Bih Pathology Foundation Inc.

“For the period covered by this filing, beth israel lahey health, inc. Served as the sole member of beth israel deaconess medical center, inc. (bidmc), mount auburn hospital (mah), new england baptist hospital (nebh), beth israel deaconess hospital milton, inc. (milton), beth israel deaconess hospital needham, inc. (needham), beth israel deaconess hospital plymouth, inc. (plymouth), lahey health shared services, lahey clinic foundation, winchester hospital (winchester), northeast hospital corporation (nhc), northeast behavioral corporation (nbc), and anna jaques hospital. The lahey clinic foundation in turn serves as sole member to lahey clinic inc, and lahey clinic hospital dba lahey hospital and medical center (lhmc). Additional entities listed here may also in turn serve as member to other network affiliates. Two or more of the persons listed in this form 990 part vii have a business relationship with each other by virtue of sitting on one or more boards of directors/trustees or by serving in an employment relationship with one or more entities within the network of affiliated organizations. Additional detail is provided in the explanatory notes to this form 990 schedule j.”

“Harvard medical faculty physicians at beth israel deaconess medical center, inc. (hmfp), an entity exempt from income tax under section 501(c)(3) of the internal revenue code (irc) of 1986 as amended, serves as sole member of bih pathology foundation, inc..”

“Harvard medical faculty physicians at beth israel deaconess medical center, inc (hmfp) is the sole member of bih pathology foundation, inc.. Hmfp has the power to elect or appoint one or more members of the governing body.”

“The member according to bih pathology foundation, inc. Bylaws has the following rights: - to approve any amendments to the articles of organization or bylaws; - to approve the undertaking of any clinical services of bih pathology foundation, inc. Not being provided by bih pathology foundation, inc. As of october 1, 2006; - to approve any action that would cause, or could reasonably be expected to cause the member to breach the affiliation agreement between the member and beth israel deaconess medical center; - to select and remove and replace the independent public accounting firm; - to require bih pathology foundation, inc. To comply with the policies and procedures of the member's program for compliance with the applicable billing and payment requirements of federal health care programs; and, - powers and rights as vested by law.”

“The preparation and the filing of bih pathology foundation, inc.'s form 990 and supporting schedules are the responsibility of the chief financial officer (cfo) of hmfp. As previously noted, hmfp is the sole member of bih pathology foundation, inc.. For fiscal year 2021, the form 990 was prepared by deloitte tax llp with assistance and guidance from hmfp's finance staff. The tax preparation process was also overseen by the director of taxation of beth israel lahey health, inc. (bilh). Effective march 1, 2020 bilh became the sole member of bidmc. A copy of the complete return is then provided to each member of the board of directors prior to submission to the internal revenue service.”

“The foundation is committed to pursuing charitable missions and conducting business in a responsible and ethical manner and as so, the foundation has a conflict of interest policy. Under this new policy, the president, officers and board members are required to report any conflicts of interest. The foundation has prepared a formal conflict of interest disclosure statement which is required to be completed annually by all key foundation personnel. The standards in the policy require foundation officers and board members shall not vote on, influence, or make recommendations regarding a transaction or decision when the individual or member of his or her family has a material interest in an entity or property involved in the transaction or decision. A material interest includes, but is not limited to an individual or family member having a combined interest of greater than 5% of an entity or property, an individual or family member serving as a director, trustee, officer, partner, employee, consultant, agent, member of the active professional staff, researcher or advisor of or to an entity (included by not limited to health care providers) other than harvard medical faculty physicians at bidmc, inc and its affiliates, an individual holding an elected or appointed office or position in a branch of government or in a regulatory agency having authority or jurisdiction over providers of health care (for members of the judiciary, areas of conflict will be defined in the code of judicial conduct) and an individual (or member of his or her family) competing with the foundation in the purchase or sale of any property right, interest, or service. The conflict of interest standards also require that an individual or member of his or her family not accept gifts or other favors that might lead to the inference that the gift or favor was intended to influence his or her decision-making while serving the foundation. Per the policy, an individual should not disclose or use foundation information for personal profit or advantage or should not disclose confidential and/or strategic information in advance of its authorized release. As noted above, the process for addressing a potential conflict requires that the foundation directors and officers complete a formal conflict of interest disclosure statement each year. The foundation board will review such submitted forms and formal approval of such activities will be required to be documented in minutes of the board meeting. If the board feels that any individual has failed to disclose a conflict of interest, it will inform the individual of the basis for the belief and afford the individual an opportunity to explain the alleged failure to disclose. If the board determines that the individual failed to properly disclose a conflict of interest, it shall take appropriate disciplinary and corrective actions. With this conflict of interest policy, the board is determined to help ensure all transactions are handled in a fair and ethical manner.”

“Bih pathology foundation, inc.'s governing documents, conflict of interest policy and financial statements are available to the general public upon request at the following location: beth israel lahey health tax department 109 brookline avenue, suite 300 boston, ma 02215”

“The foundation does not have committees with the authority to act on behalf of the governing body; therefore, this question is more appropriately answered not applicable."”

