Mills-Peninsula Health Services

National Study Recognizes Mills-Peninsula Health Services for Exceptional Quality

noreply@blogger.com (T. Baumgardner) — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 20:21:00 +0000

National Study Recognizes Mills-Peninsula Health Services for Exceptional Quality
HealthGrades ranks Mills-Peninsula Health Services among top five percent nationally two years in a row (2008-2009)

Burlingame, CA (January 27, 2009) – Mills-Peninsula Health Services is one of only 270 hospitals to receive the 2009 HealthGrades Distinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence Award™. This distinction is based on an independent study released today by HealthGrades, the healthcare ratings company.

The study of quality at the nation’s nearly 5,000 nonfederal hospitals places Mills-Peninsula in the top five percent for overall clinical quality. According to the HealthGrades study, Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence had mortality rates that were, on average, 27 percent lower than other hospitals, and major complication rates that were eight percent lower.

For seven years now, HealthGrades has conducted the most comprehensive studies of hospital quality in America, producing ratings for every non-federal hospital. Hospitals that receive the Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence are those hospitals that excel across the 26 procedures and diagnoses rated.

“Our patients expect only the highest quality care at Mills-Peninsula,” said Bob Merwin, Mills-Peninsula CEO. “Ranking in the top five percent in the country is a great honor, and I’d like to thank all of our clinicians and staff for helping make our organization one of the best.”

The study also shows that Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence™ are improving at a greater rate in more procedures and diagnoses than all other hospitals, lowering risk-adjusted mortality rates over the years 2005, 2006, 2007 by an average of 18 percent.

For its study, HealthGrades analyzed almost 41 million Medicare hospitalization records that cover the latest three-year period, from 2005 to 2007. Because the hospitalization records come from the federal government, no hospital can opt in or out of HealthGrades' rating process. The analysis is risk-adjusted to account for differences in patient populations between hospitals.

HealthGrades found that Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence™ outperformed all other hospitals across the procedures and diagnoses studied. HealthGrades estimates that 152,666 lives could have been saved and 11,772 complications could have been avoided over the three years studied if all Medicare patients were treated at Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence.

Additional 2009 HealthGrades clinical achievements include:

One of 199 Hospitals in the Country to Receive the Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical ExcellenceTM Two Years in a Row (2008-2009)

One 24 Hospitals in CA to receive the Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical ExcellenceTM Two Years in a Row (2008-2009)

One of 6 Hospitals in the Bay Area to receive the Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical ExcellenceTM Two Years in a Row (2008-2009)

One of 7 Hospitals in Northern California to receive the 2008 Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical ExcellenceTM Two Years in a Row (2008-2009)

About Mills-Peninsula Health Services
Mills-Peninsula, a member of the not-for-profit Sutter Health organization, has provided excellent quality medical care to the San Mateo County community for more than 100 years. The organization operates two community health facilities with a total of 403 inpatient beds. Peninsula Medical Center, in Burlingame, CA, is an acute-care facility offering inpatient services such as orthopedics, cardiovascular surgery, a family birth center and emergency services. Mills Health Center, in San Mateo, CA, offers outpatient services including surgery, a cancer center, women's health services and diagnostics.

Mills-Peninsula also received the following HealthGrades awards:

Five-Star Rated for Overall Bariatric Surgery Three Years in a Row (2006/2007, 2007/2008, 2008/2009)

Recipient of the HealthGrades Stroke Care Excellence Award™ in 2008

Recipient of the HealthGrades Critical Care Excellence Award™ Three Years in a Row (2006-2008)

Recipient of the HealthGrades General Surgery Excellence Award™ Three Years in a Row (2007-2009)

Recipient of the HealthGrades Gastrointestinal Care Excellence Award™ Three Years in a Row (2007-2009)

Recipient of the HealthGrades Gastrointestinal Surgery Excellence Award™ Two Years in Row (2008-2009)

Editor’s note: A full copy of the study is available at http://www.healthgrades.com or by contacting Scott Shapiro at sshapiro@healthgrades.com.

“Skin” Enclosure Goes On New Mills-Peninsula Medical Center Ahead of Schedule

noreply@blogger.com (T. Baumgardner) — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 17:43:00 +0000

BIM Technology Speeds Up Progress On Bay Area’s
BURLINGAME, CA – September 15, 2008 -- Contractors with Turner Construction Company have begun encasing the new six-story, 450,000 square-foot Mills-Peninsula Medical Center in pre-cast concrete, ahead of schedule. To date, the equivalent of 14 acres of concrete flooring has been poured.

By the time the enclosure is completed [in March 2009], construction workers will have poured 26,000 cubic yards of concrete foundations and floors covering 18 acres -- for both the new hospital and medical office building located on the Burlingame campus.

The pre-cast concrete panels, aluminum curtain wall, exposed architectural steel and low-e glazing windows for natural lighting will give Mills-Peninsula Medical Center a dramatic exterior.

Planning Technology Helps Expedite Building Construction
The $618 million facility is not only the first Bay Area hospital to be built on earthquake-sensitive base isolators – it is using cutting-edge technology that creates real-time digital 3-D models of planned construction to improve efficiencies.

Building information modeling (BIM) technology, the new 3-D software program (by NavisWorks), overlays multiple drafts of the building’s infrastructure and synthesizes them into one unified three-dimensional model identifying where there might be conflicts before actual construction.

