It Takes a Village

Highland did exceptionally well when The Joint Commission completed its triennial unannounced survey of the hospital in December. The seven-person survey team included nurses and physicians, who visited all inpatient and ambulatory sites, interviewed staff, providers, and patients, with a focus on the quality and safety of patient care at Highland. I want to take this opportunity to thank all who participated in this survey and to pay special recognition to the departments at Highland that were surveyed.

I continue to be impressed by the responsiveness of our staff and the pride they take in preparing for these surveys. You truly embody the compassionate and caring culture that is our hallmark at Highland. One of the surveyors relayed that he found the quality and safety to be better than a world class medical center he had visited and stated, “I would be a patient here in a flash.”

They commented on the Highland’s strong leadership and commitment to becoming a high reliability organization. They were impressed with our high quality, outstanding clinical care, despite the obvious challenges throughout healthcare and that Highland faces specifically as part of the Rochester community.

But there is still work to be done. One area that continues to be a challenge for all hospitals is the plight of long-term care patients. Our hospital and those across our community are in a constant state of overcrowding because of the shortage of available nursing home beds in our community.

One of the ways this is being addressed is with funding from an American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) grant to Monroe County & City of Rochester for Transformational Community Care Coordination (TC3). The grant will directly address the current public health crisis in our community as all Rochester hospitals are experiencing extreme overcrowding because skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) are not able to provide needed access to services.  Due to severe labor shortages, as well as insufficient revenue streams, SNFs have closed beds or suspended admissions, and face a critical shortage of skilled workers. This has resulted in an unprecedented and growing number of patients who are awaiting discharge from the hospital.

The grant includes:

• Financial incentive for nursing homes to take difficult to place patients
• Money to train nurses to increase staffing at nursing homes
• Financial incentive to nursing homes to pay for transport

Highlands Living Center and the Highlands at Brighton are the SNFs affiliated with Highland that are participating with this grant. We are hopeful that this will help alleviate some of the overcrowding and open up opportunity for acute patient care.

2/17/2023

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