Selected Podcast
Excellence in Spine Surgery – Community Memorial Hospital’s National Recognition and What This Means for Ventura County
The national Blue Cross Blue Shield Association has selected Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura as a Blue Distinction Center+ for Spine Surgery, as part of the Blue Distinction Specialty Care program. Blue Distinction Centers® are nationally designated healthcare facilities that show a commitment to delivering high-quality patient safety and better health outcomes, based on objective measures developed with input from the medical community and leading accreditation and quality organizations. Join Tom Parra, Director of Specialty Operations at CMH, as he sits down to discuss this recent major accomplishment, and what it means for spine surgery candidates.
Featured Speaker:
Tom Parra
Tom Parra is the Director of Specialty Operations - Community Memorial Hospital. Transcription:
Excellence in Spine Surgery – Community Memorial Hospital’s National Recognition and What This Means for Ventura County
Bill Klaproth (host): Community Memorial Hospital or CMH has earned the Blue Distinction Center+ recognition for expertise in quality in spine surgery. So, what does this excellence in spine surgery mean for Ventura County? Well, let's find out with Tom Parra, Director of Specialty Operations at Community Memorial Hospital.
This is Wise and Well, presented by Community Memorial Health System. I'm Bill Klaproth. Tom, thank you so much for your time. It's great to talk with you. So first off, in your role as Director of Specialty Operations, can you explain that to us? What does that mean?
Tom Parra: Thanks for having me, Bill. Director of Specialty Operations in my current role entails having responsibilities in both surgical services and cath lab, kind of taking care of all the business functions for both of those areas as well as some shared responsibilities and managing the clinical operations as well.
Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah. Well, that sounds like a really interesting position. And you're the perfect person to talk to about the Blue Distinction Center+ recognition that CMH has achieved. Can you tell us exactly what that means?
Tom Parra: We are so proud to have earned this designation. And essentially, it's a designation that's given out by Blue Cross Blue Shield. And they set out bit of criteria for us to try and meet, pretty stringent actually. And we submit our data to them and based on that criteria that they set forth with the certain thresholds. And if we meet them, we're awarded this designation and some of that criteria has to do with quality outcomes with cost of care, things of that nature. And we're pretty excited because these thresholds and criteria that they set forth are pretty stringent. It's very difficult to obtain.
Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah. So, the bar is set high for this distinction with certain thresholds that you have to meet centering around quality outcomes, cost of care and other things. So, let me ask you this, why does ultimately all of this matter?
Tom Parra: It's important for our community members and even our partnering physicians to know that, when you're seen here as CMH, you're going to receive exceptional care, quality care, and you're going to get it at an affordable cost. That's one of the criteria that we had to meet, and actually kind of a badge of honor for us that we're able to deliver such high quality care efficiently. As far as delivering affordable cost of care, we wouldn't be able to do that unless we were extremely efficient and we did things very well. So, I think it should set a tone in the community to know that when you come in here, which is already somewhat anxious for a lot of patients, as I'm sure you can understand, when you come in, you're going to receive top-notch care while still it being affordable to you.
Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah, that's such a good point about being anxious. You want to feel confident, especially for any surgery. But certainly for spine surgery, you really want to feel confident that you're going to the best and this award recognition really does say that. So, can you tell us more about the spine program at Community Memorial Hospital and the physicians you have on board and what makes it unique from other programs?
Tom Parra: Absolutely. We're very lucky and very proud to have such a robust spine program here in Ventura County at our community hospital. We offer cutting edge technology. We have a pretty substantial robotic spine program that, thanks to leadership team, we've been able to invest in. We're able to offer services and procedures to patients that would have otherwise have to go to major medical academic medical centers to obtain, but they can do it right here in their own backyard. Our physicians that partner with us are all highly trained and specialists in minimally invasive surgery. So, what does that mean to the patient? It means less operative time, time back in the operating room, smaller incisions, hopefully less surgical site pain and, overall, a better experience with our program here at your doorstep. You know, you don't have to travel out of our county or even out of our town in order to get that type of care.
