Spring 2008 Email Newsletter

Our Hospital Partners

Saint Alphonsus partners with Advanced ICU Care to extend specialty care

Advanced ICU Care has begun monitoring 22 ICU beds at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, Idaho, in collaboration with Saint Alphonsus' local intensivist and critical care nursing teams. Advanced ICU Care's intensivists and critical care nurses will provide continuous remote care and monitoring for patients seven days a week, 24 hours a day, supporting the local ICU physicians and nurses.

Saint Alphonsus plans to extend these capabilities to hospitals throughout Idaho -- leveraging telemedicine to extend clinical expertise, provide greater access to highly specialized care and technologies, and offer an expanded network of clinical services. 

Through a TATRC (Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center) grant, Saint Alphonsus will use telemedicine to deliver different types of specialists, including intensivists, to hospitals in the greater community.

St. Mary's reports zero ventilator-associated pneumonia cases

St. Mary's Health Center in Jefferson City, Missouri, has seen zero cases of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) since the inception of Advanced ICU Care's eICU® program. Three of the four best practice interventions to reduce VAP - DVT (deep vein thrombosis) prophylaxis, head-of-bed elevation and stress ulcer prophylaxis - have risen to 99 percent compliance or higher after implementation of the eICU program. The fourth intervention, sedation vacation, has improved dramatically as well, rising to 91 percent compliance. As part of the Advanced ICU Care program, the "VAP bundle" is measured multiple times a day and orders are submitted to maintain compliance. The technology also helps track results for continuous quality improvement.

Parkview Health System signs on for Advanced ICU Care's 24/7 eICU program to support its local care initiative

Parkview Health has designed an intensivist-hospitalist program at the bedside to care for its ICU patients, increasing the amount of bedside support these specialist physicians provide and expanding their in-patient coverage. Part of this local program, Advanced ICU Care's intensivists and critical care nurses now provide around-the-clock care and monitoring for Parkview's 45 ICU beds, supporting the local physicians and nurses.

Parkview had previously implemented an eICU program which used both Advanced ICU Care's clinicians in addition to its own intensivists and critical care nurses housed at an internal monitoring center. The hospital system now utilizes Advanced ICU Care's complete eICU program -- including 24/7 remote monitoring by board-certified intensivists and critical care nurses, telemedicine technology and a process improvement program -- to enable Parkview intensivists to spend their time at the patient's bedside and facilitate the new care initiative.

Our People

Gary Anderson joins as Director of Operations

Gary Anderson, MHA, RN, FACHE, has joined Advanced ICU Care as Director of Operations, overseeing the implementation of the company's eICU program. Anderson manages the technical and clinical implementation resources, supervises post-implementation processes, and supports the client service and sales initiatives.

Most recently, Anderson was vice president of hospitalist practice operations for Inpatient Management, Inc., where he managed physician practices in multiple hospitals throughout 12 states. He holds a master's of health administration from the University of Missouri, Columbia; a bachelor's degree in nursing from Webster University in St. Louis; and a nursing diploma from St. Luke's Hospital in St. Louis. He is a registered nurse in Missouri and a Board Certified Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.

Bradford Grueneberg named Information Services (IS) Analyst

Bradford Grueneberg has been named IS Analyst, focusing primarily on providing technical support for Advanced ICU Care's servers and workstations. He also supports application and technical implementation of the company's eICU technical platform.

Before joining Advanced ICU Care, Grueneberg worked at Union Pacific Railroad and its subsidiary, Transentric, for eight years as a PC support specialist, project engineer and network administrator. Grueneberg earned a bachelor's degree in information systems from Maryville University and an associate in applied science degree from St. Louis Community College.

Pat Michaels joins as Director of Clinical Services

Pat Michaels, MSN, RN, has joined the company as Director of Clinical Services. In this role, Michaels oversees the company's nursing and health care associate staff. She also supports the clinical program implementation at new hospitals and helps manage client service operations. 

Michaels has 30 years of experience in management, consulting and patient care. Most recently, she was a director in the healthcare advisory practice for PriceWaterhouseCoopers. Michaels holds a master's of nursing administration and a bachelor's degree in nursing from St. Louis University in St. Louis, and a nursing diploma from Jewish Hospital School of Nursing in St. Louis. She is a registered nurse in Missouri. 

Roland Van Heest named Director of Finance

Roland Van Heest has been named Director of Finance for Advanced ICU Care. In this role, Van Heest leads budget and forecasting processes, facilitates and coordinates financial reporting, and supports Advanced ICU Care's risk management functions.

With 15 years experience in finance, Van Heest comes to Advanced ICU Care from Charter Communications, where he held roles in operations as well as sales and marketing. Van Heest has a bachelor's degree from Wheaton College and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Kris Wilson signs on as Credentialing Manager

Kris Wilson has been named Credentialing Manager at Advanced ICU Care, managing the process of securing and maintaining all physician and nurse state licenses and medical privileges in all states in which Advanced ICU Care physicians and nurses practice. Wilson also leads efforts in obtaining and maintaining TJC (The Joint Commission) accreditation for the Certified Verification Organization (CVO) designation. 

Previously, Wilson served as credential manager for Spectrum Healthcare Resources. She is a Certified Provider Credentialing Specialist.

Erica Weible joins as Credentialing Assistant

Erica Weible has been named Credentialing Assistant, responsible for securing and maintaining physician and nurse state licenses and medical privileges, as well as maintaining TJC accreditation.

Weible comes to Advanced ICU Care from Spectrum Healthcare Resources, where she served as a credentials supervisor and management trainee. She holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Missouri.

In the News

Richard Bailey, MD, medical director of Inpatient Care and Hospitalist Services at Saint Clare's, says having remote intensivists lets his staff focus on hospital patients outside the ICU.

"One critical patient can tie you up for hours," Dr. Bailey says. "Advanced ICU Care's intensivists are hands-on physicians, helping us round on ICU patients, take patient notes, and handle first-line phone calls."

There is no difference, he says, between having intensivists in St. Louis, for example, versus on-site. "They are more than a microphone and a camera in the ceiling; they are members of our staff," he says. "We trust them to take care of our patients."

(The Hospitalist "Telemedicine Technologies Benefit Patient and Physician," July 2007).

Where to Find Us

Advanced ICU Care will participate in the American Telemedicine Association's 13th Annual International Meeting & Exposition in Seattle, WA, on April 6-8.

Advanced ICU Care will participate in Marcus Evans' National Healthcare CNO Summit
in Vedra Beach, FL, on April 13-15.

About Us

Advanced ICU Care® is a medical service company that provides high-quality remote critical care to patients in the intensive care units (ICU) of community hospitals. Through experienced clinicians, supported by cutting-edge telemedicine technology, and a process improvement program, Advanced ICU Care provides continuous ICU patient monitoring and improved care and safety outcomes to critically ill patients across the country. Hospital ICUs are linked with Advanced ICU Care's eICU Operations Center in St. Louis, Missouri through a technology platform developed by VISICU, allowing Advanced ICU Care's board-certified intensivists (critical care medicine physicians) and critical care nurses to monitor hospital ICU patients from a central location. Founded to improve access to critical care expertise, deliver best practices to patients by leveraging telemedicine technology, and establish intensivists as the standard of care, the Advanced ICU Care program delivers around-the-clock critical care specialists, dramatically improving patient care.

For more information, visit: www.icumedicine.com.