Keys to Successful 340B Program Management: Beyond the Basics
The current environment, existing pharmacy software, and suite of tools make 340B program compliance complicated for essential hospitals. These hospitals, also known as covered entities, employ a wide range of third-party administrators (TPAs) to manage 340B programming functions. BMC uses three separate systems for prescription ordering, dispensing, and determining 340B eligibility, which is not uncommon for essential hospitals. After noticing data issues arising from the use of disparate systems, BMC built a solution—an adjunct tool that works between disparate data sources to identify and correct data issues leading to traditional TPA errors. In the year since implementation, the solution has led to several benefits, including recovering savings from previously misidentified qualifying claims and instituting a patient appointment list to identify qualified patients accurately. Discover how this tool has created a path for more focused and efficient internal audits by compliance teams and improved cost control measures.
Presenters

David Twitchell, PharmD, MBA
Senior Vice President, Chief Innovation Officer, Boston Medical Center Health System

Meghana Vasudeva
Pharmacy Analytics Manager, Boston Medical Center
Improving Workplace Safety and Equity
It is critical for hospitals to have a focused, multidisciplinary approach to decreasing workplace violence. Boston Medical Center (BMC) developed a governance structure to review data, review best practices, and prioritize key safety initiatives across campus. Hear how the hospital identified workplace violence as a component of registered nurse turnover and invested in a 24/7 behavioral response team (BRT) run by advanced practice registered nurses. Since the team’s launch, BMC reports a 40 percent decrease in physical assaults across the campus and 30 percent decrease in total restraint hours, and front-line staff report feeling supported in their work with challenging patients and families.
Presenters

Nancy Gaden, DNP, RN
Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer, Boston Medical Center

Kristen Kremer, MBA
Director, Ambulatory Operations, Boston Medical Center
Enhancing Clinician Efficiency and Care Equity with AI Scribe Technology
Explore how artificial intelligence (AI) scribing technology demonstrates significant promise in enhancing clinician efficiency, patient-centered care, and equity in essential hospitals. Gain insights from a real-world case study at University Hospital at SUNY Downstate, in Brooklyn, N.Y., where nearly 88 percent of physicians who tried AI scribing reported improvements in efficiency, usability, and workflow. Discover tips for replicability and sustainability across similar institutions serving underserved populations based on research and data from this study.
Presenters

Mohamed Nakeshbandi, MD, MHA
Chief Medical Officer, University Hospital at Downstate

Yair Saperstein, MD, MPH
CEO and Co-Founder, Avo
Improving Health Equity and Expanding Care Access through Hospital at Home
When the COVID-19 pandemic overwhelmed hospitals with bed shortages and care delays, University Health, in San Antonio, faced an urgent need to expand care capacity. In June 2021, the level I trauma center and only safety net hospital in South Texas introduced a critical solution by adopting the emerging Hospital at Home (HaH) model, providing care outside traditional settings. By December 2024, HaH had cared for more than 2,690 patients, with an average daily census up to 24, saving more than 14,100 hospital beds. The results were comparable to or better than traditional care—improving access, bridging the digital divide, and advancing health equity.
Presenters

Adrian Carrola, DNP, RN
Director of Patient Care Services, Hospital at Home, University Health

Charles Reed, PhD, RN
Vice President and Associate Chief Nursing Officer, University Health
An Improved Approach to Care for Patients Experiencing Homelessness
Learn how Denver Health developed a comprehensive registry that enables more comprehensive and inclusive identification of patients experiencing homelessness for interventions critical in advancing health equity. The health system also invests in necessary housing through a contract for respite beds, rental and staffed transitional housing units, and partnerships with other programs. Discover how this deliberate approach to identifying and caring for patients facilitated stronger connections with partner agencies and funders.
Presenter

Donna Lynne, DrPH
CEO, Denver Health
Screening for Social Needs in Inpatient Care Settings
Discover how NYC Health + Hospitals began screening for social needs for all adult inpatients across their 11 acute care hospitals in January 2024. The health system incorporated screening questions into the nursing admissions workflow, and positive responses generated automated resource lists included in the after-visit summary. To support quality monitoring, the health system developed a tableau dashboard to track screening rates, positive responses, and opt-outs, with a sociodemographics tab to assess disparities across demographic groups. As of September 2024, the health system screened 86.9 percent of adult inpatients and identified at least one positive need for 13.4 percent.
Presenters

