AR 2007: What Our Investments Mean to You

Your investments are likely goal-driven— saving enough for your child’s college fund, carefully planning your retirement, spending quality time with your family.

At Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network, our investments are goal-driven, too. Our mission is to heal, comfort and care for the people of our community. Here are just some of the ways we invest to fulfill that promise to you every day.

Protecting your health

If you face a health emergency, you want to know you’ll receive the best care, no matter the situation. Joseph Steigler experienced such an emergency last winter. The 59-year-old Breinigsville man was clearing snow from his driveway when he felt pain in his chest and legs. His son called 9-1-1, but worried about hazardous road conditions.

An ambulance safely made it through the storm and took Steigler to Lehigh Valley Hospital. There, an MI Alert (heart attack) care team opened his blocked right coronary artery in just 68 minutes, 22 minutes faster than the recognized “gold standard.”

That kind of quick, team-oriented response is a hallmark of Lehigh Valley Hospital’s investment in protecting your health. We’re consistently the first in our region to create high-quality programs like these:

People who truly care

Kim Bartman, R.N., cares for—and about—patients who’ve lost a limb. That’s why she and a colleague, Karen Groller, R.N., started an amputee support group. More than 40 amputees meet monthly for comfort and advice. Bartman’s caring didn’t stop there. She also lobbied in Harrisburg for a proposed law that would provide insurance coverage for prosthetic limbs.

The recipient of two statewide nursing awards this year, Bartman exemplifies the investment in caring shown by Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network’s 9,000 employees. It’s one reason why, this year, we are one of FORTUNE magazine’s Best 100 Companies to Work For in the nation. We also are a Magnet hospital, the nation’s highest honor for nursing excellence.

Growing for you

You choose us for your health care—and we’re grateful. Since 2000, our annual inpatient bed use has grown by more than 16,000, and our outpatient registrations and emergency department visits have grown by more than 200,000.

In response to this growth, the Kasych Family Pavilion, which will open in January at Lehigh Valley Hospital—Cedar Crest, is one of our most vital investments. The seven-story tower will provide the space, technology and resources to care for you now and into the future, with:

We already expanded our Cedar Crest campus to provide more parking and The Center for Advanced Health Care. It houses orthopedic and imaging specialists and soon will have a neuroscience center and state-of-the-art cardiology care for people with heart disease. The Cedar Crest expansion also will include an expanded emergency department and four new operating rooms.

Community focus

Dionisio Marciano of Allentown worked hard at a local auto supply store to send money home to support his three young children in the Dominican Republic. He longed for a better job, but needed a physical exam to qualify for a driver’s license.

Marciano, 44, turned to Allentown’s Sixth Street Shelter. There, Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network physicians, residents and nurse practitioners volunteer their time to deliver free care for people who can’t afford health insurance.

Programs like this help people live well throughout the Lehigh Valley, and they’re part of our hospital’s mission. This year, we invested a record $127.1 million in programs and services that benefit our community. This includes care for chronic diseases like diabetes and so much more:

Our investments in community also include research and education. Our medical residency program—which educates tomorrow’s doctors—is expanding. This year, we added 40 new residency positions and started the area’s only cardiology fellowship to educate future heart care specialists.

Our team of medical researchers is dedicated to bringing the latest treatments to our hospital. Among the many projects we’re currently researching: the role of lifestyle factors and genetics in people with colon or rectal cancer, and comparing the effects of two types of medication (warfarin and aspirin) in creating the best results for people with heart failure.

Financial strength

Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network is a charitable, not-for-profit, academic community hospital that reinvests its net margin (revenue minus expenses) each year in programs, services, facilities and technology that help care for you.

Health care experts estimate that hospitals need a margin of at least 5 percent for general maintenance. Our net margin this year is $65.5 million, or 6 percent of revenue. Over the past 10 years, we have averaged a 3.9 percent net margin. This financial strength gives us the ability to keep reinvesting in resources that will help you, your children and grandchildren live well.

Our Performance and Community Benefit

Community benefit is built into our mission and budget. This year, we provided $127.1 million in community benefit, an increase of more than $90 million—or 143 percent—over the past seven years.

Quality

U.S. News & World Report included Lehigh Valley Hospital on its “America’s Best Hospitals” list for the 12th consecutive year. We’re ranked in cancer care, digestive disorders, endocrinology, geriatrics, gynecology, and heart care and heart surgery.

This year, we provided $9.3 million in charitable care to our community.

We had 141,687 visits to our clinics at the hospital and in our community.

Our hospital hosts 11 endowed chairs, funds that will benefit research and education for years to come.

We are educating 193 medical residents in 19 programs and fellowships. We also added 96 new doctors to our hospital’s medical staff.

The Leapfrog Group, a group of business leaders that aims to improve the safety, quality and affordability of health care nationwide, honored Lehigh Valley Hospital as one of its Top Hospitals in 2007. We’re one of just 41 hospitals nationwide on the list, and the only one in our region.

Our MedEvac helicopter team transported 1,640 critically ill or injured people this year.