“The foundation is in the process of formally adopting the whistleblower policy and the document retention and destruction policy of its sole member, hmfp.”

“All foundation directors and trustees serve without compensation or benefits. Compensation paid to officers, directors, trustees or key employees was earned for work performed in a capacity other than director or trustee as denoted by the titles listed in section vii. No foundation trustee or director devotes more than twenty hours per month to their position as trustee or director.”

“The mission of bih pathology foundation, inc. (the foundation) is to support medical research, provide instruction, and participate in activities designed to improve the general public health of patients served by beth israel deaconess medical center, harvard medical faculty physicians at beth israel deaconess medical center (bidmc) and their affiliates. The foundation uses its funds to support the physician's work in the pathology department at bidmc and to strengthen the department by supporting the educational requirements of the department and physicians worldwide by providing training seminars and other classes. The foundation also uses its funds to support expenses incurred by its affiliated entities which benefit the physicians and other personnel who are engaged in activity related to the pathology field. All activities that the foundation participates in are focused on medical procedures, research, and other activities that are inspired to enhance methods utilized in the pathology field.”

“In addition to the program service accomplishments noted above, the bilh network had significant activities across entities related to both behavioral health and its response to the ongoing covid-19 pandemic. Details on both are below bilh behavioral health services the beth israel lahey health network (bilh) is committed to the behavioral health needs of the patients and communities serviced. Below are some of activities that bilh behavioral services (bilhbs) has provided to the patients and communities served by bilh and its affiliated entities. Bilhbs (which includes the activities of bilh's tax-exempt affiliate northeast behavioral health corp) is the largest network of mental health and substance use disorder services in eastern massachusetts. Bilhbs' network of behavioral health care includes services for children and adults ranging from inpatient treatment to community-based programs. Services include: inpatient psychiatric and detoxification treatment; emergency psychiatric and mobile emergency services teams; outpatient mental health and addiction treatment; individual/couple/family therapy; medication assisted treatment programs for persons with opioid use disorders; and school-based and home-based counseling for youth and their families. Since the creation of bilh in march 2019, bilh has invested significantly in improving access to behavioral health care through a system-wide approach to care delivery. First, it has made a multi-year commitment to provide behavioral health support to its employed primary care practices using an evidence-based approach known as the impact model. By the end of fy 2021, bilh had implemented the impact model in 67% of its employed primary care practices as part of its collaborative care program implementation. In 2021, bilhbs expanded its primary care behavioral health integration (pcbhi) services by incorporating a dsrip pilot project aimed at interprofessional psychiatric consults. The pcbhi interprofessional consultation includes an assessment and management service in which a patient's primary care provider (pcp) requests the opinion and/or treatment advice of a psychiatric consultant to assist in the diagnosis and/or management of the patient's behavioral health condition without the need for the patient's face-to-face contact with the consultant. Interprofessional consultation enables a comprehensive assessment, enhances patient care, reduces misdiagnosis, and supports the integration of disciplines in the delivery of care. The pcbhi interprofessional psychiatric consultants provide pcps with another avenue for integrated care. The implementation of pcbhi interprofessional services will be offered in practices where collaborative care is not currently available. Additionally, in 2021, bilhbs continued to oversee the bilh-wide centralized behavioral health (bh) bed management, which supports inpatient behavioral health bed capacity and improving access to these beds, with the parallel goal of reducing boarding by behavioral health patients in the emergency departments ("eds"). As part of the centralized bh bed management, bilh staff engage in a daily huddle with representatives from bilh hospitals' eds and behavioral health units to discuss patients appropriate for transfer to the unit. The daily huddles have become a forum for which participants discuss behavioral health patient volume and bed capacity across the system, as well as discharge planning and placement opportunities for difficult-to-place patients. Separately, in march 2021, bilhbs launched its centralized bed finding team. This team is part of our central call center, which centralizes calls to bilhbs' three emergency service program (esp) catchment areas reducing redundancies across the agency and streamlining all calls to one central service. This centralized bed finding team is responsible for conducting bed searches for patients seen through the esp and who are awaiting an inpatient psychiatric placement. This te”

