Summarized below are key initiatives/plans occurring during the week of Aug. 8 regarding progress at Hutcheson under the management agreement with Erlanger Health System, which became effective on May 26.

· Hutcheson has again been named to the Georgia Hospital Association’s (GHA) Partnership for Health and Accountability (PHA) Quality Honor Roll from 2010 data. This ranks Hutcheson as one of 61 hospitals in Georgia to be placed in the presidential category, one of the highest on the list. The honor roll is based on clinical data provided by the federal Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services (CMS), which administers the nation’s Medicare and Medicaid programs.

· Erlanger and Hutcheson representatives will be working to install the 800-band base radios in the coming week on the Hutcheson campus. The emergency department physicians and staff will be trained to use these devices through Chattanooga MedComm and Jim Creel, chief of emergency medicine at Erlanger.

· Utilizing regional protocols, Hutcheson and Erlanger officials are meeting with plans to establish a Chest Pain Center at Hutcheson. A program conformed through the emergency department, staff would follow standards and models, developing the program to deliver a higher level of care in the north Georgia community.

· Hutcheson has seen an increase in patient volume as the average daily census grew 10 percent over the prior week.

Article submitted by Hutcheson Medical Center.