Bill Klaproth (host): Less pain, better experience. We all want that.
Tom Parra: Absolutely.
Bill Klaproth (host): That's a big winner, for sure. So, how will this new accomplishment affect the spine program at CMH?
Tom Parra: Well, we're hoping that we can get the word out. Like I said, the local community, that we're here to take care of you. We are a community hospital and we're hoping that we'd have more interest with our local committee and even outside of the county to let them know they don't have to travel long distances. This accreditation that we got, this spine designation that we achieved, there's no other program within 50 miles that has achieved this and that's pretty special for us. And it fuels our fire to further excel in our program and not just in spine, in all the procedures that we perform, whether it's GYN, orthopedic, total joint, whatever it might be. We really want to push forward to that excellence when we're giving our care.
Bill Klaproth (host): So definitely, there are a lot of benefits to having your surgery close to home. Is that right? You talked about less pain, better experience, but not having to travel too, that really is a big thing. Is that right?
Tom Parra: Absolutely, Bill. I'm sure you can imagine if you have surgery at a facility that's, you know, 20, 30 miles away, even just the trip home after that surgery, that has to be difficult. But having surgery, and the toll that it takes, having the support system locally, usually family members close by, they don't have to travel long distances. Having the outside support system, whether it's physical therapy, your local healthcare provider, your primary health care provider, all within your local area, that's such a benefit, you know, that you don't have to travel any distances. It's the places that you know, it's the people that you know. Most of our staff live right here in our community, including our physicians. So, I think that also builds confidence in our patient population, and it's something that we strive for and that we're also proud to deliver right here in Ventura.
Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah, you certainly articulated all of the benefits of having this close to home. And again, that really is one of the big things. One of the big benefits of this Blue Distinction Center+ recognition. Let me follow up with you on something you said earlier about cost of care. So, facilities designated as Blue Distinction Centers+ are on average 20% more cost efficient for an episode of care compared to other facilities. So, this distinction really is more cost effective for patients as well. Is that right? I just wanted to follow up with you on that.
Tom Parra: That's correct, Bill. I'm sure as our listeners know, cost of care, it continues to rise. New medical devices are developed. Things are becoming more and more expensive. So, what's special about this designation as well as not just having quality exceptional outcomes, the other part of that is we're delivering that at a lower cost despite rising healthcare costs. So that means our team, our specialists, our staff, they have to be dialed in. with this procedure, so we're very efficient at delivering this care without any waste, without any extra costs to our patients because that's important to us. That's always at the forefront of our thought process, is how do we excel at the procedural side, but we also want to not have the patient have to worry on the backend about rising costs of healthcare. We want our entire community to feel like they can come to our organization and they're going to be taken care of with minimal financial impact.
Bill Klaproth (host): That is well said, Tom. As you said, quality exceptional outcomes and delivering that at a lower cost despite rising healthcare costs. So, we are very excited about the Blue Distinction Centers+ recognition for CMH. And thank you for explaining that to us. So as we wrap up, Tom, is there anything else you'd like to add?
Tom Parra: Well, I definitely appreciate the opportunity to deliver this information to our community. And I would just add that outside of our spine program, we also have a robotic total knee program that's very robust that we're very proud of. We have a da Vinci robotic program that takes care of urology, general surgery, things of that nature. So again, we're cutting edge, but a community hospital. And I think I can't say that enough because it's just so special to us here that you don't have to travel, you know, 50 to a 100 miles to the closest academic center. We have the technology here and we want to take care of the community because we're part of the community. We're all community members here, you know, at our facilities, so I would just add that.
Bill Klaproth (host): Absolutely. Like you said, you know, we have the technology here and we are a part of the community. So, that really says it all. Well, Tom, thank you so much for talking with us today and explaining the Blue Distinction Center+ recognition for CMH to us. This really has been informative and we appreciate it. And we're thankful that this level of care is here, so it's also good. Tom, thank you so much for your time. We really appreciate it.
