St. Luke's Bone & Joint Institute Opens in Quakertown

22,775 Square-Foot Medical Facility Dedicated to Treating Conditions of the Bones, Muscles, Joints and Nerves

Quakertown, PA (06-25-2009) - St. Luke's Hospital & Health Network administrators, clinicians and public officials today announced the opening of the 22,775 square foot St. Luke's Bone & Joint Institute at 1534 Park Avenue in Quakertown. The new facility houses more than 20 musculoskeletal clinicians in the fields of neurosurgery, orthopaedics, podiatry, rheumatology, interventional pain medicine, as well as physiatry and physical therapy. Lab services, radiology and occupational medicine resources are also on site as is Homestar, a full-service, on-site pharmacy and medical equipment supplier.

Goal to Create a Unique Patient Experience

According to Luanne Stauffer, Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees at St. Luke's Quakertown Hospital, the building was designed to create the ultimate patient experience. “This building is not just impressive in size and appearance. Everything was created with purpose - from the layout of the waiting rooms to the location of each practice - the focus is to make patients' lives easier by alleviating their pain - physically speaking but also to make the health care experience more convenient, easier to navigate and ultimately, less 'painful.'"

Stauffer went on to say that since St. Luke's came to Bucks County in 1995, they have invested $60 million; more than $10 million of the total is a combined investment for the St. Luke's Bone & Joint Institute and the new outpatient center on route 663 slated to open later this year.

Expansion in Keeping with Rapidly Growing Counties

Ed Nawrocki, president, St. Luke's Quakertown Hospital, expanded on this sentiment by sharing that Upper Bucks and Upper Montgomery Counties are among the fastest growing in the state of Pennsylvania and to keep up with that growth, the hospital had to expand.

"The growing region combined with our ongoing improvements at the hospital has contributed to our need for expansion. According to data published last week by PHC4, the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council, we are now the fastest growing hospital in the seven county region of Philadelphia, suburban Philadelphia and the Lehigh Valley," he stated.

The idea for a new outpatient center began out of a need for more space. What was originally designed to be a medical office building of unrelated services evolved into the concept of a sub-specialty center of excellence focused on the needs of orthopaedic and neuromuscular patients.

"We realized that we had a real opportunity to create a better patient experience by co-locating complementary specialists. As we started to explore this concept, we began to attract more and more physicians interested in joining. In fact, eighty percent of the specialists practicing in this facility were not even in Quakertown or on our medical staff three years ago. This July alone, we have seven new residents and fellows joining the medical staff, some of whom will see patients in the Bone & Joint Institute," Nawrocki added.

He went on to say that St. Luke's Bone & Joint Institute is part of the projected 50,000 square feet of outpatient services St. Luke's will bring to Bucks and Montgomery Counties over the next few months. Also included will be the St. Luke's Upper Perkiomen Outpatient Center.

Support for the project has been community-wide. Representative Paul Clymer secured $250,000 to support equipment purchases for the Bone & Joint Institute and the St. Luke's Quakertown Hospital medical staff donated $25,000 toward the building.

Mark Springer, Business Development Director and Project Manager for St. Luke's Quakertown Hospital, shared clinical goals for the new building. According to Springer, last October the physicians of Quakertown Orthopaedic Associates (now located in the Bone & Joint Institute) were recognized as “Best in Bucks” county for total hip and total knee replacement surgeries with a five-star rating by Health Grades - according to Health Grades, patients treated by physicians with five-star ratings in orthopaedics are nearly 50 percent less likely to have a complications following a procedure.

Canadian Resident Traveling for Special Treatment

Springer said that last month Podiatry Associates of the Lehigh Valley, the podiatry group practicing at the Bone & Joint Institute, was sought out by a patient in Canada who has since travelled 2,000 miles to be evaluated for her Charcot Foot, a deforming foot condition that often leads to amputation. The specialists at the Bone & Joint Institute are among a handful of podiatrists who view foot salvage as the number one goal when treating Charcot. She learned about them through an online discussion board, and decided to make the trip. She will be undergoing surgery at St. Luke's in July.

"These examples go on and on. But we know clinical expertise is not the whole story. The vision of St. Luke's is to forever change the perception that health care is difficult to use. This means physicians have to communicate and collaborate to better serve patients. It means nurses and staff members have to make sure that no one is left waiting for an extended period of time.….it's every practice member, addressing every need, of every patient, every time," expressed Springer.

He continued, "This program represents the first step in musculoskeletal care coordination." Components of the new program include:

• A physician core group leading the development of new, innovative clinical operations with the goal of redefining health care
• A "nurse navigator" who will function as the patient advocate
• Physician and physical therapy teams working cooperatively to ensure optimal outcomes
• Pre- and post-operative education classes for surgical patients
• A comprehensive pain treatment center that enables patients to be seen quickly and treated in a warm and friendly outpatient setting
• Common waiting rooms designed to physically keep the patients located in the center of the building and at the center of everyone's focus

Latest Technology Available to Physicians

Orthoapedic surgeon Dr. Zigmund Strzelecki of Quakertown Orthopaedic Associates went on to demonstrate just how state-of-the-art and patient-centric the new facility is by showing off the Fujitsu LifeBook, an ultra-lightweight, portable notebook that functions as a chartless, electronic medical record (EMR) system. Instead of reviewing written charts at the nurse's station, Strzelecki and his partners now review paperless charts from anywhere—at a patient's bedside, while working from their homes or in their offices.

"The information stored on this notepad used to be housed on multiple pieces of hardware, in multiple rooms and in some cases, in separate buildings. Now, it's all right here in the palm of my hand - test results, labs, imaging studies, medications, charts, etc. We take the notebook right into our patient rooms to discuss test results, the recommended course of treatment, and if necessary, we can place additional orders right in front of our patients—this adds an additional level of safety and comfort and again, it makes things easier for our patients and for us."

Strzelecki closed by saying, "We are here, working together for the common good of our patients. But, it's not just about curing an ailment. It's not just about having the latest and greatest technology and equipment to do so. It's about reducing stress, building confidence and creating peace of mind in the process. This is our goal - this is what truly heals."

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