QUALITY OF CARE

C O M M U N I T Y

LEAD

ERSH

IP

With you at every turn

110 Free StreetPortland, ME 04101www.mainehealth.org

MAINEHEALTH MEMBER ORGANIZATIONS

Franklin Community Health Network

LincolnHealth

Memorial Hospital

Maine Behavioral Healthcare

Maine Medical Center

Pen Bay Medical Center

Southern Maine Health Care

Waldo County General Hospital

Western Maine Health

MaineHealth Care at Home

NorDx

Synernet

MAINEHEALTH AFFILIATES

MaineGeneral Health

Mid Coast-Parkview Health

New England Rehabilitation Hospital of Portland

St. Mary’s Health System

Look inside to see how quality care is at the heart of our success.

NON-PROFIT U.S. POSTAGE

PAID PORTLAND, ME PERMIT No. 355

171071_Cover.indd 1 6/16/16 8:38 PM

Visit MaineHealth.org/FoodFight to check out our new recipe book featuring the top healthy recipes from across the system.

TOGETHER…IN SUPPORT OF THE TRIPLE AIM One of the benefits of working together as a system is the ability to identify and share best practices and make resources available across our system. By doing so, MaineHealth organizations obtain significant cost savings and process improvements, and enhance patient experience and outcomes. In partnership, we are also working to solve some of our communities’ most pressing public health challenges.

SUPPLY CHAIN Supply Chain is always looking for ways to eliminate redundant cost and waste. In FY15, Supply Chain achieved $20 million in savings or negotiated cost reductions for our members through group purchases ranging from capital equipment like MRIs and ultra-sounds, to pharmacy cabinets and custom procedure packs, and other value-added services. Fewer dollars spent on capital equipment means significant savings can be refocused on clinical support for our patients and healthcare teams.

NORTHEAST PURCHASING COALITION MaineHealth is a founding member of the Northeast Purchasing Coalition (NPC), a nationally recognized clinical supply network. In 2015 NPC renegotiated MaineHealth’s contract for Pharmacy Distribution Services, resulting in a $1.4 million reduction in drug-related costs. Pharmacies, especially those at Critical Access Hospitals, benefit greatly from the NPC relationship.

$

$20 MILLION in savings or negotiated cost reductions for our members

$1.4 MILLION reduction in drug-related costs in 2015

800+ Individuals participated in community engagement forums

235 TONS of organics diverted from the waste stream in 2015

INNOVATIVE PARTNERSHIPS Pen Bay Medical Center, Maine Behavioral Healthcare and Mid Coast Hospital have partnered to establish an innovative addiction treatment program that offers an integrated continuum of care to help address the growing problem of substance abuse and addiction in our communities.

MaineHealth and partner organizations spearheaded 26 community engage-ment forums in 2015-16, with more than 800 participants and dozens of community organizations, providing an opportunity for the public to respond to the 2015 Shared Community Health Needs Assessment and help identify priorities for community health improve-ment initiatives addressing concerns such as alcohol and drug abuse, obesity rates, diabetes and smoking.

MaineHealth’s Food Service Task Force facilitates info-sharing and collabora-tion across the system. In 2015 Maine Medical Center, Spring Harbor Hospital, Southern Maine Health Care, Stephens Memorial Hospital, Mid Coast Hospital and St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center partnered with We Compost It! to divert 235 tons of organics from the waste stream, and replaced it with 250 yards of organic compost provided to employees and local farms.

LEADERSHIP COMMUNITY

In an effort to strengthen home health care services in Midcoast and Southern Maine, three of our home health and hospice agencies have partnered to form one unified organization with a new name: MaineHealth Care at Home.

On May 1, 2016, HomeHealth Visiting Nurses, Kno-Wal-Lin Home Care and Hospice and Waldo County Home Care and Hospice joined together to become a new MaineHealth member organization offering high-quality clinical services in Cumberland, York, Lincoln, Waldo, Knox and southern Oxford counties, with its headquarters in Saco.