Tom Parra: Thank you, Bill.
Bill Klaproth (host): And once again, that's Tom Parra. And for more information, please visit cmhshealth.org. That's cmhshealth.org. And if you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels and check out the full podcast library for topics of interest to you. This is Wise and Well, presented by Community Memorial Health System. I'm Bill Klaproth.
Excellence in Spine Surgery – Community Memorial Hospital’s National Recognition and What This Means for Ventura County
Bill Klaproth (host): Community Memorial Hospital or CMH has earned the Blue Distinction Center+ recognition for expertise in quality in spine surgery. So, what does this excellence in spine surgery mean for Ventura County? Well, let's find out with Tom Parra, Director of Specialty Operations at Community Memorial Hospital.
This is Wise and Well, presented by Community Memorial Health System. I'm Bill Klaproth. Tom, thank you so much for your time. It's great to talk with you. So first off, in your role as Director of Specialty Operations, can you explain that to us? What does that mean?
Tom Parra: Thanks for having me, Bill. Director of Specialty Operations in my current role entails having responsibilities in both surgical services and cath lab, kind of taking care of all the business functions for both of those areas as well as some shared responsibilities and managing the clinical operations as well.
Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah. Well, that sounds like a really interesting position. And you're the perfect person to talk to about the Blue Distinction Center+ recognition that CMH has achieved. Can you tell us exactly what that means?
Tom Parra: We are so proud to have earned this designation. And essentially, it's a designation that's given out by Blue Cross Blue Shield. And they set out bit of criteria for us to try and meet, pretty stringent actually. And we submit our data to them and based on that criteria that they set forth with the certain thresholds. And if we meet them, we're awarded this designation and some of that criteria has to do with quality outcomes with cost of care, things of that nature. And we're pretty excited because these thresholds and criteria that they set forth are pretty stringent. It's very difficult to obtain.
Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah. So, the bar is set high for this distinction with certain thresholds that you have to meet centering around quality outcomes, cost of care and other things. So, let me ask you this, why does ultimately all of this matter?
Tom Parra: It's important for our community members and even our partnering physicians to know that, when you're seen here as CMH, you're going to receive exceptional care, quality care, and you're going to get it at an affordable cost. That's one of the criteria that we had to meet, and actually kind of a badge of honor for us that we're able to deliver such high quality care efficiently. As far as delivering affordable cost of care, we wouldn't be able to do that unless we were extremely efficient and we did things very well. So, I think it should set a tone in the community to know that when you come in here, which is already somewhat anxious for a lot of patients, as I'm sure you can understand, when you come in, you're going to receive top-notch care while still it being affordable to you.
Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah, that's such a good point about being anxious. You want to feel confident, especially for any surgery. But certainly for spine surgery, you really want to feel confident that you're going to the best and this award recognition really does say that. So, can you tell us more about the spine program at Community Memorial Hospital and the physicians you have on board and what makes it unique from other programs?
Tom Parra: Absolutely. We're very lucky and very proud to have such a robust spine program here in Ventura County at our community hospital. We offer cutting edge technology. We have a pretty substantial robotic spine program that, thanks to leadership team, we've been able to invest in. We're able to offer services and procedures to patients that would have otherwise have to go to major medical academic medical centers to obtain, but they can do it right here in their own backyard. Our physicians that partner with us are all highly trained and specialists in minimally invasive surgery. So, what does that mean to the patient? It means less operative time, time back in the operating room, smaller incisions, hopefully less surgical site pain and, overall, a better experience with our program here at your doorstep. You know, you don't have to travel out of our county or even out of our town in order to get that type of care.
Bill Klaproth (host): Less pain, better experience. We all want that.
Tom Parra: Absolutely.
Bill Klaproth (host): That's a big winner, for sure. So, how will this new accomplishment affect the spine program at CMH?