Kriti Gogia, MPH
Data Analyst, NYC Health + Hospitals

Kristen Song, MPH
Assistant Director, Social Medicine, NYC Health + Hospitals
ECMC’s Healthcare Explorers Program Opens Doors to Health Care Careers
As the demand for health care professionals grows, hospitals are finding innovative ways to train the next generation of students. Discover how the Healthcare Explorers Internship Program at ECMC, in Buffalo, N.Y., offers high school students a unique, immersive summer experience to explore diverse health care careers. As Western New York’s only level I adult trauma center and a regional leader in transplantation, cancer care, and orthopedics, ECMC provides students with hands-on exposure across more than 12 specialties. This program, which has engaged more than 240 students from 50+ schools, helps students discover the full spectrum of health care professions while enhancing their resumes and building valuable networks.
Presenters

Emily Beauchamp, MHA
Physician Practice Coordinator, ECMC

Erin Conley
Human Resources Assistant, ECMC
Humanism and Kindness as the Foundation for Organizational Transformation
NYC Health + Hospitals, the nation’s largest municipal safety net health care system, was in dire straits with a whopping $1.8 billion structural deficit in 2017. Mountains of consultant reports called for continued headcount reduction, closing services, and even closing hospitals. A new leadership team arrived in early 2018 and leaned in on kindness and humanism as foundational elements of a turnaround that has seen the structural deficit closed and a system that is thriving and growing. This session shares the roadmap of this more than five–year journey to transform the culture and turn the ship around.
Presenters

Hillary Jalon, MS
Vice President and Chief Quality Officer, NYC Health + Hospitals

Eric Wei, MD, MBA
CEO, NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue
Climate and Health: The Role of Leadership
Climate change and environmental factors are increasingly recognized as critical components of health and well-being that affect patient outcomes. Drawing from learnings at Parkland Health, in Dallas, we will illustrate the importance of targeting the environments where individuals live and their influence on health. This presentation highlights how climate affects health, positions climate resiliency as a key social driver of health, and underscores the need for collective leadership to drive meaningful change.
Presenters

Vidya Ayyr, MPH
Director, Community Social Impact, Parkland Health

Jacqueline Naeem, MD
Senior Medical Director, Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation
Improving Workplace Safety and Equity
It is critical for hospitals to have a focused, multidisciplinary approach to decreasing workplace violence. Boston Medical Center (BMC) developed a governance structure to review data, review best practices, and prioritize key safety initiatives across campus. Hear how the hospital identified workplace violence as a component of registered nurse turnover and invested in a 24/7 behavioral response team (BRT) run by advanced practice registered nurses. Since the team’s launch, BMC reports a 40 percent decrease in physical assaults across the campus and 30 percent decrease in total restraint hours, and front-line staff report feeling supported in their work with challenging patients and families.
Presenters

Nancy Gaden, DNP, RN
Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer, Boston Medical Center

Kristen Kremer, MBA
Director, Ambulatory Operations, Boston Medical Center
Novel Population Health Programs Meet Health-Related Social Needs
Nashville General Hospital is transforming patient care by standardizing procedures through the health care continuum while creatively addressing the patients’ social determinants of health. The interdisciplinary Community Care Team (CCT) comprises navigators, social workers, a dietitian, and a nurse practitioner. The CCT bridges the gaps of care that occur when patients are discharged from the hospital or between clinic visits. In conjunction with the CCT, the Food Pharmacy focuses on “food as medicine” and providing access to healthy food and nutritional counseling for patients experiencing food insecurity.
Presenters

Khalela Hatchett, MPH
Senior Director of Population Health Management, Nashville General Hospital

Joseph Webb, DSc, MSHA, FACHE
CEO, Nashville General Hospital
NYC Housing for Health: Integrating Clinical Support into Housing Programs
Housing for Health (HfH) is NYC Health + Hospitals’ initiative to improve health and housing outcomes for patients experiencing homelessness by facilitating housing support and permanent housing opportunities outside hospital walls. HfH provides housing navigation services and operates 75 medical respite beds for medically vulnerable people experiencing homelessness. Learn how the health system designed and implemented clinical integration and support across HfH programming. Key components include clinical review and referral pathways, provider visits, escalation processes, and clinical housing plans. Gain actionable insights, lessons learned, and a scalable model for integrating clinical support into housing programs.
Presenters

Brie Garner, MPH
Assistant Director, Housing for Health, NYC Health + Hospitals

Jonathan Meldrum, MD
Medical Director, Housing for Health, NYC Health + Hospitals
Modeling World-Class Equity and Racial Justice in Medicine
Leaders from Hennepin Healthcare, in Minneapolis, will share frameworks, best practices, and strategies to advance equity and racial justice in your organizations. Explore structural racism, health disparities, and effective approaches to embedding equity in clinical and operational practices. Through case studies and collaborative learning, you’ll gain actionable steps to drive systemic change and make your institutions models of world-class equity and racial justice in health care.
Presenters

Nneka Sederstrom, PhD, MA, MPH
Chief Health Equity Officer, Hennepin Healthcare

Talee Vang, PsyD
Vice President, Health Equity, Hennepin Healthcare
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