Lehigh Valley Physician Group

“The organization's sole corporate member is lehigh valley health network, inc.”

“The organization's sole corporate member, lehigh valley health network, inc., has the power to elect, appoint, approve, or reject members of the organization's governing body.”

“The organization's sole corporate member, lehigh valley health network, inc., has the power to approve or reject certain major operating decisions made by the organization's governing body.”

“The process to review the form 990's includes: draft 1 of the returns is reviewed in detail with a focus on accuracy, completeness, and perspective by the lvhn vice-president, finance & controller. Draft 2 of the returns is reviewed by the executive vice president and chief financial officer. All compensation disclosures are reviewed by the director, compensation - human resources. Draft 3 of the returns is reviewed together with the president & ceo, the executive vice president & chief financial officer, the vice-president, finance & controller, and the administrator, tax. Final returns are provided to the full board prior to filing.”

“In january 2016, lvhn implemented an electronic tool designed to send notifications and track disclosures reported on conflict of interest questionnaires. The network also expanded the scope of the conflict of interest or commitment policy, such that additional colleagues are now required to complete a questionnaire each year. Prior to january, the vp, internal audit and compliance services issued a notice to board members and members of the senior management council when it was time for them to submit their conflict of interest questionnaires. The vp also instructed members of the senior management council to identify and request completed conflict of interest questionnaires from individuals who had potential conflicts of interest and to provide her with the identity of those individuals. Compliance services tracked completion of the questionnaires. All physicians on lvhn's medical staff are also required to complete a conflict of interest questionnaire annually. Medical staff services monitors this process to ensure that all physicians comply. Potential conflicts are managed by the lvhn conflict of interest committee and/or by the board of trustees, depending on whose interest(s) pose the conflict and the nature of the conflict.”

“Lehigh valley health network 2024 executive compensation review in compliance with the rebuttable presumption of reasonableness process outlined in the intermediate sanctions regulations (issued under section 4958 of the internal revenue code); sullivan cotter and associates, inc. (sullivan cotter) qualifies as an independent executive compensation expert, specializing in the health care industry. Sullivan cotter provides advice to the lehigh valley health network executive compensation committee of the board of trustees to support its attainment of the rebuttable presumption of reasonableness under the intermediate sanctions regulations. They also support the committee in ensuring that the lvhn executive compensation program is competitive and aligned with the organization's executive compensation philosophy. Chief executive officer total compensation review: program analysis: analyze the market position of total compensation (base salary, incentive, benefits, and perquisites) for lvhn's president and chief executive officer (ceo) in relation to ceo market data obtained for a defined peer group of comparable health systems. This includes the preparation of tally sheets for the president and ceo as well as an analysis of form 990 compensation data. They assess the alignment of the president and ceo's compensation with lvhn's compensation philosophy and note the implications of the review. Sullivan cotter's analyses and findings are summarized in a report to the committee that provides a reasonableness opinion for the intermediate sanctions compliance. The report was provided by sullivan cotter at the july 19, 2023 executive compensation committee meeting. Ceo council executive total compensation review: program analysis: analyze the market position of total compensation (salaries, incentives, benefits, and perquisites) for lvhn's ceo council executives (approximately 10 total positions) in relation to comparable positions in peer organizations. This includes the preparation of tally sheets for each individual. Sullivan cotter's analyses and findings are summarized in a report to the committee that also provides an opinion of reasonableness for intermediate sanctions compliance. The report was provided by sullivan cotter at the july 19, 2023 executive compensation committee meeting. Summary of methodology to conduct this analysis, sullivan cotter: collected background information regarding lvhn's operations, structure, size and scope, as well as each position's duties. Compiled market data for ceo council executives consistent with the executive compensation philosophy approved by the committee during its september 18, 2023 meeting: the market data used for lvhn system executives in this assessment are an equally weighted blend of: (1) lvhn's committee-approved peer group of 25 not-for-profit health systems located in the northeast (excluding new york city) with net operating revenues between $2.1 billion and $9.3 billion (median of $3.8 billion); and (2) national data reflecting organizations of similar scope and size to lvhn. Peer group and national market data were abstracted from sullivan cotter's 2022 survey of manager and executive compensation in hospitals and health systems, as well as other published compensation surveys reflecting pay at comparably sized organizations, which included national hospitals and national medical groups. Compiled market data for the lvhn clinical chairs prepared by the association of american medical colleges (aamc) for the chairs of clinical departments in medical schools, lvhn's traditional comparator group for these jobs. Adjusted the market data to an effective date of january 1, 2024 at an annualized rate of 3.0% based on salary increase trends. Compared each component of lvhn's benefit program against typical market benefit practices in health systems and hospitals based on multiple published surveys, supplemented by sullivan cotter's proprietary data and experience. Developed market t”

“Anothers website - guidestar. Upon request - hard copies with senior management and marketing.”