MaineHealth Care at Home continues to provide a full range of high-quality services to patients with the same trusted care teams

of professionally trained and experienced nurses, rehabilitation therapists, home health aides and social workers employed in their local communities.

Since the launch of the new organi-zation, the MaineHealth Care at Home senior team has expanded to include a chief operating officer and a director of

hospice. The senior team is meeting weekly to review transition items and operational issues, as well as visiting throughout the region to greet staff, see facilities, and meet key referral sources.

While discharging and re-admitting patients to the new organization has required a great amount of teamwork, the teams have readily stepped up to the challenge. “I am extremely appreciative of the effort by everyone during the conversion of patients to the new agency in the Midcoast region,” said Donna DeBlois, President and CEO of MaineHealth Care at Home.

By aligning the collective strengths and expertise of three home health agencies, MaineHealth Care at Home will continue to support the health and independence of many Maine residents for years to come.

INTRODUCING MAINEHEALTH CARE AT HOME

MaineHealth Care at Home helps patients gain confidence and strength for an improved quality of life

171071_Cover.indd 2 6/16/16 8:38 PM

Greetings,

As we welcome another beautiful summer season in New England, we also mark the end of our third fiscal quarter. We have made good progress on our 2016 Focused Goals thanks to your teamwork, dedication and commitment to fulfill our vision. I’ll touch upon just a few of those goals here.

The continued rollout of the shared electronic health record to all MaineHealth members remains on track, with LincolnHealth Miles Campus and Stephens Memorial Hospital being our latest successful go-lives (read more inside).

The MaineHealth Health Index Report, released in March, shows progress on our system population health initiatives, with five of the seven Health Index priorities met in 2015, and aggressive new targets set for 2021.

Drug abuse and addiction remain a challenge, however, as do cardiovascular deaths, and we are leveraging our outstanding system-wide resources to address them. We have formed the MaineHealth Opioid Addiction Work Group to lead a thoughtful and coordinated response to the opioid abuse epidemic. The MaineHealth cardiovascular service line, through its collaborative work on treatment and prevention of heart disease, is continuing to move the needle in the right direction on cardio deaths.

We are working more closely together across the system, sharing expertise and infrastructure in our service lines; sharing administrative functions such as human resources, information services, finance and legal; and sharing a common vision. These partnerships create efficiencies and opportunities that benefit our system, patients and healthcare teams (see infographic at left).

A natural next step as we collaborate across our system is to create a common set of values. How we interact with our patients and one another is at the very core of living into our mission and vision. Each of our member organizations holds a set of similar yet distinct values, and this can be confusing to our patients, employees and the communities we serve.

One of our F16 Focused Goals addresses this challenge:

“By September 30, 2016, all MaineHealth member organizations will have developed a common set of values and align their vision statements to serve as guideposts for how we engage our patients, colleagues and our broader communities, and will implement those actions by January 1, 2017."

The MaineHealth Values Committee, including representatives from each of our member organizations, was formed earlier this year to lead the values selection process. The group has met regularly to engage with one another and with leaders at their respective organizations to develop a set of values that reflects our shared beliefs. You are also an important part of this process. In the coming months you will be invited to participate in focus groups and other activities as we bring these values to life together across our system. I encourage your involvement as we continue working together so our communities are the healthiest in America.

William L. Caron, Jr., President, MaineHealth

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Watch Mark’s inspiring story of care at CardioSuccessStory.com

QUALITY ACROSS OUR SYSTEM AT THE HEART OF THE CARDIOVASCULAR SERVICE LINE

QUALITY OF CARE

Beyond a bit of luck, Mark’s successful outcome is the result of a deliberate and coordinated approach to care that’s at the core of the MaineHealth AMI-PERFUSE program and the system-wide cardiovascular service line.

“Time is muscle, and our program is designed to peel off time,” says Thomas Ryan, MD, medical director of the AMI-PERFUSE program. “We’ve developed protocols and pathways so that when patients enter a MaineHealth hospital, they receive the best care for the location they present to, and are rapidly transferred to MMC for ultimate care of their heart attack.”