“Beth israel lahey health's covid-19 pandemic response as in the prior year, beth israel lahey health's ("bilh") hospitals and other patient care organizations expended significant time and resources across fy 2021 in their continued efforts to respond to the covid-19 pandemic. In addition to providing covid-19 testing and treatment, the health system initiated patient and staff vaccination efforts in fy 2021, reaching out to 1.3 million patients using a multichannel, multilingual approach and ultimately delivering over 400,000 vaccine doses. The system successfully undertook these efforts while also navigating unprecedented financial and operational challenges stemming from the pandemic, including ongoing workforce disruption and a decline in patient volume due to the curtailment of elective services and staffing challenges. Highlights of the system's pandemic response in fy 2021 include: staff testing, vaccination, and support in november 2020, bilh implemented a program to provide its 36,000 employees with access to onsite, voluntary, and free-of-charge covid-19 pcr testing, even if they had no known exposure or symptoms. In addition to serving as an important element to contain community spread of covid-19, this effort boosted bilh staff morale and confidence during this challenging period. In december 2020, bilh stood up staff vaccination sites at its local hospitals, ultimately delivering 70,000 vaccine doses to its workforce in fy 2021. The system took progressive measures around employee paid time off to support vaccination efforts as well as family care needs and time missed due to covid-19 illness or testing. In the summer of 2021, bilh communicated that covid-19 and flu vaccine would be required as a condition of employment; the covid-19 vaccination deadline was successfully completed on october 31, 2021. Bilh operationalized a centralized call center to support staff with symptom reporting, covid-19 testing, and return-to-work processes. The call center ensured convenient and accessible information for a workforce spread throughout eastern massachusetts. At its peak, the centralized call center handled over 1,000 phone calls per day. Patient vaccination nearly immediately upon receiving vaccine supply that could be used for patients, bilh opened and operated 10 vaccine administration sites across eastern massachusetts. The locations were selected based on several criteria, including proximity to hard-hit communities and ease of access in terms of transportation. This was a significant logistical feat in light of the shifting forecasts in vaccine supply and special handling required for the pfizer vaccine. Bilh developed its own vaccination scheduling tool, covax, to support staff and patient vaccination efforts. This tool enabled bilh to identify patients eligible for vaccination based on state guidelines, schedule appointments, and track vaccination activity. Bilh led a targeted campaign to support health equity by prioritizing for vaccination bilh patients who resided in a community or town identified as having among the highest cumulative incidence of covid-19 within the state of massachusetts. Bilh also coordinated with multiple community health centers to provide their patients with priority access to vaccination appointments. Due to these efforts, beth israel deaconess care organization ("bidco"), an accountable care organization ("aco") within bilh, had the highest covid-19 vaccination rate for medicaid members among all medicaid acos in the state. Bilh established the covid-19 health equity advisory council ("the council") with a goal to address health disparities brought on by the pandemic, language barriers, and other social determinants of health. Its membership included key bilh stakeholders and community health center chief medical officers. As part of its responsibility, the council reviewed the system's vaccine rollout strategy, including the patient prioritization and scheduling strategy, call center”

“The boston, ma office of kpmg issued an unqualified opinion on the consolidated audited financial statements of the beth israel lahey health, inc. And affiliates for fiscal period ended september 30, 2021 these statements were prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (gaap) and included the accounts of the beth israel lahey health, inc. (bilh), and the entities for which beth israel lahey health, inc. (bilh) served as sole member during the fiscal period covered by this filing, (beth israel deaconess medical center (bidmc), mount auburn hospital (mah), new england baptist hospital (nebh), beth israel deaconess hospital milton, inc. (milton), beth israel deaconess hospital needham, inc. (needham), beth israel deaconess hospital plymouth, inc. (plymouth), lahey clinic foundation, lahey health shared services, winchester hospital (winchester), northeast hospital corporation (nhc), northeast behavioral health corporation (nbhc) and anna jaques hospital). Each of these affiliates may in turn serve as member of additional entities within the network of affiliates, and whose accounts are included in the bilh audited financial statements. The financial statements also include the accounts of harvard medical faculty physicians at beth israel deaconess medical center, inc. (hmfp), the dedicated physician practice of beth israel deaconess medical center and an entity integrally related to helping bidmc and other affiliates in the bilh network accomplish their charitable purposes.”

“On march 1, 2019, lahey health system including the lahey clinic and lahey clinic hospital d/b/a lahey hospital and medical center, winchester hospital, northeast hospital corporation d/b/a beverly hospital, addison gilbert hospital and bayridge hospital, the beth israel deaconess system including beth israel deaconess medical center, beth israel deaconess milton, beth israel deaconess needham and beth israel deaconess plymouth, mount auburn hospital, new england baptist hospital, anna jaques hospital as well as entities for which these listed organizations serve as sole member and additional affiliates came together to form beth israel lahey health (bilh). As a newly created healthcare system, bilh engaged kpmg to perform a financial audit of the system. The boston, ma office of kpmg issued an unqualified opinion on the consolidated audited financial statements of the beth israel lahey health, inc. And affiliates for fiscal period ended september 30, 2019. These statements were prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (gaap) and included the accounts of the beth israel lahey health, inc. And its affiliates.”

“Transfer to/from affiliates 1,167,900.”

“Bih pathology foundation, inc. Does not engage in any direct lobbying efforts. However, various affiliates of bih pathology foundation, inc., may have engaged in some lobbying efforts on behalf of themselves and other affiliated network entities. Total lobbying expenditures were minimal and not substantial based on revenues.”