The Villages (Jan. 24, 2014) –  USF Health is now providing a broad range of specialty care – from orthopaedics to endocrinology – in north central Florida as it opens the USF Health Specialty Care Center, a giant step forward in creating a new model of coordinated health care in what is becoming “America’s Healthiest Hometown®.”

Cutting the ribbon at the opening of the USF Health Specialty Care Center with USF President Judy Genshaft, center, were, from left to right, USF Trustee Scott Hopes; Florida Senator Alan Hays; USF Trustee Nancy Watkins, Gary Lester, vice president of community relations, The Villages; Dr. Elliot Sussman, chair of The Villages Health; Donna Petersen, ScD, interim senior vice president, USF Health, and dean, College of Public Health; and Dr. Jeffrey Lowenkron, CEO, USF Physicians Group.

USF Health has opened the center as part of its statewide initiative to help provide residents of The Villages, the nation’s largest community of people over 55, with all the tools they need to live more active and healthy lives. Residents of The Villages will have access to high-level care from the best academic specialists just a few steps away from their homes.

“We’re excited to see USF Health extending the benefits of an academic health center – all the latest, most cutting-edge research, education and care – to serve residents in a new region of Florida,” said USF President Judy Genshaft, who spoke at this morning’s ribbon-cutting ceremonies.

L to R: Speakers USF President Judy Genshaft, Dr. Elliot Sussman of The Villages Health, and Dr. Jeff Lowenkron and Dr. Donna Petersen, both of USF Health.

USF Health has opened the 25,000 square foot center in partnership with The Villages Health, which is opening a series of primary care centers throughout The Villages. The partnership and its centers are designed to give patients a seamless and coordinated model of care.

The new centers are part of a partnership that extends beyond clinical care. USF Health also offers health seminars, assessments and other services in The Villages and is conducting groundbreaking public health research there.

“What makes this center so wonderful is that it truly began with residents of The Villages,” said Donna Petersen, ScD, MHS, CPH, interim senior vice president of USF Health. “It began as we built our partnership with this community. We asked residents, ‘What do you need to improve your health?’ And you shared your vision. You want a more coordinated network. You want a healthcare system that works for you – not one where you have to ‘work the system.’ We set out to create the patient-centered medical home of the future in The Villages.”

Despite the chilly weather, the celebration attracted a crowd — including university, community and government leaders.

That focus on the patient is at the core of the health partnership, said Dr. Elliot Sussman, chair of The Villages Health.

“We’re already hearing great things from our patients about the opportunity to visit the USF Health Specialty Care Center,” Dr. Sussman said. “Having specialists aligned with USF Health available right here in The Villages is vital to our patients’ health, convenience and peace of mind. We look forward to working with the health professionals at the Specialty Care Center to provide our patients with a full range of health care and services just a few steps away from home.”

Center Director Barbara Bowman-Wheatley, right, leads a tour of the new facility.

Dr. Jeff Lowenkron, CEO of the USF Physicians’ Group, thanked the The Villages Health and the larger community for forming a unique alliance with USF Health.

“We believe it will be creative partnerships that provide insight into solutions that improve health care in the future,” he said. “As we seek to help make The Villages ‘America’s Healthiest Hometown,’ we want to collaborate with our primary care partners and deliver specialty care that is built around the needs of the patient. This care will be integrated and coordinated by design, not by accident.”

L to R: Sumpter County Commissioner Don V. Hahnfeldt, chair of the Central Florida Health Alliance; USF President Judy Genshaft; Florida Senator Alan Hays; and Dr. Jeff Lowenkron, CEO of the USF Physicians Group.

The center offers 32 exam rooms, four procedure rooms and gives health professionals the ability to perform a wide variety of procedures and tests on site. Tests available soon will include laboratory work, ultrasound, stress echocardiography and cardio nuclear stress tests. Specialties currently offered at the center include: obstetrics and gynecology; cardiothoracic surgery; plastic & reconstructive surgery; orthopaedic surgery; endocrinology; and general surgery.

Work on the Specialty Care Center project began after USF’s College of Public Health conducted a record-setting survey of the Villagers, asking about their health needs and goals. About 34,000 Villagers responded, making this the largest such survey of an aging population. The survey will yield national recommendations for healthy aging, and was used in planning the Specialty Care Center. Villagers surveyed showed a high level of interest in a model that provides coordinated care and gives them a medical home.

Click here for more information on the USF Health Specialty Care Center.

Photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Communications

-USF Health-

USF Health’s mission is to envision and implement the future of health. It is the partnership of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, the College of Nursing, the College of Public Health, the College of Pharmacy, the School of Biomedical Sciences and the School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences; and the USF Physician’s Group. The University of South Florida is a Top 50 research university in total research expenditures among both public and private institutions nationwide, according to the National Science Foundation.

Media contact:
Lisa Greene, USF Health Communications
(813) 974-4312 or lgreene@health.usf.edu

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THE VILLAGES, FL (March 11, 2013) – Construction began Monday morning on the new USF Health Specialty Care Center in The Villages, setting the stage for a new era and range of health care available for residents in “America’s Healthiest Hometown.”

Once the center opens in October, residents of The Villages, the nation’s largest community of people over 55, will be able to receive high-level care from faculty physicians who operate at the forefront of medical knowledge. USF Health doctors who represent several specialties will be providing care at the 25,000 square foot facility.

The center is designed as a collaborative complement to The Villages Health primary care network, which is now expanding and will soon operate seven different offices in The Villages for residents to choose from, allowing them to receive the best health care without leaving their neighborhood.

USF President Judy Genshaft visited the center for groundbreaking ceremonies Monday morning, along with Trustees Hal Mullis and Debbie Sembler.

“Today marks a great step on our journey to creating a whole new model of health care here in ‘America’s Healthiest Hometown,’ The Villages,” said President Genshaft.

The unique partnership provides a model for comprehensive care that is truly centered around the patient, said Stephen Klasko, MD, MBA, dean of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine and CEO of USF Health.

“Working together, we will be able to provide better health for The Villagers over the entire spectrum of care,” Dr. Klasko said. “Villagers will have a medical home with a patient-centered primary network, access to the best academic specialists, and technology services that include shared electronic records and telehealth opportunities. The mission of USF Health is “making life better” and this partnership will be an embodiment of that mission.”

The partnership between The Villages and USF Health is a great model for how academic medicine can improve health, said Elliot Sussman, MD, MBA, chair of The Villages Health.

Monday’s groundbreaking: Dr. Steve Klasko, USF President Judy Genshaft, Dr. Elliot Sussman, Trustee Debbie Sembler, Trustee Hal Mullis

“We are delighted to have our great primary care doctors working with the specialty physicians of USF Health,” Dr. Sussman said. “This partnership will give Villagers access to seamless care that starts with having a Villages Health doctor who knows them and their medical history and can provide top-notch regular care. When they need a specialist, that doctor can connect them to a network of specialists offering the most cutting-edge treatments right here in The Villages.”

Work on the Specialty Care Center project began after USF’s College of Public Health conducted a record-setting survey of the Villagers, asking about their health needs and goals. More than 37,000 Villagers responded, making this the largest such survey of an aging population.

“We found what was working and what wasn’t and what you need to be at your best and healthiest,” Dr. Klasko told the crowd Monday morning.

The survey, which won the Erickson Award for Excellence in Research, will yield national recommendations for healthy aging. It is already being used in planning the Specialty Care Center. Villagers surveyed showed a high level of interest in a model that provides coordinated care and gives them a medical home.

“We’re bringing back the days of Marcus Welby, when physicians work together with one goal — making you healthier,” Dr. Klasko said.

After Monday’s groundbreaking, President Genshaft, the Trustees, and Dr. Klasko joined Dr. Sussman, Dr. Joseph Hildner, chief medical officer of The Villages Health on a tour of the new primary care center run by The Villages Health.

The center features rocking chairs out front, “visit rooms” instead of exam rooms and special space dedicated to patient education. Everything is designed with patients in mind, Dr. Hildner said.

Dr. Sussman and Dr. Hildner talk about their vision for primary care with patients at the center.

“It’s a welcoming, friendly place to go to,” he said. “It’s not the usual experience of going to your doctor…and you’re never more than a 10-minute golf cart ride away.”

Dr. Jeff Lowenkron, CEO of the USF Physicians Group, talks about the new USF Health Specialty Care Center in The Villages.

The patient experience is designed to do more than be more pleasant. By engaging patients to take charge of their health, allowing doctors to spend more time with each patient, and setting up a coordinated network, Dr. Hildner believes Villagers will lead healthier lives, with fewer crisis events, such as heart attacks.

“We’re excited about working with USF and being able to do outcomes research to prove that,” he said.

–– Photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Communications
— Video by Allyn DiVito, USF Health Information Systems

Donna Petersen, ScD, dean of the the USF College of Public Health, reported on the preliminary results of a recent community health survey conducted at The Villages, in which more than 33,000 Villagers participated.

