Welcome to Setting the Record Straight

Adena Health’s cardiovascular program will be working with HealthLinx over the next six months to evaluate all aspects of its program. As quality of care and patient safety remain top priorities, Adena Health looks to evaluate its cardiovascular program from a 3^rd party perspective to have an objective view to validate what the program is doing well and where there may be opportunities. This includes an assessment of services performed, quality metrics, financial viability, patient experience, staffing, and more.

Adena Health’s relationship with HealthLinx is not the result of any recommendation from its accrediting organizations (i.e. The Joint Commission). In fact, those regulatory bodies have given the health system’s program passing marks and feedback stating the program goes above and beyond what is required.

Adena’s cardiovascular program has experienced tremendous growth in recent years providing advanced services that are keeping patients and their families closer to home. The program is also poised for additional growth with a new hybrid operating room and expanded intensive care unit coming soon to Adena Regional Medical Center, so now is the right time for an evaluation of the program. 

We look forward to HealthLinx’s work alongside our teams of cardiovascular experts in taking our program to the next level and to best serve patients throughout Adena’s nine county service region.

Misinformation:

There are 150 layoffs pending at Adena Health.

Fact:

We have not formulated the budget or staffing levels for 2024. As with any health care system across the country, Adena Health undergoes an annual operational and budget analysis process, during which we review multiple factors, such as acuity, payer mix, and volumes. We have just kicked off this process for 2024 and any speculations about specific staffing adjustments are without merit.

As a faith-based organization, Adena Health prides itself on truth and transparency. Modifications of staffing levels affect the core of our mission—to care for the patients in our nine-county region. We are committed to the valued caregivers who allow us to carry out that mission. As part of that commitment, it is Adena Health’s practice, whenever possible, to share staffing changes in advance of an effective date, and make every effort to accommodate impacted caregivers. Please also note that we do not, and will not, share news that affects Adena Health, its patients, or our caregivers, with sensationalized social media sites or uncredited, biased tabloid publications, nor should they be regarded as credible sources.

Misinformation:

Adena Lab equipment showed incorrect and faulty numbers, leaving patients at risk for misdiagnoses.

Fact:

Adena Laboratory caregivers take patient safety very seriously. At the beginning of 2018, the Adena Health laboratories replaced multiple analyzers, along with an automation system that was a combination of a specimen delivery system and middleware computer software. 

As part of the installation, the analyzers, middleware software, and Laboratory Information System (LIS) were rigorously tested. In February 2018, a few physicians reported that there were questionable urine creatinine results for some patients. Adena Health immediately instigated an investigation, which involved the manufacturer of the analyzers, middleware software, the root cause analysis team, and laboratory leadership. 

The entire process, from the pre-analytical to post-analytical testing, was reviewed. The manufacturer determined that a value setting had been incorrectly keyed in to the analyzers. 

All instrument flags and warnings were verified prior to patient use, per mandatory validation requirements. Verifications were conducted by multiple sources, as were the approvals, to ensure that items capable of being produced during test simulations were verified. 

The College of American Pathologist (CAP) inspected all analyzer and middleware validations/approvals for accuracy in 2018, and has done so for all subsequent inspections. Caregivers  also completed additional training to help review results/instruments flags that required manual review prior to result release per Clinical & Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI), CAP, and the Joint Commission requirements. The manufacturer completed all follow-up elements, per federal requirements and Federal Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines. Impacted patients and providers were notified and results updated. 

Adena laboratory caregivers and leadership have a never-ending dedication to our patients, supported by extensive training, college educations, adherence to regulatory requirements, and board certifications issued by the American Society of Clinical Pathologist (ASCP). Outside of regular inspections by CAP, all laboratory-testing sites participate in Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA)-approved proficiency testing programs multiple times a year to ensure that analyzer and test processes are accurate.

Adena Health’s focus to provide top-rated patient care is supported by the importance of the health and well-being of our providers and employees. While we cannot speak about the details of pending litigation, we’re confident that our policies follow all labor law guidelines.

Contrary to some reports, there has been no Legionnaires’ disease outbreak at Adena Health.

Misinformation:

Adena Regional Medical Center is experiencing an outbreak of Legionnaires disease, and is not disclosing information to patients, patient families, visitors, employees, or local and state health officials.

Fact:

Neither Adena Regional Medical Center, nor any Adena facility, is experiencing an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease. When an Adena laboratory result is positive for Legionella, the result is automatically uploaded to the Ohio Department of Health’s Disease Reporting System, as well as the county of residence health department. A full investigation is conducted for all positive results by the Ohio Department of Health.  