“The organization makes its financial statements available to the public through its annual report to the community. The annual report is distributed to all attendees at the organizations annual public meeting. The annual report is available on the organization's website - www.lvhn.org. In addition, it is distributed via mail to members of the community. The organizations governing documents and conflict of interest policy are not made available to the public.”

“The compensation reported for individuals on this form 990 reflects renumeration for their duties as employees of the organization and/or related organizations. These employees do not receive compensation pertaining to their roles as trustees and/or officers.”

“Econsult program: since april 2019, lvpg's econsult program has offered clinicians across the entire network the opportunity to access specialist input for focused clinical questions and concerns without the need for a face-to-face visit. In addition to accelerating access to specific recommendations, the program has improved access in our specialty practices straightforward and simple issues are addressed by a specialist virtually opening schedules for patients who truly need face-to-face assessments. Econsults are currently available for adult patients in the following specialties: anticoagulation management, cardiology, disability support, endocrinology, ent, geriatrics, gynecology, hematology, hiv/pre-exposure prophylaxis, infectious diseases, long covid, medical oncology (diagnostic advice), neurology, orthopedics, pain management, pulmonology, psychiatry, rheumatology, toxicology and urology. Our pediatric econsult program includes endocrinology, gastroenterology and hematology. In fy23, a total of 3,558 econsults were performed across the network. This number increased to 4,627 in fy24, representing a 30% increase in annual volumes. The highest volume of econsults have been completed by the divisions of endocrinology, hematology, infectious disease, neurology, cardiology, psychiatry, and pulmonary medicine. In fy24 there was 5,215 econsults ordered and 4,627 econsults performed. Family medicine (n=2,231) was the highest ordering specialty, followed by internal medicine (n=1,084). Endocrinology (n=888) was the highest performing specialty, followed by hematology & oncology (n=734). Neurosciences: the lehigh valley fleming neuroscience institute (lvfni) perpetuated its legacy in fy24 as a world-class team providing extraordinary care for brain, spine, neurological, and neurosurgical disorders. As a dedicated hub of collaboration, innovation, education, and research, we continued our evolution as a premier destination for care for the region. We prioritized collaboration and teamwork through interdisciplinary teams, stressed ongoing education and training, and made decisions based on the latest research and evidence for every patient. Additionally, our teams positioned themselves for rapid response to an ever-changing network structure and its optimization initiatives for improved access and patient experience. Updates from the past year include: 1. Welcomed a second neuro-ophthalmologist, further expanding access to a program only offered by lvhn in this region. Expanded access for post-stroke follow-up by adding outpatient care at hecktown oaks. 2. Outpatient eeg hours were expanded at hecktown oaks opening access that does not require additional travel. Hecktown oaks met all evidence of standards compliance by the joint commission and was awarded their first acute stroke ready certification (asrh) in the hospital's history. 3. Multidisciplinary muscle disease clinic started and was accompanied by the launch of our internal genetic counseling program for counseling and diagnosis of neurogenetic disease and associated familial risks. Viz.ai is an artificial intelligence platform used to improve patient outcomes in acute stroke cases and we have recently added this advanced technology to our lvh 17th street site. 4. Us news and world report best hospital rankings named cedar crest as "high-performing" in neurology and neurosurgery with an overall score of 58.1 and total ranking of 89th, improving 21 spots from the prior year. The program was also named "high performing" in stroke. 5. The epilepsy team at lvh-cedar crest was awarded their 2-year reaccreditation status as a national association of epilepsy centers level 3 status. 6. Based on quality and regulation standards by the american heart association, lehigh valley hospitals received the following aha/gwtg awards: cedar crest - stroke gold plus; stroke elite honor roll; advanced therapy honor roll hecktown oaks - stroke silver plus muhlenberg - stroke gold plus; strok”

