Lehigh Valley Health Network

Orthopedic program recognized

Lehigh Valley Hospital is named as one of the top hospitals in the country for orthopedics, ranking 27th nationwide on the 2023-24 U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals list. This is the 24th time LVH has been nationally recognized on the best hospitals list since 1996.

LVH is also ranked as the top hospital in the region for the 10th consecutive time by U.S. News & World Report and stands among the Top 10 hospitals in Pennsylvania, ranking sixth on the 2023-24 list.

Additionally, U.S. News rated LVH as “high performing” in five specialties and 15 procedures and conditions.

Each “high performing” rating means LVH is considered among the Top 10 percent for that rated specialty.

The annual Best Hospitals rankings and ratings are designed to assist patients and their doctors in making informed decisions about where to receive care for challenging health conditions or for common conditions and procedures.

Jibilian named chief wellness officer

Valley Preferred, the physician hospital organization affiliated with Lehigh Valley Health Network, has announced that Amy A. Jibilian, MD, will take the lead as chief wellness officer for both organizations.

The last several years have seen a concentrated focus on clinician well-being to try to mitigate burnout and help providers recapture the joy they first felt when going into medical practice.

The role of chief wellness officer was created in 2018 to oversee the development, implementation, and evaluation of programs and protocols designed to optimize the wellness, culture, and working environment for clinical providers (Physicians and Advanced Practice Clinicians) at all LVHN hospitals and medical practices.

“It is a great honor and privilege to be selected to serve my colleagues in this incredibly important position of Chief Wellness Officer,” says Dr. Jibilian.

“I am excited to be part of an outstanding team of individuals committed to reducing burnout for clinicians, promoting well-being, and restoring joy in the daily practice of medicine.“

From 2007 to 2021, Dr. Jibilian was the physician practice leader at LVPG Pediatrics, Center Valley. She has served as wellness representative to the department of pediatrics and Lehigh Valley Reilly Children’s Hospital from 2022 to present.

A graduate of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Dr. Jibilian is an American Academy of Pediatrics Fellow member and a Christian Medical and Dental Association member.

Integrating AI software

Lehigh Valley Health Network’s department of radiology and diagnostic medical imaging is integrating multiple artificial intelligence software into existing workflows at all medical imaging sites.

The three AI software programs being implemented include:

Aidoc will immediately read all imaging studies and look for three emergent conditions:

• Pulmonary embolism (a blood clot in the lungs)

• Pneumothorax (a collapsed lung)

• Cervical spine fracture (a fracture in the neck area)

Rad AI Omni will automatically generate study impressions from a radiologist’s dictation.

Rad AI Continuity will automatically send follow-up recommendations to the patient as well as their referring clinician when incidental findings (lung nodules, thyroid nodules, adrenal lesions, kidney cysts, enlarged lymph nodes and more) are identified.

All of the software programs are slated to launch at LVHN by the end of fall 2023.

St. Luke’s Health Network

Named to Top 100

St. Luke’s University Health Network has been named to Premier’s 2023 PINC AI 100 Top Hospitals list published by Fortune magazine.

This is the 11th time that St. Luke’s University Hospital has been recognized among the 100 Top Hospitals in the United States. St. Luke’s is the only health network in the greater Lehigh Valley region to ever earn this distinction, and this year it is the highest-ranked network in Pennsylvania.

“St. Luke’s enjoys a well-deserved reputation as the health network in the Lehigh Valley that is the most compassionate and whose quality stands in no one’s shadow,” said Rick Anderson, president and CEO of St. Luke’s University Health Network. “This latest 100 Top Hospitals designation validates that St. Luke’s delivers the highest quality health care with the best clinical results in the region.”

Orthopedic surgery hospital opens

The area’s newest specialty hospital has opened for orthopedic surgery, where expert teams will perform same-day surgeries of the knee, hip, spine, hand and shoulder, and treat myriad sports-related fractures and other injuries. SLUHN officials expect the first patients to be treated in the new hospital beginning this winter.

The St. Luke’s Orthopedic Hospital, built with American steel, is a two-story, 52,000 square-foot facility located at the St. Luke’s West End Medical Center, 501 Cetronia Road, Allentown, in western Lehigh County.

“This hospital will provide the ideal orthopedic patient experience in terms of quality, comfort and convenience,” said St. Luke’s Chairman of Orthopedics Douglas Lundy, MD

Partnering with Habitat

Because of the Network’s commitment to improving the health of its community, St. Luke’s Community Health department continues to partner with Habitat for Humanity Lehigh Valley to help better the lives and living conditions of Center City Allentown residents, which will support their health and well-being.