“The survey results confirmed what we see, feel and hear every time we’re here,” Petersen said during an interview after the Aug. 21  presentation at The Villages’ Savannah Center. “That (this) is a high-functioning population that cares about their health, are actively engaged in their lives and — just by living here and engaging in life in The Villages — are helping to promote their own health and achieve a high quality of life.”

Donna Petersen, dean of the USF College of Public Health, was the the survey’s architect.

Petersen, the architect of the healthcare survey, told the audience that researchers will continue to analyze the data and bring more detailed results back, so residents can work with USF on  ways to make their community even healthier.

For more on the survey results, please see the Villages Daily Sun article:  http://www.thevillagesdailysun.com/news/villages/article_09427b80-ec11-11e1-a1c2-0019bb2963f4.html

USF Health in The Villages is an innovative partnership of  The Villages,  the Central Florida Health Alliance and the University of South Florida medical community.

Patients will have online access to care from virtually anywhere at any time

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“>Watch telehealth consultation demo  featuring USF Health’s Dr. Stephen Klasko

CHICAGO – ACE 2012 (August 15, 2012) – Allscripts unveiled plans for a new telehealth solution to expand convenient access to care while enabling patients and providers to save time and money. The solution will integrate the American Well^TM Online Care telehealth platform into the Allscripts Electronic Health Records (EHR) platform, taking another step toward Allscripts vision of a Connected Community of Health.

Integrating telehealth with Allscripts EHRs will give patients new ways to access care, whether they are at home or on the road. Healthcare providers will benefit by offering high-quality online voice and video interactions documented via their electronic health record, enhancing care coordination across providers.

Dr. Stephen Klasko, CEO of USF Health and dean of the Morsani College of Medicine, speaks via video chat (telehealth consultation) at the Allscripts annual client conference about the value of telehealth.

University of South Florida (USF) Health, a partnership of USF’s colleges of medicine, nursing, public health and pharmacy as well as USF Physician Group, is planning to use this new offering in a unique relationship with The Villages, the country’s largest over-55 residential community, located near Tampa, Florida. USF Health announced a partnership with American Well to make Online Care part of its integrated patient-centered healthcare system for The Villages.

“USF Health’s mission is to establish a care model that represents the future of health, a university-community partnership with a specific focus on patient-centric and collaborative care,” said Stephen Klasko, MD MBA, Chief Executive Officer of USF Health.  “We are delivering tomorrow’s healthcare today by combining the most innovative EHR and telehealth platforms as a significant step toward ensuring continuity and delivering care directly to the homes of the residents of The Villages.”

Consumers are used to online voice and video services to communicate with family and friends, paving the way for patients to be comfortable accessing healthcare online. And, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services identified telehealth as one solution for Accountable Care Organizations to improve healthcare outcomes and satisfaction.

“Allscripts telehealth solution will help provide convenient, safer and secure access to care and enable that care to be documented in the electronic health record—so that other providers can have up-to-date information. It will also give physicians an opportunity to get paid for telehealth, something that was a hurdle in the past,” said Glen Tullman, Chief Executive Officer of Allscripts. “Our open platform architecture enables this integration, which we expect to be available in January, and takes us another step closer to a Connected Community of Health.”

Allscripts is partnering with American Well, the leading U.S. telehealth company which currently partners with some of the country’s largest payers. The companies will work to integrate American Well’s Online Care platform into Allscripts electronic health records platform. The integrated product should reach general availability early next year.

 “The momentum behind the telehealth movement is growing at a remarkable pace. As patients demand improved access to care, providers seek alternative delivery methods to deliver care efficiently and effectively as payment models trend away from fee-for-service,” said Ido Schoenberg, MD, Chairman and CEO of American Well Corporation. Meanwhile, legislative and regulatory barriers are also being removed. Schoenberg added, “Today, forty state Medicaid plans reimburse for telehealth services and 16 states mandate private insurer coverage for telehealth – including four states which have passed such laws since March. Integrating Online Care with Allscripts Electronic Health Records will offer providers a solution to meet these mandates while improving access to quality healthcare.”

Clients will begin testing the integrated solution later this year. Allscripts expects the full solution to be generally available in 2013.

 About ACE
ACE, the Allscripts Client Experience, is Allscripts annual client conference. Throughout the three-day event, ACE attendees will have access to more than 400 educational sessions, user group meetings and partners demoing on the Allscripts open platform.

