Maj.
Tony Tidwell, chief, managed care division, explains the metrics and measurements
for a process improvement project to Col. Debra Long, chief, clinical
dietetics.
Sgt.
John Colriale, noncommissioned officer for patient administration, and
Mark Loya, medical boards coordinator, review medical documentation for
medical evaluation boards.
Cpl. Randy Hagerman, B Co., WBAMC, delivers supplies to the hospital.
Martha Padilla, from housekeeping, buffs the floor on the 7th ward.
Cpl. Randy Hagerman, B Company, WBAMC, loads supplies for the intensive
care unit.
WBAMC provides all resources for patient care
Story by Clarence
Davis III, WBAMC Public Affairs
Photos by Virginia Reza
Spc. Ronald Batista, B Co., WBAMC, swipes the access card to open the
Omnicell cabinet and refill with medical supplies.
TPatient care —
much of the patient care and treatment for William Beaumont Army Medical
Center beneficiaries is personalized service.
However, more than personalized care given by professional, skilled
and semi-skilled workers goes into the care and treatment of the patient.
It takes all of the organizational resources, working as a team, to
provide care for inpatients and outpatients throughout the hospital.
Rarely do patients see members of the support team providing indirect
patient care such as delivering supplies, providing security, house
cleaning or other services that are done behind the scenes. The Beaumont
support team includes, but is not limited to, patient administration,
logistics, managed care, resource management, legal and security.
Each time a patient receives healthcare, an electronic or hardcopy record
is maintained of the physician’s comments, medical or surgical
treatments and treatment outcomes. This record includes the patient’s
history, laboratory tests, x-ray reports, etc. Documentation in these
records is very important because the record must withstand scrutiny
during billing to a third party payer, or during a malpractice or medical
claims case.
Logistics material branch personnel, process supply requests for WBAMC.
“The Patient Administration Division is responsible for safeguarding
and maintaining this record. Here at Beaumont, there are two types of
patient records – inpatient and outpatient. The inpatient record
is from an admission or ambulatory care,” said Maj. Steven P.
Middlecamp, chief, Patient Administration Division. The outpatient record
is used for all other patient visits.
The WBAMC Materiel Branch stocks all medical expendable supplies required
by the staff for patient care. “This includes vaccines, gauze,
gowns, gloves, needles/syringes, blood tubes, slippers, catheters, swabs,
band aids, etc.,” said Oscar Molinar, accountable officer. “The
Materiel Branch has more than 1,400 lines of supply valued at more than
$900,000. Annually, we process up to $12 million in supplies.”
“The Managed Care Division monitors compliance to ensure that
the contractor is fulfilling the specifications of the contract,”
said Maj. Tony Tidwell, chief, Managed Care Division. Usually, these
contracts are for the delivery of health care to various patients in
an outpatient or inpatient setting. For improvement in the healthcare
process, various performance metrics are monitored to assist management/leadership
to make informed decisions. In some instances it may be cheaper to outsource
work, in other instances it may be cheaper to return the work in-house
by hiring additional staff or purchasing additional equipment.
Arturo Zamudio, security officer, monitors security base op-erations.
It is important to focus on a safe and secure environment for patients, visitors, staff and property. “Our job includes providing traffic control, providing vehicle assistance and quelling disturbances so that patient care can be facilitated,” said Linda Waite, provost marshal, WBAMC.
All patients and beneficiaries will experience professional care from the Beaumont staff because the staff practices its vision daily – “Together providing the very best in federal health care.”