Lehigh Valley Hospital-hazleton

Hospice servicesin partnership with lehigh valley hospice, inpatient and home care hospice services are provided to our local community. this is the only inpatient hospice program serving the greater hazleton area. the program model is designed to deliver patient-centered care rather than disease-centered care and to provide comfort and care to terminally ill patients and their families. in fy24, hospice services were provided to 50 lvh-h patients for a total of 235 days of care which was an increase from prior year.telehealth servicesas technology has advanced, the ways health care can be provided have changed and advanced too. at lvh-h, patients are benefiting from secure telehealth technology that allows them to access and receive quality, specialized care conveniently. in fy2024, lvh-h added inpatient telehealth virtual surgery and telehealth physiatry to its growing list of telehealth services that include heme/oncology, infectious disease, neurology, advanced intensive care unit (aicu), burn, neurosurgery, toxicology, psychiatric evaluations, maternal fetal medicine, and palliative care.orthopedic and occupational health (melissa)in fy24, lvh-h and lvpg-h continued the plan for operational and clinical musculoskeletal and occupational medicine integration to provide better, quicker access to our patients and to meet the growing needs of our patients. it is ideal for patients to have elective surgeries like total joint replacements close to home with coordinated continuum of care for optimal outcomes and cost containment. fy24 showed an 12% increase in total orthopedic surgical volume including total joint replacements. elective total joint replacement volume increased 68.7% in fy24 vs. fy23, and los decreased from an average of 1.93 days in fy23 to 1.63 days in fy24.with the growing manufacturing and e-commerce/distribution footprint in the area, positioning these comprehensive services within one of the largest industrial parks led to greater relationships with businesses and an increase in occupational medicine services to meet the demand.athletic training and school-based behavioral health programan athletic training (at) contract between lvh-h and the hazleton area school district (hasd) continues for the next 8 years. this partnership has continued to evolve with support for student athletics through staffing, specialized training, and investment into preventative and rehabilitative equipment and programs. the contract also includes a non-athletic component whereby lvhn brought physical and mental health education to the classrooms in both virtual and in-person methods. in the second half of fy24, lvhn was successful in recruiting a school-based behavioral health therapist for hasd for live in-person counseling sessions which was complemented by tele-therapy. thirty-five students were referred and over 200 therapy sessions were completed. the program is achieving its goals of improving students' mental health and resiliency through evidence-based individual therapy and case management services for students along with mental health education for faculty to help students address their trauma. it has also shown improvement in school performance and strength in their overall well-being.retail pharmacyplans to build a retail pharmacy on the campus of lvh-h were initiated in fy24 to improve access to over the counter and prescription medication for both colleagues and patients. the goal is to allow patients to obtain their medications upon discharge from the hospital with greater ease to ensure compliance with their discharge plan of care. provider and staff recruitmentsignificant investment into recruitment of primary and specialty physicians and advanced practice clinicians to meet the growing needs of our community continued for lvh-h and lvpg-h in fy 2024. despite the historical challenges to attract providers to our small community, lvpg-h was again successful in recruiting the following number of clinicians: occupat