Adena recently tested, reported, and treated positive Legionella cases, but all cases are considered to be community-acquired, not hospital-acquired. As of August 28, the Ross County Health District has reported no presumptive health care- associated cases of Legionnaires’ disease in Ross County residents in 2023. In the last decade, there have been no general Legionella outbreaks or health care-associated outbreaks of Legionella in Ross County. 

Adena follows all CMS regulations and CDC toolkit guidelines for its water management programs. Legionnaires’ disease is not transmitted by person-to-person contact. Patients, visitors, and employees can have complete confidence with receiving care at Adena facilities. 

Misinformation:

Adena Health is having a difficult time replacing physicians who have left the system.  In addition, Ensemble Health Partners, Adena’s revenue cycle management ally, will soon be running Adena Regional Medical Center because of the number additional Adena staff who recently joined Ensemble Health Partners.

Fact:

The rotation of physicians and clinical staff is standard in health care settings, and Adena Health is no exception. Adena’s 2023 projections call for a 12.5% physician turnover rate.  As of July 2023—more than halfway through the year—Adena’s physician turnover actual rate is 6.01%—less than half the anticipated rate and far below the national benchmark. Moreover, Adena continues its growth strategy, as nine physicians of varying specialties have committed to joining Adena by the end of the year, complementing the system’s already robust array of dedicated physicians.

In an effort to reduce costs, increase revenue, and enhance quality of care, Adena Health continues to work with Ensemble Health Partners. Five caregivers from Adena’s utilization review department recently will transition to Ensemble Health Partners on September 1; the change affected approximately .001% of the Adena workforce. The new members of the Ensemble Health Partners staff enjoy comparable pay, benefits, and PTO as they had with Adena.

Notably, at the request of many former Adena staff, the organization initiated its popular “Come Back to Adena” campaign, which welcomes former caregivers to return to employment with Adena Health within 12 months of their departure dates. Caregivers who do so are eligible to resume their previous years of service upon rehire. Thus far, the campaign has been very successful.  

Adena Health’s human resources department is proud to follow industry best practices as it relates to policies, procedures, and benchmarks for success.

Adena Health has been in negotiation with Anthem Medicare Advantage and Anthem Medicaid to find a fair rate that appropriately covers Adena’s cost of care. In addition, unpaid claims, denials, and delays by Anthem, as well as its administrative burdens and vague reimbursement policies, don’t align with Adena Health’s mission, vision, or values. Unfortunately, conversations have not been productive. As a result, we have made the difficult decision to terminate the agreement between Adena Regional Medical Center and Anthem Medicare Advantage Plan and Anthem Medicaid Advantage, effective November 2, 2023.

Please visit www.adena.org/anthem for details about the termination, including information about patient Medicare and Medicaid options.

Some of you have stopped me in the hall today wondering why the trial we anticipated didn’t proceed as planned. If you get your news from social media, you won’t get the real reason, so I want to help clear this up.  In recent weeks, the court dismissed virtually all of the claims made by the doctors who organized the group departure from Adena. Days before trial, the doctors appealed the trial court’s ruling - again. The doctor’s appeal affected the court’s ability to proceed with the trial. To be clear, Adena did not push this result - we were, and remain ready to try the case. Adena did summarize Ohio case law on whether the court could proceed with a trial while the case was on appeal. After hearing from parties on both sides of the lawsuit in a teleconference, the court ordered the trial delayed until the appeal was handled. You will hear from others trying to spin this matter to make it seem that Adena caused the delay but that is simply not true.  In fact, in the teleconference, defendants agreed the case could not proceed.

Adena looks forward to proving its allegations once the case returns from the court of appeals. In the meantime, please continue to reach out to Setting the Record Straight in order to get to the truth regarding what’s happening. You are welcome to share the link for Setting the Record Straight with your friends and family. While some wish this would all just go away, know that I will continue to vigorously defend Adena against those who would do it harm. Thank you for your continued efforts to provide quality healthcare to the patients and communities we serve.

In recent weeks, the court granted Adena’s request and dismissed most of the former Adena Health doctors’ claims in the litigation. The former doctors appealed the ruling, which affected the court’s ability to proceed with the trial.  Adena Health looks forward to proving its allegations once the case returns from the court of appeals.  Our focus will continue to be providing quality health care to the residents of Ohio.