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ARCHBOLD.ORG
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WINTER 2016
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Brooks County Hospital
Archbold Memorial Hospital’s Brooks County Hospital (BCH) re-
ceived a Leadership Award at the VHA Georgia 2015 Leadership
Expo for the hospital’s initiative to reduce patient readmission
rates and increase patient access to important medication.
The project documented that 24 percent of families living in
the counties the hospital serves live below the poverty level.
(Statewide average is 18.2 percent.) Average cost of medication
Grady General Hospital
Archbold’s Grady General Hospital (GGH) received a Leadership
Award at the VHA Georgia 2015 Leadership Expo for the
hospital’s initiative to reduce the likelihood of patient harm
associated with the use of anticoagulation therapy.
Coumarin anti-coagulants such as warfarin are among the
most difficult-to-manage and dangerous drugs prescribed.
“Our primary goal for this initiative was to improve the qual-
ity and safety of care to our patients,” said Crystal Ramm, GGH
administrator.
To achieve the goal of 90 percent compliance, the hospital
pharmacy revised their warfarin monitoring tools and pharmacy-
based dosing to improving patients’ therapeutic outcomes.
“We implemented several new protocols, including warfarin
education packets that are barcoded and profiled by the phar-
macy,” said GGH pharmacist Leslye Upton, PharmD. “Safety alerts
were built into the electronic pharmacy system, along with a
computerized physician order entry, for each warfarin dose.”
Installation of a new software monitoring system helped
staff standardize processes and improve safety.
According to Tammy Griffin, GGH Director of Nursing, “Our
nurses and physicians were on board for the implementation of
Two VHA Leadership Awards for Archbold facilities
From left: Richard Howerton, VHA Georgia; June Furney,
Director of Nursing, Brooks County Hospital; Felicia Blake,
pharmacist, Brooks County Hospital; Heather Williams,
Education/Performance Improvement, Brooks County Hospital;
Ken Rhudy, administrator, Brooks County Hospital; LaDon
Toole, Vice President, Long-term Care and System Hospitals,
Archbold Memorial Hospital; Sharon Ellis, VHA Georgia.
From left: Crystal Ramm RN, MSN, administrator, Grady
General Hospital; Julie Dumas, RN, BSN Infection Control
Coordinator, Grady General Hospital; Mark Hudson, DO,
Family Medicine, Quail Ridge Family Practice; Tammy Harlow,
RN, MSN, Director of Nursing, Grady General Hospital; Leslye
Upton, PhD, pharmacist, Grady General Hospital.
for a patient was more than $5,000.
“Our study determined that medications for these patients sim-
ply were not affordable, and it directly caused noncompliance and
increased visits to the doctor, which in turn caused an increase in
readmission,” said June Furney, BCH Director of Nursing.
The hospital began educating staff, physicians and eligible
patients on the savings opportunities available through the 340B
plan, which allows eligible patients to fill prescriptions through
the hospital pharmacy. BCH’s readmission rate has dropped
69 percent in less than two years. The patients that received pre-
scriptions through the 340B plan are using the hospital pharmacy
and spending 89 percent less on medications.
“I’m so proud of our team for taking the initiative to ensure
our patients have everything necessary to aid in the healing
process once they are discharged from our hospital,” said Ken
Rhudy, Brooks County Hospital administrator. “Winning this
award is a testament to that sustained focus.”
this initiative, and they were educated on the new policies and
procedures for administering the medication and managing
patients that were given the medication.”
“Since implementing the initiative in 2010, our hospital has main-
tained or exceeded our goal for the use of approved protocols and
for education provided to staff, family and patients,” Ramm said.
VHA Georgia, a membership alliance of
not-for-profit health care providers that
helps member organizations meet the
growing challenges of service to their
communities, recognized our efforts
toward improved safety and service.