Aug 29

EpiPen Shortages & Anaphylaxis Risks

By innovaTeam | Emergency Medicine, Health News

EpiPen Shortages & Anaphylaxis Risks

Drug shortages are affecting our patients and providers on a daily basis. One of the most concerning recent shortages is the limited availability of the Epi-Pen, a home device used to deliver epinephrine to patients with life-threatening allergic reactions (anaphylaxis). 1-2% of the population will develop anaphylaxis in their lifetime. Anaphylaxis is a complicated reaction leading to mast cell release, airway swelling, and can cause cardiopulmonary arrest. Epinephrine is the treatment of choice.

The development of epinephrine auto-injectors has allowed patients with a history of anaphylaxis to initiate immediate life-saving treatment in cases of repeat events. Patients are provided with prescriptions for epinephrine auto-injectors to carry with them at all times. Patients benefit from having multiple auto-injectors to keep at home, school, work, and daycare.

In order to manage this dangerous shortage, the FDA has extended the expiration date of some of the pens (regular Epi-pens, not the Jrs) by up to 4 months. Patients can check the FDA website to verify the lot number on their pen. Patients should not throw away their pens until they check the website to see if the expiration date has changed and also verify that the pharmacy can refill them. Some schools and daycares are still refusing to use expired pens even with this FDA announcement due to liability concerns.

Verify your EpiPens here

There are now additional auto-injectors available – Adrenaclick or Auvi-Q – both are FDA approved epinephrine devices but they have a different delivery system so patients will need to read the instructions carefully and train themselves before they need to use them. Patients should check with their pharmacy to determine what they have in stock and what their insurance will cover.

Aug 26

24

Rural Emergency Care

By innovaTeam | Emergency Medicine, Rural Communities

Practicing Rural Emergency Medical Care

Approximately 60 million Americans live in rural communities across the United States. When it comes to health care, they face unique challenges compared to patients who live in urban communities. There are far fewer physicians, both primary care and specialists, and patients must travel further distances to get to physicians and hospitals. There are also proportionately more severe auto accidents and trauma-related deaths despite the overall lower population. In the current economic environment, many rural hospitals have been forced to close labor and delivery units – meaning that pregnant women must now travel even further for care.

Innova Emergency Medical Associates helps hospitals tackle the difficult problems of physician recruitment and Emergency Department quality. We are drawn to the numerous benefits of practicing medicine in rural areas – especially the relationship that forms between the physician and the members of the hospital staff, our patients and the community as a whole. We wanted to create a way to recruit highly qualified, board certified Emergency Medicine physicians to provide world-class care to areas that had struggled with either staffing or quality in their Emergency Department – and it has been a huge success!

Our hospitals have been shocked by our ability to change the culture of their Emergency Department and take the quality of care delivered to new heights. Our physicians are dedicated to patient safety, ED throughput, and provide outstanding patient care.

Aug 26

24

Innova Case Study: Patient Satisfaction & Safety

By innovaTeam | Emergency Medicine, Innova News

Here at Innova, patient safety is our top priority. We know that long waits and high left without being seen (LWBS) rates put patients at risk – and we work diligently to maintain outstanding performance in these metrics. We recently acquired a hospital contract at a site that sees approximately 12,000 patients per year. The Emergency Department layout is ideal with plenty of space to accommodate the volume, but when our partnership began, the Door to Provider times and LWBS numbers were unacceptably high.

An astonishing 9.6% of the patients were leaving without ever being seen. Patients were languishing in the waiting room with average wait times of nearly 1 hour. The general culture was that nothing could be done.

Within 60 days, our average wait time dropped by 60% to just 20 minutes. The LWBS rate fell from 9.6% to <2% (an 80% improvement) and patient satisfaction scores have skyrocketed.

Contact us if you are interested in learning more about how Innova partners with hospitals to deliver world-class care to patients!

Aug 02

21

Innova Joins Catalyst HTI

By innovaTeam | Innova News

August 2nd, 2018

DENVER— Innova Emergency Medical Associates announced today that they are relocating their national headquarters to Catalyst HTI in Denver, CO. The team at Innova searched for a community where their own penchant for innovation could collide with other leaders looking to reimagine healthcare. In fact, Innova’s longtime tagline “Emergency Care Reimagined” perfectly matches the culture of innovation at Catalyst.

Innova’s Founder and CEO, Dr. Steve Sherick stated that “Since 2011 we’ve been working tirelessly to improve the quality of emergency care in hospitals across the US through cutting edge care and employee ownership and our move into Catalyst represents the next step in our journey. Our providers live across the country from California to New York, and our partner hospitals span from Arizona to Indiana and many states in between, but our home base is in the great health innovation community of Denver.”

Innova was founded in 2011 with the idea that all patients deserve the best in patient care, and that it was possible to do so while treating patients, providers and partner hospitals with the utmost respect. Innova provides emergency department provider staffing across the Intermountain West and Midwest, specializing in rural emergency departments. Innova is proud to have an exclusively employee-owned structure that creates a level of true investment by the employees into a company which believes that you work hard when you work, and enjoy your life and family beyond your dreams when you’re not working.

Catalyst HTI is a health care industry ecosystem putting together some of the most forward-thinking minds in the field, under one roof. Catalyst President Mike Biselli said that “Having Innova join us at Catalyst is an honor and a critical part of our ecosystem, as the team they have represents the future of health care, especially the future for our health care providers.”

***Innova will be having an open house in their office on the 3rd floor (Suite 320) of Catalyst (3513 Brighton Blvd., Denver, CO 80216) from 1-3PM on August 21st. Please come by and meet the team and learn more about how Innova plans to be an ever-bigger part of the ecosystem at-large.

August 2018