Healthcare Headlines Blog

Anthony Disser, Kindred's Senior Vice President of Clinical Operations, Hospital Division accepted the 2012 Hospital Partnership Award. Also pictured: DaVita's Lynn Robinson (left) and Joanne Brady (right).

Once a year, DaVita Inc., a leading provider of kidney care who delivers dialysis services to patients with chronic kidney failure and end stage renal disease, recognizes one of its partners with its Hospital Partnership Award. Kindred Healthcare is the recipient for 2012; the award was given at DaVita’s Hospital National Meeting on July 25.

Cody, a patient at Kindred Hospital San Gabriel Valley, had great dedication and never gave up on his health.

Cody, a patient at Kindred Hospital San Gabriel Valley, was visiting a cousin’s home when he was found unresponsive and taken by ambulance to a short-term acute care hospital. He was admitted for acute respiratory failure, hypoxia, encephalopathy, acute renal failure, acute hepatitis and rhabdomyolysis.

At the short-term acute care hospital, Cody’s condition was stabilized but he still required high-intensity care. He transferred to Kindred Hospital San Gabriel Valley for continued care including ventilator weaning, respiratory therapy and rehabilitation.

Many of you are probably already aware that May is Better Hearing and Speech Month. Since one of the goals of Better Hearing and Speech Month is to raise awareness about communication impairments and the professionals who treat them, this seems like a good time to share some information about Kindred’s speech and language pathologists (SLPs), and what they do for our patients.

Editor's Note: Due to the late onset of winter, flu continues to show up in communities across the United States.

In December of 2009, 24-year-old Sarah Flack was admitted to Kindred Hospital-San Francisco Bay Area following a five-week stay at another hospital where she had been battling H1N1. “I moved to Kindred because my parents were told it was a good place for physical therapy and for weaning people off of ventilators,” Flack says. “The staff there was phenomenal.”

One of the things that Flack liked about Kindred Hospital was the staff’s flexibility. “I was one of the youngest patients there, so I always had family in my room during visiting hours and sometimes even after,” she says. “When I was first admitted to Kindred, I was in a room with another patient, and it was just too crowded. So I asked for another room, and within a few hours, they moved me into a room that had plenty of space.”

The 2011 Clinical Impact Symposium Cardio-Pulmonary Rehabilitation Across the Continuum, held December 6-8 in Louisville, Ky., offered some great information on providing patients the highest level of care.

“The clinical guidelines for long-term care and rehabilitation have evolved gradually and changed considerably over the last several years,” he says. “Skilled nursing facilities have sometimes lagged behind. Dr. Pandya provided some easy-to-follow instructions and tools that will help those facilities to better manage their patients with diabetes.”

Sean Muldoon, M.D., Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President, Hospital Division, Kindred Healthcare, says that the “hazards of immobility that lead to polymyoneuropathy” theme was a common one during several of the sessions. “This validates the Kindred model of integrated restorative services, which will lead staff to update these findings with renewed determination into hospital care models,” he says.

Daniel Forman, MD, FACC, FAHA

Kindred’s presence across the post-acute spectrum of care means that our patients can recover as fully as possible in the proper care setting. Bessie’s story is a good example. She was living comfortable at home in Jeffersonville, Indiana, and using a Bi-PAP machine when she developed respiratory distress.

On January 3, she was admitted to a short-term acute care hospital. There she was placed on a ventilator and underwent a tracheostomy. She also developed pneumonia, renal dysfunction and hypertension. Because she was unable to wean from the ventilator, Bessie’s physician chose to transfer her to Kindred Hospital Louisville for continued care.

At Kindred Hospital Louisville, Bessie was successfully weaned from the ventilator. She recovered from her pneumonia  and her renal function improved significantly. By this point Bessie had gained strength with the help of physical, speech and occupational therapy, but her recovery was not complete.

Ehtel Frese, PT, DPT, MHS, CCS

Congestive heart failure is a very common reason for hospitalization, with over 1 million congestive heart failure (CHF) admissions per year; readmission rates are 30% at 30-60 days. Identifying methods to reduce the frequency of hospitalization and the associated costs are critically important.

Early exercise training may be useful in reducing morbidity and mortality in CHF. Aerobic and strength training are both key as muscle strength is a key predictor of long term survival, better than peak VO2.

The 6 min walk test is commonly used to measure functional capacity.  A result under 300 meters is associated with increased mortality.  The test is sensitive to changes in cardiac function, and a difference of 99 feet is considered the minimal improvement of clinical  importance according to Ethel Frese.

Peter Morris, MD

The issue of chronic critical illness or Post Intensive Care Unit Syndrome (PICS) is of great importance in the management of patients in the ICU.   There are many additional synonyms for the problem, and the number of names for syndrome demonstrates lack of critical understanding of the syndrome.

Why is this an important concern? Acute respiratory failure results in 1.1 million ICU admissions needing mechanical ventilation annually.   There are 400,000 ICU deaths/yr with resp failure; hospital mortality: 37%.  The cost of this care is substantial and rising; total health care costs total 17.6% of GDP in the US.

The key questions to be answered about early rehab care in the ICU are:

Morris points out fiscal considerations of ICU rehabilitation are a potential barrier and historically, the fear of early movement of ICU patients may also fuel reluctance to intervene.