ED and Perioperative Services Welcome New Administrators

Highland welcomes Dan Richardson as Senior Program Administrator for Perioperative Services and Edward C. Englerth, III as Program Administrator for the Emergency Department and Emergency Observation Unit.

Highland Family Maternity Center and Bariatric Surgery Center Recognized for Excellence

Excellus BlueCross BlueShield recently announced that Highland's Family Maternity Center received a Blue Distinction® Centers+ (BDC+) for Maternity Care designation, as part of the Blue Distinction Specialty Care program and that Highland's Bariatric Surgery Center received a Blue Distinction® Centers+ for Bariatric Surgery designation, also as part of the Blue Distinction Specialty Care program. William O’Malley, M.D., serves as chief of Bariatric Surgery and Mary Ma, M.D., serves as interim chief of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Highland Stands For Meaningful Inclusion and Diversity

As a respected health care institution in our community it is vital that Highland speak out against systemic racism and build our own action plan for moving Highland forward on our journey toward meaningful inclusion and diversity. Providers and staff were invited to listening sessions this summer as an opportunity to share experiences and perspectives with senior leadership. We want to thank each and every person who attended these sessions, and who sent in emails and notes. We were privileged to hear powerful stories about your experiences both at work and in everyday life.

Highland Redesign Efforts Focus on Safe Environment of Care

As COVID-19 hospitalizations have continued to decline in our community, Highland Hospital, alongside the UR Medicine system, has shifted its focus to a hospital-wide effort called Highland Redesign and Recovery. According to Allison Norenberg, MSc, Performance Improvement Manager, cross-functional teams throughout the organization are working with leadership to address complex problems that continue to emerge amidst the rapidly changing and unpredictable COVID-19 landscape. The ultimate aim of Highland’s Redesign and Recovery effort is to continue facilitating demonstrably safe environments for staff, patients, their families, and the community.

Patient Experience Now Part of Quality/Patient Safety

Highland’s focus on performance improvement is expanding and Sharon Johnson, MBA, CPHQ, CPPS, has assumed additional responsibilities with a new title of Director of Quality/Patient Safety and Patient Experience.

Johnson sees quality and performance improvement efforts complementing each other. “Performance improvement tools and techniques can and should be used for clinical improvement initiatives,” she said. New to Johnson’s department is supervision of the Patient Experience team.