Tom Parra: Well, we're hoping that we can get the word out. Like I said, the local community, that we're here to take care of you. We are a community hospital and we're hoping that we'd have more interest with our local committee and even outside of the county to let them know they don't have to travel long distances. This accreditation that we got, this spine designation that we achieved, there's no other program within 50 miles that has achieved this and that's pretty special for us. And it fuels our fire to further excel in our program and not just in spine, in all the procedures that we perform, whether it's GYN, orthopedic, total joint, whatever it might be. We really want to push forward to that excellence when we're giving our care.
Bill Klaproth (host): So definitely, there are a lot of benefits to having your surgery close to home. Is that right? You talked about less pain, better experience, but not having to travel too, that really is a big thing. Is that right?
Tom Parra: Absolutely, Bill. I'm sure you can imagine if you have surgery at a facility that's, you know, 20, 30 miles away, even just the trip home after that surgery, that has to be difficult. But having surgery, and the toll that it takes, having the support system locally, usually family members close by, they don't have to travel long distances. Having the outside support system, whether it's physical therapy, your local healthcare provider, your primary health care provider, all within your local area, that's such a benefit, you know, that you don't have to travel any distances. It's the places that you know, it's the people that you know. Most of our staff live right here in our community, including our physicians. So, I think that also builds confidence in our patient population, and it's something that we strive for and that we're also proud to deliver right here in Ventura.
Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah, you certainly articulated all of the benefits of having this close to home. And again, that really is one of the big things. One of the big benefits of this Blue Distinction Center+ recognition. Let me follow up with you on something you said earlier about cost of care. So, facilities designated as Blue Distinction Centers+ are on average 20% more cost efficient for an episode of care compared to other facilities. So, this distinction really is more cost effective for patients as well. Is that right? I just wanted to follow up with you on that.
Tom Parra: That's correct, Bill. I'm sure as our listeners know, cost of care, it continues to rise. New medical devices are developed. Things are becoming more and more expensive. So, what's special about this designation as well as not just having quality exceptional outcomes, the other part of that is we're delivering that at a lower cost despite rising healthcare costs. So that means our team, our specialists, our staff, they have to be dialed in. with this procedure, so we're very efficient at delivering this care without any waste, without any extra costs to our patients because that's important to us. That's always at the forefront of our thought process, is how do we excel at the procedural side, but we also want to not have the patient have to worry on the backend about rising costs of healthcare. We want our entire community to feel like they can come to our organization and they're going to be taken care of with minimal financial impact.
Bill Klaproth (host): That is well said, Tom. As you said, quality exceptional outcomes and delivering that at a lower cost despite rising healthcare costs. So, we are very excited about the Blue Distinction Centers+ recognition for CMH. And thank you for explaining that to us. So as we wrap up, Tom, is there anything else you'd like to add?
Tom Parra: Well, I definitely appreciate the opportunity to deliver this information to our community. And I would just add that outside of our spine program, we also have a robotic total knee program that's very robust that we're very proud of. We have a da Vinci robotic program that takes care of urology, general surgery, things of that nature. So again, we're cutting edge, but a community hospital. And I think I can't say that enough because it's just so special to us here that you don't have to travel, you know, 50 to a 100 miles to the closest academic center. We have the technology here and we want to take care of the community because we're part of the community. We're all community members here, you know, at our facilities, so I would just add that.
Bill Klaproth (host): Absolutely. Like you said, you know, we have the technology here and we are a part of the community. So, that really says it all. Well, Tom, thank you so much for talking with us today and explaining the Blue Distinction Center+ recognition for CMH to us. This really has been informative and we appreciate it. And we're thankful that this level of care is here, so it's also good. Tom, thank you so much for your time. We really appreciate it.
Tom Parra: Thank you, Bill.
Bill Klaproth (host): And once again, that's Tom Parra. And for more information, please visit cmhshealth.org. That's cmhshealth.org. And if you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels and check out the full podcast library for topics of interest to you. This is Wise and Well, presented by Community Memorial Health System. I'm Bill Klaproth.