A critical part of the program’s success is ensuring that patients return to their local community for ongoing cardiovascular care. AMI-PERFUSE is a program developed in 2004 with a visionary network of physicians committed to delivering the right care to the right patient at the right time. Since the program’s inception, deaths due to heart attack in the MaineHealth service area have declined about 50 percent.

Applying that collaborative, coordinated approach to prevent heart attacks and treat chronic diseases like heart failure and atrial fibrillation is a challenge, but the MaineHealth cardiovascular service

Mark W., a lobsterman from Arundel, Maine, was shoveling last December, getting ready to bring his traps in for the winter, when suddenly he experienced tremendous chest pains. His friend called 911 and within minutes, first responders arrived. As Mark was transported to Southern Maine Health Care (SMHC), the team performed an electrocardiogram, diagnosed a heart attack, and activated a system that connected Mark to urgent treatment at SMHC and immediate transport to Maine Medical Center (MMC), where he received a life-saving treatment to open a blocked artery to his heart. Today, Mark is back on the water, doing what he loves, and receiving follow-up care from his local physician. “I was really lucky,” he says. “I’m here today….because of all those people.”

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QUALITY OF CARE

KNOW THE

LINGO

AMI PERFUSE stands for Acute Myocardial Infarction Patients Emergently Reperfused by Facilities United for STEMI Excellence.

MMCRI is the Maine Medical Center Research Institute.

STEMI is short for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction, a type of heart attack caused by sudden total blockage of an artery supplying blood to the heart muscle, most commonly from a blood clot.

line is up to the task, says physician leader and MMC chief of cardiac services Doug Sawyer, MD, Ph.D.

“Saving people after a heart attack is very important, but prevention is just as important, if not more so, because it’s the key to long-term wellness,” says Sawyer. Since lifestyle choices like smoking and nutrition are often a contributing factor in these diseases, patient education is essential to addressing them.

“The way we communicate with patients matters,” says Sawyer. “With chronic disease patients, our task is particularly difficult. Patients receive information from multiple and often inconsistent sources. MaineHealth has some terrific patient education tools that can help us all get on the same page, like the ‘Healing Hearts’ brochure about heart failure, at our disposal. Service lines provide us

with an incredible opportunity to help develop system-wide protocols like the ones used by the AMI-PERFUSE program to help us practice consistent evidence-based medicine.”

The service line has assembled a cross-functional team to create evidence-based uniform clinical guidelines and patient education strategies, drawing on input from physicians, content experts, visiting nurses, chronic rehabilitation facilities, and the MaineHealth Accountable Care Organization, among others. Agreeing to and deploying the protocols into ambulatory and tertiary care settings is an important next step toward true clinical integration across the system.

Clinical research will also help to drive continuous improvement. For example, a recent pilot study in the Clinical Outcomes Research Group (CORE), funded through a Pilot Project Grant program run by MMCRI and the cardio service line, aims to shed light on regional variations in care. “While reducing variations in care in general is

Doug Sawyer, MD, Ph.D.

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QUALITY OF CARE

BETTER WORSE

MAINE10% lower

spending 10% higherquality

relative to the U.S. median

Total spending per capita: $7,654

MAINE 9%

NH 10%

LOWERSPENDING

LOWERSPENDING

HIGHERQUALITY

HIGHERQUALITY

8%

8%

relative to the U.S. median

relative to the U.S. median

Total spending per capita: $7,769

Total spending per capita: $7,686

Quality Across our System… continued

important to optimize patient outcomes and population health, there are naturally going to be variations that are associated with better health outcomes. Identifying these ‘hot spots’ could trigger additional research,” says Sawyer.

