Urgent Matters, Philips Blue Jay Consulting, and Schumacher Clinical Partners would like to congratulate the following team for being chosen as the winner of the 2016 Emergency Care Innovation of the Year Award:
The Alternatives to Opioids Program (ALTOSM)
(Submitted by St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center, Alexis M. LaPietra, DO)
The team at St. Joseph’s developed The Alternatives to Opioids Program (ALTO) to manage acute and chronic pain as well as opioid addiction and abuse in the emergency department. The program aims to utilize evidence based multi-modal non-opioid approaches for the pain associated with headache, lumbar radiculopathy, musculoskeletal pain, renal colic, and fracture/dislocation. St. Joseph’s explains that opioids are an important part of pain management but with the ALTO program they are reserved for severe pain, end of life pain, and surgical conditions. In addition, patients that present with opioid overdose or abuse and misuse of opioids are partnered with a peer counselor to offer direct admission for opioid addiction recovery. There is also a strong focus on patient safety and education. Patients are educated on the importance of using alternatives as a first line for mild to moderate pain; reserving opioids are rescue medication or second line treatment. The overall reduction in emergency department opioids (morphine, fentanyl, oxycodone, hydromorphone, and codeine) pre-ALTO to post-ALTO was approximately 38 percent based on preliminary data.
Alexis M. LaPietra, DO, Medical Director of Emergency Medicine Pain Management represented the St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center team and presented details of the winning innovation at the Urgent Matters Conference in Las Vegas on October 15, 2016.
We also want to congratulate our Honorable Mentions:
Aurora Health Care and the University of Michigan Health System. Michael Rogers and his team at Aurora Health Care implemented a program that locates the triage clinical provider in a remote command center, utilizing innovative software and telemedicine technology in an effort to decrease door-to-provider times and overall patient flow. At the University of Michigan Health System, Benjamin Bassin, M.D. tackled a common problem among most emergency departments – bridging the gap between the Emergency Department and Intensive Care Unit, using a novel approach. Recognizing the lack of physical space, equipment, staffing or expertise to provide extended hours of complex critical care at the level required and provided by an intensive care unit, Bassin’s team created the Emergency Critical Care Center (EC3), a physical space adjacent to the adult Emergency Department.
Urgent Matters will feature the winning innovation and Recipient of Distinguished Recognition on our webinar series.
