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Chen Senior Medical Center Reduces Hospital Admissions by 15.3%

Continued key quality measure progress by industry-leading practice

Chen Senior Medical Center today announced that its 12 South Florida medical practices have continued to reduce both hospital admissions and hospital emergency room visits. By focusing on what matters most for seniors living with multiple major and chronic health challenges, the company’s primary care physicians (PCPs) and specialist doctors reduced hospital admissions by 15.3 percent in 2016, improving upon years of industry-leading performance for this key health measure.

“Our patients enjoy outstanding access to their doctors, including daily walk-in appointments when needed,” says Jason Barker, South Florida Market President for Chen Senior Medical Center. “Our physicians transform that industry-leading access into better health outcomes, by nurturing amazing relationships with every patient we are blessed to serve.”

Noting how Chen Senior Medical Center patient hospital admits per thousand have dropped from a 2014 average of 258 per thousand to a 2016 average of just 220 hospital admits per thousand, Barker adds: “Our culture of accountability, collaboration and communication, enables us to keep refining best practices to benefit our patients. And, some of our special service initiatives bring PCP-directed care into the homes of at-risk seniors.”

Hospital emergency room visits by Chen Senior Medical center patients dropped 6.9 percent during the same two-year period. Instead of the 2014 average of 347 emergency room visits per thousand patients, Medicare beneficiaries served by Chen Senior Medical Center averaged just 323 emergency room visits per thousand patients in 2016.

Data from the American Hospital Association (AHA) Annual Survey of Hospitals shows that Florida seniors with Medicare annually have over 1,550 hospital days per thousand, and the average length of hospital stay for a Medicare beneficiary in Florida exceeds five days.

“We’re truly transforming health care for the neediest populations,” explains Maina Gatonye, MD, Chen Senior Medical Center Market Chief Medical Officer. “Our doctors nurture winning relationships with patients. Plus, we offer a variety of PCP-directed in-home services to further improve care – particularly when on-call physicians are helping patients after hours and on weekends.”

Florida extended paramedic program earns national recognition

EMS World magazine’s April 2017 cover story is all about the Chen Senior Medical Center extended paramedic program pioneered with American Ambulance of Florida in 2015. Encounter data for that extended paramedic program is promising – especially because it reinforces the robust medical care available at Chen Senior Medical Centers Mondays through Fridays between 7:30 AM and 4:30 PM.

Described as “an everybody wins scenario” by EMS World, run data shows that 58 percent of more than 1,000 extended paramedic service calls requested by Chen Senior Medical Center PCPs, resulted in timely, in-home stabilizing procedures that frequently are done in hospital emergency rooms. Plus, 85 percent of those 616 extended paramedic visits otherwise would have required transport to hospital emergency rooms and possible hospital admissions.

“There are times when pre-emergent interventions are needed in-homes,” explains Dr. Gatonye, “and that’s why our doctors strategically collaborate with the paramedics who consistently get to our patient homes in 34 minutes or less time. It’s also why we leverage RN case managers; orchestrate care team super huddles; and facilitate weekly physician meetings to discuss best practices and next steps for every at-risk patient we serve.”

About Chen Senior Medical Centers

Chen Senior Medical Center is a family-owned primary and specialty care practice committed to delivering superior health outcomes to Medicare-eligible seniors. Part of the ChenMed family of companies that’s transforming healthcare for the neediest populations, Chen Senior Medical Center offers best-in-class care for seniors benefiting from Medicare and Medicare Advantage supplemental insurance. Its 12 locations (Aventura, County Line, Hallandale Beach, Hialeah, Lauderhill, Miami Gardens, Miami Lakes, North Lauderdale, North Miami, North Miami Beach, Pembroke Pines and West Kendall) are well known for quality of care, patient experience, and affordability.

About ChenMed

ChenMed honors seniors with affordable, VIP healthcare that delivers better health. The company’s Innovative culture and end-to-end service technologies improve health outcomes and patient satisfaction levels while simultaneously reducing cost of care. Since 2013, the company has grown by more than 420 percent.

With intentionally small patient panels (450-patient max per ChenMed doctor; one fifth national average of one doctor to 2,300 patients), ChenMed PCPs focus on illness prevention, and not just treatments.

Multi-specialty experts are on site at all Chen Senior Medical Center, Dedicated Senior Medical Center, and JenCare Senior Medical Center locations. Collaboration and communication are prized because many ChenMed patients in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Kentucky and Virginia see three to five specialists.

Blessed by substantial organic growth from happy patients referring in friends and relatives, ChenMed presently is expanding JenCare operations in New Orleans and Tidewater, Va; plus opening three additional Dedicated Senior Medical Centers in Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater, Fla.

Committed to nurturing outstanding physician-patient relationships, ChenMed clinicians focus on clinical stabilization, primary and secondary prevention, and patient behavior modification. The fast-growing company’s collaborative physician and staff culture is not only transparent, but it also places great value and emphasis on accountability.

As a frontrunner in innovation, ChenMed supports physician efforts to improve patient outcomes with customized end-to-end cloud-based technology that is fully integrated into its care delivery system. The company also facilitates physician meetings three times weekly, where best practices and adverse outcomes are presented and new solutions are openly discussed.