HJAR Jul/Aug 2020

60 JUL / AUG 2020  I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF ARKANSAS Hospital Rounds Mercy Offering Livestream Medicare Seminars Mercy locations in Fort Smith and Northwest Arkansas are offering Medicare – Getting Started, a free educational seminar that will be lived- streamed while social distancing efforts remain in effect. The seminars are for those soon to become eligible for Medicare and replace in-person semi- nars that had previously been scheduled. Sessions will include information on: • Parts A & B and Part D (prescription coverage). • Differences between Part C (Medicare Advan- tage) and Medicare Supplement insurance plans. The livestream seminars are on the following dates: • July 2 • July 21 • Aug. 6 • Aug. 11 “I believe the education sessions are a great way for people to learn about Medicare Advan- tage plans and traditional Medicare,” said Kevin Moran, Arkansas’ director of payor relations and contracting with Mercy. “There are a lot of options for people eligible for Medicare. The seminars will give participants a chance to gain a better understanding of their choices when it comes to healthcare, insurance, and the services provided by Mercy.” Register at mercy.net/FTSMOnline in Fort Smith or mercy.net/NWAOnline in Northwest Arkansas. For more information, contact Denise Tanner at denise.tanner@mercy.net or (479) 314-4734. Baptist Health-UAMS Family Medicine Residency ProgramReceives Full 10- Year Accreditation The Baptist Health-UAMS Family Medicine Resi- dency program has received a full 10-year accred- itation from the Accreditation Council for Gradu- ate Medical Education (ACGME). The program was started in 2019 to provide more positions to train medical school graduates and to address the physician shortage in Arkansas, especially in rural areas. Studies show that physi- cians are more likely to practice close to where they did their residencies—75 percent stay within 75 miles of where they trained. “Baptist Health has been a leader in providing care to Arkansas residents for nearly 100 years. When the opportunity arose for Baptist Health to help train more of the physicians needed in the state, we enthusiastically endorsed the pro- gram,” said Troy Wells, president and CEO of Baptist Health. “We are grateful for the partner- ship with UAMS and appreciate the tremendous help they are providing to the continued success of these programs.” “It is gratifying to see that this spirit of team- work between UAMS and Baptist is enabling us to successfully fulfill our mission to train future fam- ily medicine physicians and increasing the pool of doctors who may choose to remain in Arkan- sas to practice,” said Cam Patterson, MD, MBA. The family medicine residency launched in sum- mer 2019 and trains up to 12 residents per year over the course of the three-year program. Twelve new residents have matched into the program for 2020 and will begin in July. When full of trainees at the three-year point, it will be one of the larger family medicine residency programs in the nation. In a further sign of dedication to the project, Baptist Health opened a new building in January of 2020 in North Little Rock built specifically for the medical education program. Arkansas lacks an adequate number of fam- ily medicine physicians, ranking 46 out of the 50 states in physicians per capita. Studies project these trends will worsen in the coming decades. While Arkansas graduates a large number of medical students, there are not enough residency slots for those students to stay in Arkansas. Proj- ects like this Baptist-UAMS partnership aim to address that gap. UAMS Receives FDA Authorization for Convalescent Plasma Use, Plus Partnerships for Statewide Access The Food and Drug Administration has autho- rized the use of convalescent plasma in Arkansas as an experimental treatment for COVID-19 with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) as the expanded access treatment pro- gram sponsor. With the authorization, UAMS Medical Center is able to use the treatment now without applying for FDA approval for every patient. Other health- care providers in the state can also work through the UAMS Arkansas Expanded Access COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma Treatment Program to use the treatment. The effort is a partnership between UAMS, the Arkansas Department of Health, UAMS Trans- fusion Medicine Services (Blood Bank), UAMS Office of Research Regulatory Affairs in the Divi- sion of Research & Innovation, UAMS Translational Research Institute, blood collectors such as the Arkansas Blood Institute, and the FDA. “This ensures that convalescent plasma col- lected in Arkansas will benefit Arkansas patients,” said Tina S. Ipe, MD, associate professor and division director for UAMS Transfusion Medicine Services and project leader for the statewide convalescent plasma effort. “If we had simply par- ticipated in an established nationwide program, much of what was donated here would have gone to hotspots elsewhere. The creation of this pro- gram gives us the chance to explore this potential treatment in Arkansas, for Arkansans.” Blue & You Grant Helps Mercy Upgrade Patient Rooms The Blue & You Foundation for a Healthier Arkansas has awarded Mercy Health Foundation $147,860 to support Mercy Hospital’s upgrade of patient rooms to help protect patients, co- workers, and the community from the spread of coronavirus. The upgrades involved converting 29 existing patient rooms into “negative pressure” rooms with specialized air handling systems that help to remove airborne pathogens. Mercy Hospital had 19 negative pressure rooms prior to the additional upgrades. The Blue & You grant enabled Mercy to pay for the design, engineering, and conversion of the hospital rooms, which are sometimes known as isolation rooms. They are used to treat patients with any airborne infectious disease, but the con- version was primarily aimed at containment of coronavirus. “We are grateful to the Blue & You Founda- tion, a longtime supporter, for helping health- care providers across the state respond quickly to the threat of coronavirus in our communities,” said Eric Pianalto, president of Mercy Hospital.