“Heart and vascular services: the lehigh valley heart and vascular institute is one of the largest and most respected cardiovascular programs in pennsylvania. With 60 cardiologists, 6 cardiothoracic surgeons, 7 vascular surgeons, and a dedicated team of advanced practice clinicians and support staff, the heart and vascular institute offers an impressive and comprehensive array of preventative, diagnostic, acute, tertiary, and quaternary cardiovascular services. Specialized programs include, but are not limited to: cardiac arrest management, coronary intervention, structural heart, advanced heart failure & mechanical circulatory support, cardio-oncology, complex lipid management, comprehensive rhythm management, a women's heart and vascular program with a developed subspecialty heart and pregnancy program, neuro-cardiology, and sports cardiology. The lehigh valley heart and vascular institute currently offers 19 cardiovascular access sites throughout the lvpg-l service area to enable patients to receive premier cardiovascular care close to home. Office locations include: berks county: lvpg cardiology - hamburg lvpg cardiology - moselem springs bucks county: lvpg cardiology - richland township lvpg cardiology - sellersville carbon county lvpg cardiology - carbon lvpg vascular surgery - carbon lehigh lvh cardiology - 1250 cedar crest lvh cardiac and thoracic surgery - 1250 cedar crest lvpg cardiac and thoracic surgery - muhlenberg lvpg cardiology - laurys station lvpg cardiology - muhlenberg lvpg vascular surgery - cedar crest lvpg vascular surgery - muhlenberg northampton county: lvpg cardiology - bangor lvpg cardiology - easton lvpg cardiology - hecktown oaks lvpg cardiology - highland avenue lvpg vascular surgery - hecktown oaks montgomery county lvpg cardiology - pottstown to improve the cardiovascular care in the communities we serve, the heart and vascular institute has developed an array of subspeciality programs. For example, our hispanic heart program, centro del corazon, breaks down language and cultural barriers experienced by some of the spanish-speaking members of the community. This program pairs spanish speaking cardiologists with support staff that are equipped to help meet the needs of this part of our community with the goal of improving their overall cardiovascular health. Additionally, our cardiovascular disease identification and intervention program uses electronic health records to identify patients that are at-risk for specific diseases. This program not only helps identify at-risk patients, but it also partners with primary care providers to education the patients about their risk and encourages appointments with lvpg providers to help prevent or care for the identified disease. Women's health services: lvpg offers programs and services designed to provide care for women in the lehigh valley. Lvpg offers comprehensive obstetrics and gynecology services, including general obstetric and gynecologic care, maternal-fetal medicine, and pelvic reconstructive surgery. Clinical programs in general obstetrics and gynecology include a maternity care pathway, as well as other innovative maternity care delivery programs, well woman care pathway, routine gynecologic care, gynecologic specialty programs in focus areas such as pelvic pain, menopause, weight management, and sexual health, and surgical care. These comprehensive programs are delivered by teams of healthcare providers including physicians, midwives, and advanced practice clinicians along with their related clinical staff. We also offer embedded counseling services for mental and behavioral health and clinical care management for our perinatal substance use disorder program. We are proud to offer group prenatal care using centering pregnancy program. The maternal-fetal medicine program is one of the largest in the state, offering screening, diagnostic, and therapeutic services, and unique interdisciplinary clinical programs in our network and outside to neigh”

