% of referrals scheduled within two business days. To reach this goal, a multi-disciplinary work group has been digging into questions about specific steps, referral sources or channels used that may be the primary culprit causing delays.

Some target areas this year are:

• Increasing use of Epic Care Everywhere (We will work with our referral partners that use Epic to take advantage of this service rather than traditional fax.)
• Centralizing online forms and faxes (We are nearing completion of hiring additional physician schedulers, who will help field referrals to a centralized number.)
• Easing referral order creation (We are currently piloting in pediatrics a new way to streamline the referral process, which we will roll out to other departments in the future.)
• Standardizing pre-scheduling referral review (We will launch this month's courses for schedulers via Health Stream modules. This will provide detailed guidance for outlining, educating and monitoring standardized referral order fields and processes.)
• Optimizing clinical triage processes (We will replace clinical triage with other tools. Pediatrics is currently using this new process with Family Medicine, Dermatology and Neurology starting later this month. The goal is to roll out to all departments by the end of the year.)
• Leveraging the Tavoca texting system to enhance referral patient outreach (In the next month, we will launch a project with Tavoca in which patients will be contacted by the physician scheduler for referrals. If no response, patients will receive a Tavoca text and a My Chart message, if needed. The referral will stay active 7-10 days to give the patient time to respond.)
• Scheduling ED and inpatient referrals before discharge (We have launched an ED follow-up clinic in Family Medicine. The ED has the ability to schedule directly into the clinic upon discharge. Patients are seen within one week of discharge. If successful we will look at rolling this model to our other specialties, as well as using this model for inpatient referrals.)

—  —  —

Thank you for these questions/comments and all of the others that I receive. Keep them coming. Your submissions prove that you, our most precious resource, are invested in this Medical Center and the audiences we serve. That’s great, because it takes all of us keeping watch over the incalculable number of ever-changing variables that go into running an institution this size. With us all playing a part, UMMC will continue to lead the way for A Healthier Mississippi.