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WVUH board assumes full ownership of child center [The Dominion Post, Morgantown, W.Va.]
[December 07, 2013]

WVUH board assumes full ownership of child center [The Dominion Post, Morgantown, W.Va.]


(Dominion Post (Morgantown, WV) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Dec. 07--The WVU Hospitals (WVUH) Board of Directors got an overview of the 2014 Performance Improvement Plan and approved a resolution to assume full ownership and legal control of the Child Development Center, in preparation for the center's move to a new site.



Frank Briggs, vice president of Quality and Patient Safety, presented the 2014 plan. Among the items on the list: Reduce first-year employee turnover from 28.5 percent to 19.7 percent.

Reduce 30-day readmission from 11.19 percent to 10.04 percent, in keeping with federal health care reform goals and mandates.


Improve the percentage of patients who leave with a post-discharge appointment by 15 percent. Briggs said many patients come from out of the area. Sending those, and all patients, home with an appointment improves their chances of getting follow-up care and reduces their likelihood of readmission.

Reduce C. diff infections from 180 per year to less than 100. C. diff is a bacteria. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explains C. diff causes life-threatening diarrhea and occurs mostly in people who have had recent medical care and antibiotics. It says, "This bacteria is an immediate public health threat that requires urgent and aggressive action." It accounts for 250,000 infections per year requiring hospitalization or affecting already hospitalized patients, and 14,000 deaths per year. It is not yet resistant to C. diff-specific drugs but resists many drugs used to treat other infections. Deaths related to C. diff increased 400 percent from 2000 to 2007, in part because of a stronger bacteria strain that emerged. Briggs said West Virginia leads the nation for per capita antibiotic use.

Improve the patient experience by improving doctors' communication with them.

Reduce the time for a new patient appointment from an overall average of 25.45 days to less than 22 days.

The Child Development Center resolution explains leasing and merger arrangements stemming from 1985, 1992, 1998 and 1999 regarding where the land and current building sit. Under the resolution, WVUH accepts assignment of the leases and takes full control of the site.

The WVU Hospitals expansion overview pages explain that the new center will be in the same building as the new Rosenbaum Family House, now under construction. The two facilities will have separate entrances and each will be 20 percent larger than the current facilities.

The old facilities will be torn down to make room for a new hospital tower to house more beds for Ruby Memorial Hospital and new, larger facilities for the Jon Michael Moore Trauma Center and Emergency Department.

The board also approved a resolution honoring WVU President Jim Clements for his service to the board.

The board presented him with a large, framed copy of the resolution topped by a picture of the hospital.

Clements, heading soon for a new job at Clemson University, told the board, "It's been a real honor for the last 4 1/2 years to work with this group. ... Hopefully, people will say we made a difference." ___ (c)2013 The Dominion Post (Morgantown, W.Va.) Visit The Dominion Post (Morgantown, W.Va.) at www.dominionpost.com Distributed by MCT Information Services

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