"Building a hospital is one of the most complicated construction challenges imaginable,” said Larry Kollerer, senior project manager for Mills-Peninsula Health Services. “With BIM technology, we have been able to closely coordinate the work on overlapping structures of the building and that has helped us move ahead and avoid many time-consuming retrofits.”

BIM enables architects, engineers, designers and building contractors to create a coordinated, digital model for managing workflow during construction. In practical terms, that means electricians and plumbers get precise information about outlets and pipes so they do not have to rip out and re-do their work because of unforeseen problems, such as plumbing pipes or pipes for heating and cooling running in to each other.

With hospitals in particular, that capability is important because when construction work does not go according to plan, regulations require that each “change order” be reviewed by the state.

Designed for Healing
Work is also under way to ensure that the hospital interior is designed to keep patients safe and give them an optimal healing experience. Single-occupancy patient rooms and rooms with sleeping accommodations for relatives will help make the hospital more family-friendly. Nine rooftop and ground-level meditation gardens with walking trails will serve as respite areas for patients, visitors, employees and neighbors.

Other features will include high-performance glazing on windows for energy efficiency, solar shading and floor-to-ceiling glass to bring natural lighting into patient rooms and public areas. Highly sustainable materials, earth friendly and warm in tone, with finishes of natural forms and textures will offer a calming environment that feels like home.

Green Choices Wherever Possible
In terms of “green” building practices, internal systems for the hospital include high-efficiency gas-fired hot water boilers for heating interior spaces and chilled water generation for air-conditioning. Low flow plumbing fixtures, low-VOC materials for less toxic emissions, energy efficient lighting, and rubber flooring (instead of toxic vinyl) are some of the green features in the new facility (see “green” checklist). All building scraps and refuse are being recycled.

The 243-bed Mills Peninsula Medical Center complex is slated for completion in 2010. It will include a new 180,000 square-foot medical/administrative office building. The multi-level parking garage opened in January 2007.

Mills-Peninsula Physician Michael Bresler, MD, Recognized by the American College of Emergency Physicians as “Hero of Emergency Medicine"

noreply@blogger.com (T. Baumgardner) — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 17:28:00 +0000

BURLINGAME, CA -- August 25, 2008 -- The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) today announced it has named Michael Jay Bresler, MD, FACEP, director of emergency medicine at Mills-Peninsula Health Services, “Hero of Emergency Medicine.” The campaign, which is part of ACEP’s 40th anniversary, recognizes emergency physicians who have made outstanding contributions to emergency medicine, their communities and their patients.

“The American College of Emergency Physicians is celebrating 40 years of advancing emergency care, and the nation’s emergency physicians are dedicated to saving even more lives and to improving emergency care for the next 40 years,” said ACEP President Linda L. Lawrence, MD. “Tens of thousands of lives are saved each year by emergency physicians and 115 million patients are treated in the nation’s emergency departments. Emergency physicians are medical specialists who are experts in their field.”

For nearly 35 years, Dr. Bresler has helped save lives and treated the 44,000 patients who come to Mills-Peninsula’s Burlingame and San Mateo emergency rooms every year. As director and past department chair, and president of Mills Peninsula Emergency Medical Associates, Dr. Bresler has helped build a stable, dedicated team of 24 physicians, many averaging 20 to 30 years on the ER staff, and all residing locally.

According to Dr. Bresler, “Like a successful football team, we are constantly rejuvenating the ‘players’ with an experienced blend of new and veteran specialists. As our veterans provide their wisdom gleaned from years of clinical practice, our younger doctors add the benefit of their more recent training. The result of this interaction is that each of our physicians provides the best blend of experience and up-to-date knowledge.”

Emergency rooms across the country are literally bursting at the seams these days. In addition to a shortage of primary care doctors who can provide routine care in their offices, there also are more uninsured, indigent patients and a growing number of seniors. According to a recent report by the Center for Disease Control & Prevention (www.cdc.gov/media/pressrel/2008/r080806.htm), ER visits rose by 36 percent between 1996 and 2006, while the actual number of emergency rooms in operation dropped by nearly 10 percent.

“Given that 115 million patients come to the ER every year, most ERs are tremendously crowded, and Mills-Peninsula is no exception,” added Dr. Bresler. “But our physicians and nurses operate like a well-oiled machine. Some ERs in this country are taking two to three days to see patients for non-threatening conditions. At Mills-Peninsula, patients with non-threatening medical issues are generally seen within an hour of arrival, while patients in critical condition are seen immediately.”

Dr. Bresler also credits Mills-Peninsula for being one of the first California hospitals to recognize emergency medicine as a specialty. In the past, ERs performed limited functions and commonly had to call for the patient’s own doctor to leave his office and take over. For over three decades, however, Mills-Peninsula’s two ERs have utilized physicians who have been trained in the specialty of Emergency Medicine, and who can respond to medical emergencies of any kind.

Beyond his tenure at Mills-Peninsula, Dr. Bresler has been active in many health care arenas relating to emergency medicine. He has written both California and federal health care legislation and has testified frequently on health care issues being considered by both the California state legislature and the United States Congress.

Among his legislative accomplishments are a surcharge on California vehicular fines that raises more than $200 million annually to support emergency care of indigent patients, a state law preventing the “dumping” of medically unstable indigent patients from one hospital to another and portions of the federal anti-dumping law that provide whistleblower protection.

Dr. Bresler previously served as speaker of the National ACEP Council and as president of California ACEP. He has won the College’s highest awards for leadership at both the state and national levels, and has been designated as an ACEP Honorary Member and Life Fellow.