Scott & White Medical Center – Temple selected as a Focus MI Diplomat Hospital
Scott & White Medical Center – Temple was one of 15 US hospitals selected to participate in the American College of Cardiology Patient Navigator Program: Focus MI Quality Campaign as a “Diplomat Hospital.” This is an expanded version of the original patient navigator program launched in 2013. Scott & White – Temple was one of 35 pioneering hospitals chosen to provide personalized services to patients with myocardial infarction to help them avoid a quick return to the hospital.
“Improving the overall quality of care for heart patients continues to be our longstanding goal,” said Jeffrey Michel, MD, interim chair, department of cardiology at Scott & White – Temple. “We endeavor to understand the challenges our heart patients are facing and develop methods to support their recovery, including improving their recovery and reducing admissions.”
Patient Navigator Program: Focus MI will provide hospitals participating in the American College of Cardiology's ACTION Registry the ability to transform care by sharing successful strategies, mentorship, and specialized tools and resources. In addition, the 15 Diplomat Hospitals will focus on identifying best practices for improving patient care and readmissions, including 30 and 90 days of follow-up care after hospital discharge—an increasing area of focus for proposed payment and reimbursement models.
Dr. Giuliano Testa named one of Time magazine's “100 most influential people in the world”
In April 2018, Time named Giuliano Testa, MD, one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Dr. Testa is the chief of abdominal transplantation at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas and the principal investigator of the uterine transplant clinical trial, which successfully delivered the first two children by women who received a uterus transplant in the US.
“This is truly an incredible honor and a testament to the team and process we have in place at Baylor University Medical Center. I am proud our work is contributing to the body of knowledge on transplantation across the world and that we have been able to achieve our goal of helping women who have been previously unable to have a baby,” said Dr. Testa.
Baylor University Medical Center and Texas Oncology begin breakthrough CAR-T cancer treatment for patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
Baylor University Medical Center and Texas Oncology are now offering CAR-T cancer therapy to treat diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). These providers are working together and are among the first in the nation to treat patients with the only CAR-T cell therapy approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat this form of cancer.
Chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy, or CAR-T, is a personalized therapy where a patient's own immune cells are removed, genetically reprogrammed, and then infused back into the patient to identify and attack his or her cancer as a one-time treatment. The CAR-T therapy offered at Baylor University Medical Center reprograms the patient's cells to attack DLBCL, which is the most common and aggressive form of lymphoma that accounts for 25% to 30% of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma cases in the United States. It is used to treat adult patients who have not responded or who have relapsed after two other kinds of treatment.
“This could be a game-changing treatment for patients whose cancer has not responded to other treatment options,” said Yair Levy, MD, medical oncologist at Texas Oncology and medical director of hematologic malignancy clinical research at Baylor University Medical Center. “It is an important advancement in cancer care to bring this next-generation treatment to North Texas that has shown promising results in treating patients with large B-cell lymphoma during both clinical trials and active treatments to date.”
Baylor Scott & White Medical Center – Buda celebrates groundbreaking
Baylor Scott & White Health leaders joined Buda city officials on April 4, 2018, to celebrate the start of construction on a new medical center set to open in summer 2019. The new medical center, the first in Hays County under the Baylor Scott & White name, located at 5330 White Wing Trail, Buda, Texas, will help meet the healthcare needs for Buda-area residents. Baylor Scott & White – Buda will include a full-service hospital, primary care, and an integrated multispecialty medical clinic. The model of care offers greater care coordination through a single electronic medical record, allowing hospital and clinic medical team members to coordinate care.
Baylor Scott & White Medical Center – Round Rock recognized as a top 100 hospital by IBM Watson Health
Baylor Scott & White Medical Center – Round Rock was named one of the nation's 100 Top Hospitals by IBM Watson Health (formerly Truven Health Analytics Top 100 Hospitals). This is the third time Baylor Scott & White – Round Rock has received this honor. The Watson Health 100 Top Hospitals study uses independent and objective research to analyze hospital and health system performance in 11 areas: inpatient mortality; 30-day mortality; complications; core measures; 30-day risk-adjusted readmissions; severity-adjusted average length of stay; mean emergency room throughput; inpatient expense per discharge; Medicare spend per beneficiary; adjusted operating profit margin; and Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems score (patient rating of overall hospital performance). The study has been conducted annually since 1993. “To receive this honor three times and for two consecutive years is nothing short of amazing,” said Jay Fox, president of Baylor Scott & White's Austin/Round Rock Region. “It is a testament to our Round Rock team's dedication to safety and providing the highest quality of care to our patients. We are humbled and look forward to serving the region with excellent care for years to come.”