Thursday morning, the Acadia Parish Chamber of Commerce, in conjunction with Acadia General Hospital, hosted “A Cup of Joe with Joe” when hospital CEO Joe Mitchell addressed the crowd with an update.
Mitchell has been CEO of AGH for two years this month and the hospital has seen much growth since that time, such as the opening of a new state-of-the-art emergency room and various other renovations throughout the campus.
Mitchell began by introducing the audience to the scope of services that the hospital currently provides including Family Medicine, Gynecology, Urogynecology, General Surgery, Hospitalists, Internal Medicine, Medical Oncology/Hematology, Nephrology, Otolaryngology, Opthalmology, Orthopedic Surgery, Pediatrics, Urology and Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine.
Some of the highlights of the services offered are:
- Cancer care includes world-class care with the ability to administer chemotherapy in the same manner as MD Anderson because they are part of a very large cancer center located throughout the region — Cancer Center of Acadiana — “with about 10-12 oncologist that are a part of that practice.” “It is the biggest service the hospital provides,” he added.
- New-Anterior Hip Procedure – a hip replacement procedure in which the incision is made on the anterior (front side) of the hip in comparison to the old method of a posterior (backside) incision that required much more recovery time.
- IV Pumps were recently purchased and outfitted. “The pumps can administer numerous medicines in sequence at a different rate in one IV,” Mitchell explained. The hospital spent about $700,000 to purchase the modernized pumps.
- Hyperbaric Medicine – often used to treat wounds in diabetic patients with compromised limb circulation. “This aids in the healing of wounds so that the patient does not lose a limb by amputation, due to infection,” Mitchell said. “The hyperbaric chamber is a high-pressured, high- oxygen content, often used for divers. The hospital has renovated a new space for this service and expects to have the space operating in the next 30 to 60 days.”
- Telemedicine – the hospital now offers telemedicine in telestroke, telepsych, telepulmonology (expected in three to six months), telecardiology and hospitalist.
AGH also recently received a USDA grant to bring telemedicine carts into local schools this fall.
“AGH has plans to expand services with a Long- Term Acute Care Hospital (LTACH),” Mitchell said. “This is from a new partnership from LHC and is a hospital within a hospital.
“The average hospital stay for AGH is about four days. However, after four days some people are unable to return home. Therefore, the intent is to create a space for long- term acute care for a stay of 21 days or less.
“It will be a 14-bed facility run by LHC expected to open in early August.” The CEO said the hospital is focused on “quality and patient experience” and has been receiving results of rating in the 96th percentile with 1,657 surveys filled out. That percentile is calculated out of 1,000 hospitals and means the hospital is doing better than 900 other hospitals in that percentile calculation, he explained.
AGH’s goal of outpatient satisfaction is to be greater or equal to the 90th percentile. About 80 percent of the hospital’s business is now outpatient procedures. The economic impact of the hospital to the community is $18 million annually in salaries and benefits. It provides 260 full-time jobs and 80 part-time.