A group of St. Luke’s Sacred Heart residents and practitioners regularly volunteer for Habitat Lehigh Valley’s home restoration and repair projects in the downtown area – otherwise known as the “Heart of the City.” Call it a case of “residents helping residents.” In addition, as part of St. Luke’s University Health Network’s 150th anniversary, the Network presented a $10,000 grant to Habitat Lehigh Valley so it can continue its critical work that directly impacts the quality of life for their clients and SLUHN’s patients.

CT technology investment St. Luke’s University Health Network recently announced a $30 million investment in CT technology from GE HealthCare that will give St. Luke’s patients access to some of the most sophisticated, cutting-edge technology on the market, no matter where they access their St. Luke’s care. Patients now can have additional benefits during their CT exams, including: faster scans and sharper images (when compared to previous CT systems), a potential reduction in radiation dose from advancements in technology, the capacity to better detect lesions or tissue abnormalities and to map vascular structures, and the ability to capture fine detail in the head and neck, which is critical in stroke diagnosis.

These scanners are also expected to be helpful within St. Luke’s pediatric patient population, trauma cases, and especially in advanced cardiac exams by using GE HealthCare’s Snapshot Freeze technology. That technology, combined with fast rotation speed and wide coverage provided by the GE HealthCare scanners, provides the ability to image the heart with any heart rate in just one beat, which reduces the motion artifacts significantly, thus decreasing the likelihood for additional scanning.

Network recognized for ‘social responsibility,’

St. Luke’s University Hospital in Bethlehem has been ranked #1 in Pennsylvania for social responsibility on the 2023-24 Lown Institute Hospitals Index, utilizing various diverse metrics such as community benefit and racial inclusivity. Nationwide, St. Luke’s University Hospital was ranked sixth.

St. Luke’s University Health Network earned an ‘A’ in social responsibility, ranking #12 nationally out of nearly 300 health systems, and each of the Network’s hospitals also earned an ‘A.’

Additionally, St. Luke’s Bethlehem and Monroe campuses were named Honor Roll hospitals by Lown. Honor Roll hospitals are those that earn straight ‘A’ grades across all categories in the index’s top measures: social responsibility, health equity, value of care and patient outcomes. Only 54 hospitals nationwide earned Honor Roll status.

In April of this year, the Lown Institute ranked St. Luke’s the No. 1 health system in Pennsylvania for charitable giving. It reported St. Luke’s is the only health system in the Lehigh Valley with a “fair share” surplus, meaning it spends more on charity and community investment than it receives in tax breaks.

Campuses get high ratings

The St. Luke’s Bethlehem, Anderson, Monroe, Easton and Warren campuses have received the highest possible quality rating – five stars – from the annual quality and safety hospital review conducted by the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid.

In Pennsylvania and New Jersey, only 23 hospitals received such an honor. Furthermore, the St. Luke’s campuses were the only hospitals in the Lehigh Valley to receive the highest rating.

The CMS ratings are based on an examination of the quality of care at more than 4,000 Medicare-certified hospitals across the country. The quality measures include safety and value of care, readmission, infection, complication rates, mortality, patient experience, effectiveness and timeliness of care and efficient use of medical imaging.

A CMS tool – called Hospital Compare – is a consumer-oriented website that provides information on how well hospitals provide recommended care to their patients. The information provided by the tool can help consumers make informed decisions about where to go for health care.

Network gets good employee rating

St. Luke’s University Health Network is the top-ranked Lehigh Valley-based employer in Forbes Magazine’s ranking of employers in Pennsylvania, which was published recently.

Forbes said it partnered with market research firm Statista to survey 70,000 workers at companies (minimum of 500 employees) in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

“Employee loyalty is a hallmark of organizations that do right by their workers and community,” Forbes said in the article about its findings.

Participants were asked if they would recommend their employer to others, and to evaluate their employer based on working conditions, diversity, compensation packages, potential for development, company image and more. All surveys were anonymous to encourage candor. As with all Forbes lists, companies paid no fee to participate.

Forbes’ best-in-state recognition is one of numerous employer-related distinctions St. Luke’s has earned recently.

Last month, St. Luke’s was named one of America’s Best Employers for Women by Forbes. St. Luke’s was the only employer in the Lehigh Valley to be named to the list and was one of only two health care employers in Pennsylvania to receive the designation.