Loma Linda University Medical Center Touts Orlando Summit Presentation

Performance improvements, costs savings initiatives, and efficiency in patient care at Loma Linda University Medical Center were highlighted earlier this month by a team from the hospital at the 2012 Crimson Clinical Advantage Annual Performance Summit in Orlando.

The group from Loma Linda included Waheed Baqai, clinical decision support, Dr. Alan Michel, chairman, utilization management committee, and Dr. Nepthali Gomez, acute chair surgeon, and team leader Dr. James Pappas, Herbert Atienza of LLUMC said in an announcement Thursday.

"In 2010, Loma Linda University Medical Center created an acute care surgery service model and sought to ensure the maximum benefit for its community from the new model," Atienza said.

"With analysis of cost and quality performance data from Crimson, LLUMC identified opportunities to improve patient complications and cost of care for acute appendicitis and acute cholecystitis," Atienza said.

"The resulting improvement initiative reduced complications of care, lowered average length of stay for appendectomy 36% and for cholecystectomy by 37% and generated a cost savings of more than $362,000," Atienza said.

Loma Linda University Medical Center's health system includes the Loma Linda University Children's Hospital, LLUMC – East Campus, Behavioral Medicine Center, Heart and Surgical Hospital, and physician clinics.

The hospital complex is home to the only Level 1 trauma center in the San Bernardino, Riverside, Inyo, and Mono counties, which covers more than 40,000 square miles in Southern California. Loma Linda University Medical Center handles more than 30,000 inpatients and 500,000 outpatient visits a year.

LLUMC officials bill the hospital complex as "a health care leader . . . known for its pioneering and cutting-edge work in such areas as organ transplants, proton treatment for cancers, cardiac care, physical rehabilitation, acute pediatric and adult care, as well as treatments for chemical dependence and other behavioral disorders."

For more information, visit lomalindahealth.org/medical-center.