Sharing best practices and successes occurring right now is also an opportunity. He describes the benefit of having some highly trained providers doing great work across the system – Pen Bay’s stroke prevention program and the anticoagulation work led by Dr. Robert Stein, the outpatient cardio care program around heart failure at Waldo County Hospital led by Dr. David Ferguson, and Dr. Michael LeCombe’s cardio-oncology work at the Harold Alfond Center for Cancer Care and MaineGeneral.

Sawyer says, “Leveraging and sharing knowledge to advance cardiac care across the system will bring us closer to our service line vision of a unified system of care, with regional clinics employing a consistent care team model, no matter where or how a patient enters the system – and closer to our system vision of the healthiest communities in America.”

TOTAL MEDICARE SPENDING PER CAPITA VS. OVERALL QUALITY SCORE

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Efforts to deliver against the Triple Aim continue to bear fruit in Maine and New Hampshire, where recent reports show the two states are delivering higher quality at a lower cost relative to the U.S. median.

The data was released by The Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation that conducts independent healthcare research. The Fund’s Quality-Spending Interactive tool enables local comparisons for the “relative value” of care for people 65+ enrolled in traditional fee-for-service Medicare.

The 2016 update shows that Maine provides 8% higher quality while spending 9% less than the U.S. median, and New Hampshire delivers 8% higher quality for 10% less cost.

BETTER CARE, LOWER COSTS AND HEALTHIER COMMUNITIES ACROSS MAINE, NH

HIGHERQUALITY

HIGHERQUALITY

These results align with the recently released America’s Health Rankings Senior Report, produced by the Minnesota-based United Health Foundation, which shows that senior citizens in Maine and New Hampshire are seeing improved health and getting better care than many of their peers across the country – with Maine ranked eighth and New Hampshire ranked third.

“What we are seeing is the result of concerted efforts across our healthcare systems, among public health agencies and among nonprofits focused on improving lives. And it shows how community health and quality healthcare are closely linked,” said Deborah Deatrick, MaineHealth Senior Vice President of Community Health.

To view the America’s Health Rankings Senior Report, visit www.americashealthrankings.org/senior.

To view The Commonwealth Fund’s full interactive tool, visit www.commonwealthfund.org. Spending Indicator Source: Data Year: 2014 - Geographic Variation Public Use File, February 2016 (CMS Office of Information Products and Analytics). Printed with permission from The Commonwealth Fund

QUALITY OF CARE

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LEADERSHIPIn 2013, Pen Bay Medical Center was the first MaineHealth member to pioneer Operational Excellence, a program that brings leaders and team members together to engage in work focused on improving safety, quality and patient experience.

Following on the early success achieved by the Pen Bay team, the program has rolled out at almost every member organization across the MaineHealth system. By working together to identify and solve problems, great progress toward building a culture of improvement is under way.

Operational Excellence engages participants in four key activities: the daily huddle, daily Gemba walks, data-based decision making/problem solving, and periodic improvement events. As part of the “Daily Management System,” teams collect data on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that are measured and tracked on a daily basis. Thousands of KPIs have been created and closed across the system since the start of the program.

KPI Success The MaineHealth Information Services (IS) Help Desk receives over 5,000 tickets each week from employees looking for help on a variety of customer issues – everything from accessing email to answering questions about Epic. While the Help Desk strives to resolve most

issues on the first call, sometimes the ticket must be assigned to other teams. As a focus for continuous improvement and customer satisfaction, numerous teams across IS have developed KPIs related to whether or not tickets were being directed to the correct teams.

When IS first began tracking this KPI, the percentage of misrouted tickets was 2.21 percent. With over a dozen teams tracking misrouted tickets in their KPIs, IS was able to reduce the percentage of misrouted tickets to 1.41 percent by December 2015 – meaning customers who call the Help Desk are getting their tickets resolved more quickly and efficiently.

OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE CHARTS A PATH TO QUALITY

Memorial Hospital successfully initiated its Oper-ational Excellence program and rolled it out to all departments in 2016.

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LEADERSHIP“Operational Excellence has shown us that we can solve our problems together using creative solutions, eliminating the need for all decisions to be made at the leadership level,” said Jordan Peck, senior director of the MaineHealth Center for Performance Improvement.

