Bergen New Bridge Medical Center is a member of the Quality Institute’s Provider Council and recently achieved a Certification in Health Care Equity from The Joint Commission.

What has achieving the Joint Commission’s Health Care Equity Certification meant for the medical center and for your community?

Going through this process strengthened our structure around diversity, equity, and inclusion even further — and has made these efforts hardwired into what we do every day for our patients and long-term residents. We have improved our process around health literacy, for instance. Consents, patient education, and discharge instructions are written on a lower grade level to increase patients’ understanding. Outpatient pharmacy labels are printed in the patient’s preferred language and preferred first name. We’ve improved our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) education and our policies and processes around recruiting and retention. We have panel interviews for various positions to decrease implicit bias in the hiring process.

And we created strong screening and assessment tools to determine social determinants of health. This certification really raises the bar on quality and equity and intertwines the two. I can add that we have multiple cultural programs and events for the staff, our patients, and the community.

You outlined one of your approaches to surgical safety and quality at The Leapfrog Group’s annual meeting. What is unique about your approach?

We heightened awareness on reading the surgical timeout checklist out loud and documenting this process in the medical record. Using checklists leads to best equity, quality, and safety outcomes for patients. And hard wiring this process in 2021 led to other process improvements in the peri-operative area in terms of our surgical indicators. We promote using checklists, order sets, and evidence-based tools for screening and assessment. These processes also help eliminate implicit bias because you’re treating the diagnosis and the symptoms rather than what the patient looks like. These tools help clinicians to not forget important aspects of care. Our perioperative team practices the process on Timeout Day in June by doing karaoke where they sing out the process. The whole point of the checklist is that you get everything correct before the procedure begins: the right site, the right patient, the right everything with all team members present.

How is your recently launched Depression Center of Excellence making a difference for patients?

Our center provides access to modernized clinical interventions for patients with medication-resistant depression. Examples are using ketamine injections and what’s called TMS, or transcranial magnetic stimulation. It’s a way to stimulate the brain without using anesthesia … it’s similar to ECT. Our program accepts Medicare and Medicaid, and these treatments can be available to all patients regardless of payer source. Our community needs assessment noted that behavioral health in marginalized groups was an area that we should work on to improve.

How are you using technology to improve the identification of behavioral needs among patients?

Through technology, we’re bridging the gap between ambulatory outpatient care and behavioral health. A program called NeuroFlow can track patients in real time when they come into our medical ambulatory center; it screens patients for behavioral health needs. And if they screen out that they need services, we can treat them and help them right here on our campus without any delay. … Another initiative we are proud of that we are working toward becoming a Recognized Leader for People Living with Diabetes from Leapfrog. And we have partnered with The Diabetes Foundation to provide access to certified diabetes educators for patients, including behavioral health patients. It’s made a big difference in the lives of many of our patients, in terms of education, access to medication, supplies and follow up care.

Finally, we like to ask a question beyond a person’s professional work. If you could name someone (alive today or in history), who would be your hero?

I have always been influenced by selfless, hardworking people, women in particular, who fight to make a difference for others and themselves and have been mentors in my life. For this question, I would say that I’ve always admired Eleanor Roosevelt for her hard work, activism, and determination to help the underdog. I would also like to mention a fictional character: Celie, from “The Color Purple.” She is a favorite of mine for her perseverance and resilience while enduring hardship, and then her personal growth and achievement.