Senior Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer Dr. Hoda Asmar Advances Adventist Health Mission With New Patient-Centered Initiatives

ROSEVILLE, Calif., May 01, 2018 -- Adventist Health—a faith-based, nonprofit integrated health system serving more than 75 communities in the western U.S. states of California, Hawaii and Oregon—is pleased to report on the significant changes and new organization-wide strategies recently implemented under the direction of Senior Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer (CCO) Hoda Asmar, M.D. Appointed in June 2017, the senior physician leader has taken great strides toward advancing the Adventist Health clinical strategy while spearheading initiatives aimed at maximizing patient engagement, quality of care and safety as well as clinical operations efficiency.

Dr. Asmar is responsible for advancing the Adventist Health clinical strategy and spearheading initiatives aimed at maximizing the efficiency of clinical operations, improving patient services and quality and safety outcomes. Her role spans the medical and clinical staff alignment, engagement, strategy, finance and operations.

"It is truly remarkable to see the transformational results of Dr. Asmar's commitment to bring the highest caliber of health services to our patients," says Scott Reiner, chief executive officer at Adventist Health. "In well under a year, she has driven six major initiatives focused on care transformation and clinical integration—under one unified organization and reporting structure—with patient experience, engagement and safety at the core." 

Reflecting Adventist Health's calling to bring physical, mental, spiritual and social healing to every patient served, Dr. Asmar has taken the lead in redesigning care; building clinical and physician leadership; creating a high reliability culture; focusing on workforce well-being and patient experience and outcomes. In patient safety alone, Adventist Health has experienced great improvements across the board, with seven markets already exceeding their safety composite index targets for 2018.

Part of the organization's "Chasing Zero" strategy, which developed out of a nationwide effort launched in 2010 to bring awareness to and dramatically reduce the medical errors that harm approximately 250,000 to 400,000 patients annually across the U.S., Adventist Health has realized a 30 percent reduction thus far, and is well on track to reach its goal of top decile performance by 2019. Additionally, Adventist Health Castle in Oahu, Hawaii, and Adventist Health Howard Memorial in Willits, California, have seen tremendous improvements in patient experience and care quality since adopting the organization's 5 must-haves nursing practices that are central to Adventist Health's commitment to service and patient experience.

"These achievements are quite commendable, considering we live in an era of constant and disruptive change. Healthcare systems and providers are increasingly experiencing the consequences of cost and productivity pressures, coupled with burdensome insurer procedures and government regulations, all of which have sent the signal that the industry faces an urgent need to transform itself," says Dr. Asmar. "We as a nation spend the most on healthcare per person, yet our outcomes don’t match other advanced nations. Recognizing that true change can only occur from within, we at Adventist Health are transitioning to multi-disciplinary, collaborative care teams that care for the most common clinical conditions in an evidenced based team approach that is seamless and reduces care variation while ensuring excellence at every step in the care process."

ABOUT ADVENTIST HEALTH: Adventist Health is a faith-based, non-profit integrated health system serving more than 75 communities on the West Coast and Hawaii. Its compassionate and talented team of 33,300 includes more than 24,600 employees; 5,000 medical staff physicians; and 3,700 volunteers working together in pursuit of one mission: living God’s love by inspiring health, wholeness and hope. Founded on Seventh-day Adventist heritage and values, Adventist Health provides care in 20 hospitals, more than 280 clinics (hospital-based, rural health and physician clinics), 13 home care agencies, seven hospice agencies and four joint-venture retirement centers. Through a separate public benefit corporation, Adventist Health seeks to reach more communities and accommodate their specific needs from an affiliated health system. 

MEDIA CONTACT: Leslie Licano, Beyond Fifteen Communications, Inc.
[email protected] | 949-733-8679 x 101

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