Based on feedback from members, the program has helped improve workflow by giving leadership a closer look at the day-to-day activities required to perform certain tasks. In turn, team members feel more empowered to make decisions since leadership is able to check in every day and see progress backed by data.

The Southern Maine Health Care team used Operational Excellence to develop a KPI related to unbillable lab charges causing $111,000 in lost revenue over a two-month period. Within six months of tracking with a KPI, the team reduced this to $5,800 in a two-month period.

The program has also enhanced communication and collaboration between different departments, increasing engagement within each organization and across the entire health system. “Fundamentally, Operational Excellence has been successful because it is not focused on applying a specific method. It’s about changing our management system to focus on how we work on problems and how we interact with one another,” added Peck.

More than 3,000 KPIs have been created and closed across the system since the start of the program.

OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE KEY ACTIVITIES

• The Daily Huddle

• Daily Gemba Walks

• Data-Based Decision Making/Problem Solving

• Periodic Improvement Events

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MaineHealth’s vision of “one patient, one record” continues to make strides. Throughout the system, hospitals and physician practices have implemented our Shared Electronic Health Record – also known as SeHR — and the benefits are being widely seen.

In April, LincolnHealth’s Miles campus launched Epic at its inpatient facility. The go–live was a great success and clinicians and providers are now able to work on one system throughout the whole organization, as their ambulatory practices have been working in Epic for several years.

Other MaineHealth locations will go live with Epic in 2016, as well. Stephens Memorial Hospital joined the SeHR family on Saturday, June 4, and, like LincolnHealth, is connected to their ambulatory practices in documenting patient care in this state-of-the-art software.

Additionally, a variety of Maine Medical Partners practices will also implement Epic this summer.

Pen Bay Medical Center and Southern Maine Health Care are slated to go live on Epic in late 2016 and early 2017, respectively. Both organizations are currently preparing for these significant implemen-tations by identifying and training Subject Matter Experts, validating clinical and administrative workflows, and working with MaineHealth Information Services to ensure their technical infrastructure is ready.

Thank you to all the teams who have helped with and continue to support SeHR efforts as we pursue the MaineHealth vision of working together so our communities are the healthiest in America.

QUALITY OF CARE

MAINEHEALTH ON EPIC JOURNEY TO ONE PATIENT, ONE RECORD

Members of the LincolnHealth Leadership Team, along with Physician Leaders, Super Users, and MaineHealth Go Live support staff, were on hand on April 2 when LincolnHealth joined the SeHR system.

171071_Text.indd 8 6/16/16 8:37 PM

Visit MaineHealth.org/FoodFight to check out our new recipe book featuring the top healthy recipes from across the system.

TOGETHER…IN SUPPORT OF THE TRIPLE AIM One of the benefits of working together as a system is the ability to identify and share best practices and make resources available across our system. By doing so, MaineHealth organizations obtain significant cost savings and process improvements, and enhance patient experience and outcomes. In partnership, we are also working to solve some of our communities’ most pressing public health challenges.

SUPPLY CHAIN Supply Chain is always looking for ways to eliminate redundant cost and waste. In FY15, Supply Chain achieved $20 million in savings or negotiated cost reductions for our members through group purchases ranging from capital equipment like MRIs and ultra-sounds, to pharmacy cabinets and custom procedure packs, and other value-added services. Fewer dollars spent on capital equipment means significant savings can be refocused on clinical support for our patients and healthcare teams.

NORTHEAST PURCHASING COALITION MaineHealth is a founding member of the Northeast Purchasing Coalition (NPC), a nationally recognized clinical supply network. In 2015 NPC renegotiated MaineHealth’s contract for Pharmacy Distribution Services, resulting in a $1.4 million reduction in drug-related costs. Pharmacies, especially those at Critical Access Hospitals, benefit greatly from the NPC relationship.

