HJAR Nov/Dec 2020

20 NOV / DEC 2020 I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF ARKANSAS Q&A our progress. We need to rebuild trust, so be- ing an attentive listener and responding in a nimble and agile way is critical. We continue to work on getting better at all of this. Mercy Fort Smith continues to grow, with a new rehabilitation hospital under construction at Chaffee Crossing and a new clinic location now open in Clarksville. Which projects are you most proud of? Are there others on the horizon? There are several that come to mind, in- cluding the completion of the orthopedic group’s vision of an orthopedic specialty hos- pital, addition of the Booneville Community Hospital, long overdue upgrades at the Ozark campus and a rebuild of our medical com- munity with the recruitment of over 150 new providers to the River Valley region. Howev- er, the most impactful development was the coming together of Cooper Clinic and Mercy three years ago, which enabled us to better coordinate care, improve network integrity and remove some of the historical toxicity. What kind of healthcare innovations have you seen at Mercy Fort Smith during your years as president? What kind do you see as being vital to healthcare in years to come? The use of real time and predictive analyt- ics has been instrumental in our relentless pursuit to create a zero harm and seamless delivery system. Our patient safety and qual- ity outcomes are among the best perform- ing hospitals in the country. Achieving this level of performance requires lots of small innovations and continuous process re- design. It’s a never-ending journey. Going forward, the adoption of virtual and digital technology into the delivery system has only scratched the surface, so I’m excited to see how this continues to evolve. Mercy consistently scores high with its grades from watchdog organiza- tions such as The Leapfrog Group, NRC Health and the Centers for Medi- care & Medicaid Services. What can you attribute this to? I believe it reflects Mercy’s culture, as the entire systemof Mercy hospitals outperforms its peers in every market from a quality and safety perspective. Mercy effectively shares and deploys best practices to eliminate varia- tion that could potentially lead to a negative Gehrig introduces U.S. Sen. John Boozman, right, at Mercy Hospital Booneville as Dr. Syed Hamid, MD, looks on. Sen. Boozman visited Mercy Hospital Booneville and Mercy Hospital Waldron on Aug. 18 to recognize Dr. Hamid and Sheila Nix, RN, as two of Arkansas’ “Healthcare Heroes.”