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2017 A YEAR IN REVIEW:
Special Care Providers
Miami VA Healthcare System
and Centric Consulting
2017 saw the Miami VA
Healthcare System recognized Use BlueBeak’s Beacon
by several accrediting bodies
and quality measures for its Technology to Improve Care in
high-quality care and dedica-
tion to providing great health-
care to South Florida Veterans. Ventilator-Dependent Patients
This year alone, Miami VA
received no recommendations Encouraging results from use of the beacon technology have
following the results of its
CARF Residential Rehab- led to improved metrics, patient outcomes, and quality of life
ilitation Treatment Programs as well as reduced costs and decreased lengths of stay.
survey in June.
According to the final report, Special Care Providers (SCP) delivers care to
“The (Miami VAHS) continues catastrophically ill and ventilator-dependent
to use comprehensive perform- patients within a contracted unit at a large teach-
ance improvement protocols to ing hospital. But this patient population often has
address the CARF, VA, and state poor outcomes, care is expensive, length of stay is
of Florida standards of care. The organization maintains collaborative relationships frequently quite long, and readmissions are fre-
with social service agencies to maximize the treatment for veterans. The leadership, quent.
staff members, and funding sources believe in the mission of the organization and its In an effort to improve patient outcomes, SCP
ability to provide quality services. Miami VA Healthcare System, the parent organiza- recently implemented a so-called “high-touch”
tion, is proactively seeking to expand available services.” multi-disciplinary model of care that uses beacon
In addition to the successful CARF accreditation, the Miami VAHS was also recog- technology to monitor staff interaction with
nized by VA’s Strategic Analytics for Improvement and Learning as a four-star facility, patients, encouraging and rewarding staff for
one of two facilities in VISN 8 to receive that recognition. This rating, which measures quality patient care time. Since its launch in
a wide range of criteria including health care outcomes, access, patient satisfaction October of 2017, the project has already led to Dr. Marcie Stoshak-Chavez
and continuity of care, reflects the commitment and quality their employees bring to positive results.
South Florida Veterans every day. “Physicians intuitively know that multidisciplinary care improves outcomes,
In December, the Miami VA hosted the 5th annual Veterans Holiday Celebration at but this project reinforces that feeling,” said Marcie Stoshak-Chavez, M.D.,
the William “Bill” Kling VA Clinic in Broward County. More than 270 kids from 170 National Healthcare Leader at Centric Consulting. “A data-driven approach
families had a photo with Santa, enjoyed some food and drink and chose a toy or two combined with a true patient provider relationship is the key to the success of
from Santa’s Workshop. In addition to supporting South Florida Veterans, this year this project.”
Miami VA also sent several toys to Puerto Rico to support a Veterans Group that has The in-hospital special care unit ensures adequate staff intervention, moni-
been helping schools and orphanages in the rural parts of the island. toring time and impact of patient care, by using a low energy Bluetooth-
enabled beacon embedded on badges of all diverse team of members that deliv-
er intensive patient care. This non-intrusive technology ensures all practition-
ers are hyper-aware of patient interaction time by providing alerts when near-
ing or exceeding the designated amount of time.
This allows management and staff alike to intervene quickly to ensure the
best possible outcomes. It also allows SCP to analyze the data to determine the
best mix of interventions.
So far, SCP has seen encouraging results from use of the beacon technology,
including improved metrics, patient outcomes and quality of life as well as
reduced costs and decreased lengths of stay:
• Ventilator weaning rates have exceeded 80% (much higher than the
national average)
• Decannulation rates have exceeded 63%
• A nearly 400% increase in subsequent discharges home
• Significant reduction in rates of readmission for their partner hospital
Also, both management and staff have embraced beacon technology, which
has led to improved provider and patient (caregiver) satisfaction.
Centric Consulting is a business consulting and technology solutions firm
providing full-service consulting services.
For more information, visit centricconsulting.com.

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12 February 2018 southfloridahospitalnews.com South Florida Hospital News