$

$20 MILLION in savings or negotiated cost reductions for our members

$1.4 MILLION reduction in drug-related costs in 2015

800+ Individuals participated in community engagement forums

235 TONS of organics diverted from the waste stream in 2015

INNOVATIVE PARTNERSHIPS Pen Bay Medical Center, Maine Behavioral Healthcare and Mid Coast Hospital have partnered to establish an innovative addiction treatment program that offers an integrated continuum of care to help address the growing problem of substance abuse and addiction in our communities.

MaineHealth and partner organizations spearheaded 26 community engage-ment forums in 2015-16, with more than 800 participants and dozens of community organizations, providing an opportunity for the public to respond to the 2015 Shared Community Health Needs Assessment and help identify priorities for community health improve-ment initiatives addressing concerns such as alcohol and drug abuse, obesity rates, diabetes and smoking.

MaineHealth’s Food Service Task Force facilitates info-sharing and collabora-tion across the system. In 2015 Maine Medical Center, Spring Harbor Hospital, Southern Maine Health Care, Stephens Memorial Hospital, Mid Coast Hospital and St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center partnered with We Compost It! to divert 235 tons of organics from the waste stream, and replaced it with 250 yards of organic compost provided to employees and local farms.

LEADERSHIP COMMUNITY

In an effort to strengthen home health care services in Midcoast and Southern Maine, three of our home health and hospice agencies have partnered to form one unified organization with a new name: MaineHealth Care at Home.

On May 1, 2016, HomeHealth Visiting Nurses, Kno-Wal-Lin Home Care and Hospice and Waldo County Home Care and Hospice joined together to become a new MaineHealth member organization offering high-quality clinical services in Cumberland, York, Lincoln, Waldo, Knox and southern Oxford counties, with its headquarters in Saco.

MaineHealth Care at Home continues to provide a full range of high-quality services to patients with the same trusted care teams

of professionally trained and experienced nurses, rehabilitation therapists, home health aides and social workers employed in their local communities.

Since the launch of the new organi-zation, the MaineHealth Care at Home senior team has expanded to include a chief operating officer and a director of

hospice. The senior team is meeting weekly to review transition items and operational issues, as well as visiting throughout the region to greet staff, see facilities, and meet key referral sources.

While discharging and re-admitting patients to the new organization has required a great amount of teamwork, the teams have readily stepped up to the challenge. “I am extremely appreciative of the effort by everyone during the conversion of patients to the new agency in the Midcoast region,” said Donna DeBlois, President and CEO of MaineHealth Care at Home.

By aligning the collective strengths and expertise of three home health agencies, MaineHealth Care at Home will continue to support the health and independence of many Maine residents for years to come.

INTRODUCING MAINEHEALTH CARE AT HOME

MaineHealth Care at Home helps patients gain confidence and strength for an improved quality of life

171071_Cover.indd 2 6/16/16 8:38 PM

QUALITY OF CARE

C O M M U N I T Y

LEAD

ERSH

IP

With you at every turn

110 Free StreetPortland, ME 04101www.mainehealth.org

MAINEHEALTH MEMBER ORGANIZATIONS

Franklin Community Health Network

LincolnHealth

Memorial Hospital

Maine Behavioral Healthcare

Maine Medical Center

Pen Bay Medical Center

Southern Maine Health Care

Waldo County General Hospital

Western Maine Health

MaineHealth Care at Home

NorDx

Synernet

MAINEHEALTH AFFILIATES

MaineGeneral Health

Mid Coast-Parkview Health

New England Rehabilitation Hospital of Portland

St. Mary’s Health System

Look inside to see how quality care is at the heart of our success.

NON-PROFIT U.S. POSTAGE

PAID PORTLAND, ME PERMIT No. 355

171071_Cover.indd 1 6/16/16 8:38 PM

Visit MaineHealth.org/FoodFight to check out our new recipe book featuring the top healthy recipes from across the system.