 About Allscripts

 Allscripts (NASDAQ: MDRX) delivers the insights that healthcare providers require to generate world-class outcomes. The company’s Electronic Health Record, practice management and other clinical, revenue cycle, connectivity and information solutions create a Connected Community of Health for physicians, hospitals and post-acute organizations.  To learn more about Allscripts, please visit www.allscripts.com, Twitter, YouTube and It Takes A Community: The Allscripts Blog.

Media contacts:
Ariana Nikitas, 312-506-1236, or 773-490-5657
ariana.nikitas@allscripts.com

Claire Weingarden, 312-447-2442 or 773-484-5858
claire.weingarden@allscripts.com

Online Care will extend health care into the homes of retirees to improve chronic disease management, decrease hospitalizations and reduce medical costs

The Villages, Fla. and Boston, Mass. (June 22, 2012) — American Well today announced a  partnership with USF Health at the University of South Florida to increase access to quality primary and specialty care to the residents of The Villages, the country’s largest Over-55 residential community in the United States. This marks the first time American Well’s industry-leading Online Care telehealth platform will be specifically targeted toward a senior population.

Online Care is a web-based software platform that allows consumers and healthcare providers to have immediate, live and clinically meaningful online visits through video, secure text chat, and/or phone.

 USF Health will deploy Online Care in support of its patient-centered healthcare system, developed in partnership with The Villages, which provides easy access to quality health care to residents. The goal is to utilize Online Care to reduce hospital admissions, readmission rates, and pharmacy costs, while maintaining Medicare beneficiaries in their homes rather than long-term care settings.

Through Online Care, retirees will have immediate access to primary care from the comfort of their homes. In addition, USF Health physicians will use Online Care to consult with outside specialists to deliver comprehensive care, including post-operative care, diabetes care, cardiovascular health, dermatology, mental health and urology. 

“The residents of The Villages are highly active and independent. On a daily basis, they dispel the myth that seniors do not embrace technology,” says Stephen K. Klasko, MD, MBA, dean of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine and CEO, USF Health. “In fact, when designing The Villages’ Health System, the patients asked for a healthcare solution that utilizes the same technologies they use to buy stocks, books and travel.  For these reasons, Online Care is an ideal technology solution for us.”

According to a recent study from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, more than half of adults age 65 and older are online, compared to just 15 percent in April 2000. Among Internet users ages 65 and older, 70 percent use the Internet on a typical day.

“With our partnership with The Villages, we are striving to create the healthiest hometown in America,” says Dr. Elliot Sussman, partner in Health at The Villages, and professor of medicine at USF’s Morsani College of Medicine.  “We are going to use all the tools at our disposal to engage with these patients so that they can lead healthier, happier and longer lives.  Online Care will be a big part of our program.”

USF Health will be the first customer to launch American Well’s telehealth platform through Online Care Practice, a new streamlined deployment option that allows for accelerated, affordable implementation.  Online Care Practice is a securely-partitioned instance of the Online Care platform that allows customers to set up branded online practice storefronts to serve targeted populations. As a cloud-based service, Online Care Practice does not require additional hardware or IT integration and can be launched in just a few weeks. 

“USF Health and The Villages are recognized nationally for their passion and commitment to quality and disruptive innovation.  We could not be more proud to launch together our ground breaking Practice product together,” said Ido Schoenberg, MD, chairman and CEO, American Well Corporation.  “With its dramatically simple, easy and affordable deployment, we are now able to remove the last remaining barriers for providers, employers and payers that are eager to jump in and benefit from the power and value of telehealth. We believe this product is a game changer in making Online Care accessible to anyone, everywhere.”

About USF Health

USF Health’s mission is to envision and implement the future of health. It is the partnership of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, the College of Nursing, the College of Public Health, the College of Pharmacy, the School of Biomedical Sciences and the School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences; and the USF Physician’s Group. The University of South Florida is a global research university ranked 50^th in the nation by the National Science Foundation for both federal and total research expenditures among all U.S. universities.

About American Well

American Well brings healthcare into the homes and workplaces of patients. Its Online Care Suite is the industry’s leading telehealth solution, connecting providers and patients for live, immediate, and clinically meaningful encounters using the Web or phone. With its patented technology, the Online Care Suite removes traditional barriers to healthcare access – such as geography, mobility, and time constraints – while enabling providers to deliver quality care in a flexible, convenient manner, generating revenue along the way.

Media contacts

USF Health
Lisa Greene or Anne DeLotto Baier, USF Health Communications, 813-974-3300 or lgreene@health.usf.edu

American Well
Julie Goldman or Dave McKee, American, Schwartz Communications, 781-684-0770 or americanwell@schwartzcomm.com