Letter from Shelly Voet, MD - Executive Community Physician Leader
July 26, 2023
Hi! I hope everyone is having a relaxing summer. Thanks for taking a few minutes to read through Synapse.
This month at CCHMC, ED and acute care admissions have been stable with more typical summer volumes. The ICUs have remained very busy. The Chief of Staff leadership transition has occurred smoothly and our CPAC team is looking forward to working with Dr. Rich Falcone and his team. Replacing Dr. Falcone as the Associate Chief of Staff for Surgical Services is Dr. Alessandro de Alarcon.
Cincinnati Children’s has also welcomed new residents and fellows in the last month. Our CPAC team will be working with Dr. Alison Walker, one of the Chief Residents who has graciously agreed to serve on our Communications committee. The chief residents have shared with new interns core principles about communicating with PCPs in the community. We hope you will share with any of your new team members how you prefer to receive Cincinnati Children’s hospital provider calls, and that you will welcome the new residents when they contact you.
On the ambulatory side, this month Cincinnati Children’s announced their plans to expand and consolidate Eastside services in a new location in Eastgate. The article in this issue reviews the services that will be available there.
Clinically, the Kentucky Department of Public Health notified KY providers about an increase of pertussis cases in Central Kentucky. You can read this notification HERE. We are sharing this notification because Cincinnati Children’s lab has also seen a slight increase in positive cases in the last several weeks. This is a good reminder to review symptoms of pertussis with staff, ensure staff are up to date with vaccinations, and review office policies regarding infection control, using resources such as these from the CDC: Tools for Healthcare Settings | Infection Control | CDC.
CPAC has met with the Information Services team at Cincinnati Children’s in the last two months over two issues.
The first is regarding consistent policies regarding adolescent privacy. Please read the summary by Dr. Lindsey Barrick Groskopf and team in this issue as there may be occasions where a family may ask you to review decisions regarding this.
We have also met with IS for updates regarding the transition from Healthbridge to CliniSync. In the last month, most of the independent practices have signed an agreement with CliniSync, the Ohio based HIE service provider chosen by our region’s hospitals to send and receive health information. You can read more about CliniSync and the Southwest Ohio implementation HERE.
Don’t forget to download the latest episode of Pediatric Consult, which is an excellent review of Pediatric Hypertension with Dr. Mark Mitsnefes from Nephrology and Dr. Jill Schaffeld from our Community Practice Advisory Council.
Finally, please save the evening of October 10, 2023, for our fifth annual PCP-Resident Meet and Greet. This year’s event will occur in person again at Sabin Auditorium. You will be receiving an email with registration details next week.
Thank you for all you do. If you have any questions or input, please reach out.
Shelly
Shelly F. Voet MD
Pediatric Associates PSC
CCHMC Executive Community Physician Leader