TOGETHER…IN SUPPORT OF THE TRIPLE AIM One of the benefits of working together as a system is the ability to identify and share best practices and make resources available across our system. By doing so, MaineHealth organizations obtain significant cost savings and process improvements, and enhance patient experience and outcomes. In partnership, we are also working to solve some of our communities’ most pressing public health challenges.

SUPPLY CHAIN Supply Chain is always looking for ways to eliminate redundant cost and waste. In FY15, Supply Chain achieved $20 million in savings or negotiated cost reductions for our members through group purchases ranging from capital equipment like MRIs and ultra-sounds, to pharmacy cabinets and custom procedure packs, and other value-added services. Fewer dollars spent on capital equipment means significant savings can be refocused on clinical support for our patients and healthcare teams.

NORTHEAST PURCHASING COALITION MaineHealth is a founding member of the Northeast Purchasing Coalition (NPC), a nationally recognized clinical supply network. In 2015 NPC renegotiated MaineHealth’s contract for Pharmacy Distribution Services, resulting in a $1.4 million reduction in drug-related costs. Pharmacies, especially those at Critical Access Hospitals, benefit greatly from the NPC relationship.

$

$20 MILLION in savings or negotiated cost reductions for our members

$1.4 MILLION reduction in drug-related costs in 2015

800+ Individuals participated in community engagement forums

235 TONS of organics diverted from the waste stream in 2015

INNOVATIVE PARTNERSHIPS Pen Bay Medical Center, Maine Behavioral Healthcare and Mid Coast Hospital have partnered to establish an innovative addiction treatment program that offers an integrated continuum of care to help address the growing problem of substance abuse and addiction in our communities.

MaineHealth and partner organizations spearheaded 26 community engage-ment forums in 2015-16, with more than 800 participants and dozens of community organizations, providing an opportunity for the public to respond to the 2015 Shared Community Health Needs Assessment and help identify priorities for community health improve-ment initiatives addressing concerns such as alcohol and drug abuse, obesity rates, diabetes and smoking.

MaineHealth’s Food Service Task Force facilitates info-sharing and collabora-tion across the system. In 2015 Maine Medical Center, Spring Harbor Hospital, Southern Maine Health Care, Stephens Memorial Hospital, Mid Coast Hospital and St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center partnered with We Compost It! to divert 235 tons of organics from the waste stream, and replaced it with 250 yards of organic compost provided to employees and local farms.

LEADERSHIP COMMUNITY

In an effort to strengthen home health care services in Midcoast and Southern Maine, three of our home health and hospice agencies have partnered to form one unified organization with a new name: MaineHealth Care at Home.

On May 1, 2016, HomeHealth Visiting Nurses, Kno-Wal-Lin Home Care and Hospice and Waldo County Home Care and Hospice joined together to become a new MaineHealth member organization offering high-quality clinical services in Cumberland, York, Lincoln, Waldo, Knox and southern Oxford counties, with its headquarters in Saco.

MaineHealth Care at Home continues to provide a full range of high-quality services to patients with the same trusted care teams

of professionally trained and experienced nurses, rehabilitation therapists, home health aides and social workers employed in their local communities.

Since the launch of the new organi-zation, the MaineHealth Care at Home senior team has expanded to include a chief operating officer and a director of

hospice. The senior team is meeting weekly to review transition items and operational issues, as well as visiting throughout the region to greet staff, see facilities, and meet key referral sources.

While discharging and re-admitting patients to the new organization has required a great amount of teamwork, the teams have readily stepped up to the challenge. “I am extremely appreciative of the effort by everyone during the conversion of patients to the new agency in the Midcoast region,” said Donna DeBlois, President and CEO of MaineHealth Care at Home.

By aligning the collective strengths and expertise of three home health agencies, MaineHealth Care at Home will continue to support the health and independence of many Maine residents for years to come.

INTRODUCING MAINEHEALTH CARE AT HOME

MaineHealth Care at Home helps patients gain confidence and strength for an improved quality of life

171071_Cover.indd 2 6/16/16 8:38 PM