“Trauma services: lvpg physicians and other practitioners provide comprehensive trauma care and services as a major regional resource covering a ten-county area and a two million patient base. Lvpg physicians are part of the accredited program for pediatric trauma. Lvpg physicians are an integral component of the lehigh valley hospital trauma program, which provides a continuum of care for the trauma patient with at least one of our trauma surgeon team providing 24/7/365 in house coverage. A trauma rehabilitation team completes the continuum of trauma care. Lvpg physicians also provide care in the burn center serving northeastern pennsylvania and western new jersey. Behavioral health services: lvpg physicians provide medical leadership for the lvh acute care inpatient mental health program for adolescents and adults in lehigh, northampton, carbon, monroe, schuylkill, and berks counties based upon the number of admissions and provides inpatient psychiatric, psychological, substance abuse and social services in all clinical areas. Among the areas of focus were the continued expansion of the zero suicide initiative, including internal suicidal prevention pathways, mitigation of ligature risk, and suicide prevention training in the emergency departments and medical-surgical units. Partnering with lehigh, northampton, and carbon/ monroe/pike counties, the "warm handoff" program continues. This program follows individuals who have had suicidal thoughts and behaviors as they are discharged from lvhn inpatient and emergency departments into the community to confirm a solid connection to appropriate care. Lvpg physicians provide psychiatric consultation to patients admitted to medical/surgical services to address behavioral health needs and discharge planning. They also assist in the evaluation and management of patients in the emergency departments at network sites. Lvpg physicians also provide ambulatory care in these settings: - partial hospitalization program oversight for adolescents and adults - outpatient mental health clinic for the chronically and severely ill - short-term, outpatient treatment services for children, adolescents, adults, and families - residential rehabilitation program teaching independent living skills to the chronically mentally ill - emergency services - mental health and home care services - neuromodulation services including transcranial magnetic stimulation and es-ketamine for refractory depression are available in outpatient practices. Electroconvulsive treatment is hospital based. - tele-psychiatry: continues to run over 50% in fy24 as the health emergency was lifted. Virtual care has improved our ability to bridge into communities outside the lehigh valley. Our providers also have begun to virtually consult to nursing homes and primary care practices. Department of emergency and hospital medicine: we offer one of the region's largest emergency medicine services in multiple existing and new locations across northeastern pennsylvania. The expanded emergency care and trauma center (ectc) at lvh-cedar crest allows us to provide level i trauma care, state-of-the-art clinical care, as well as an intentional focus on patient experience. We are the region's first and largest children's er staffed with board-certified pediatric emergency medicine physicians, along with board-certified emergency medicine physicians. For more serious pediatric injuries, the lvh-cedar crest trauma center is a certified level ii pediatric trauma center. The acuity of our ambulatory and hospitalized patients remains high, and we have developed multiple countermeasures to improve transitions of care as we focus on programs that allow patients to recover safely at home through remote patient monitoring, lvpg access coordination, or via our acute care bridge clinic, which provides appropriate care immediately post-discharge. In the lehigh valley health network, lehigh valley physician group leaders and clinicians manage 12 emergency d”

“Virtual care and telemedicine: lvpg offers a continuum of health care promotion, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment to the community. Extensive outpatient services are provided at locations throughout the region and are a part of a healthcare network established by lvpg to meet the medical and surgical needs of the residents of the lehigh valley and beyond. Lvpg serves as a multispecialty physician group, accepting referrals from an area populated by approximately two million residents of surrounding counties in eastern pennsylvania. In center city allentown, our 17th street campus provides dedicated service and care delivery to our underserved population. With over 70% of the patient population un/under-insured, these practices provide the highest quality care to patients regardless of their ability to pay. The pediatric children's clinic cares for over 25,000 children, and not only provides healthcare but supportive outreach through well integrated social support services. Other 17th street practices include internal medicine, family medicine, ob/gyn, comprehensive health services and a hepatitis care center, a medical specialties practice and a wellness center. In 2023, five of our lvpg practices completed their transformation into a federally qualified health center (fqhc) that is now called valley health partners. Their work remains tightly connected with the lvhn. The work of the valley health partners (vhp) fqhc will serve the community even greater in years to come. Educational programs and affiliations: lvpg graduate and undergraduate medical education (gme / ume) and usf-select lvpg recognizes the integral role our clinicians and ambulatory practices play in undergraduate medical education (ume), graduate medical education (gme), and our partnership with usf for the select program (scholarly excellence, leadership experiences and collaborative training). Additionally, lvhn and lvpg-l serve as core clinical campus settings for philadelphia college of osteopathic medicine (pcom). Through the support of our outstanding clinician-educators, we can deliver exemplary undergraduate medical education programs, as well as residency, and fellowship program offerings. Under the leadership of many lvpg physicians, the educational programs are integrated into the clinical model of our medical group. The embedded structure coupled with a direct 'learning at the bedside' approach allows our educational programs to flourish. Lvpg physicians serve as the primary faculty for the lvh residency and fellowship programs. Lvpg provides continuing medical education (cme) to its physicians and allied health personnel as well as to physicians in the community through various educational programs offered during the year. Lvpg also conducts extensive clinical in-service and continuing education for nursing personnel. In addition, our undergraduate and graduate medical education participants conduct research in their capstone course alongside lvpg clinicians. Research: our members are engaged in investigator-initiated clinical trials, health studies research and community-based participatory research that has resulted in extramural funding from a variety of prestigious organizations including the national institutes of health, the health resources and services administration, and the agency of healthcare research. As a member of vizient, lvpg physicians and apcs have been an integral part of lvhn's leading the nation in several key hospital outcome performance metrics, demonstrating our commitment to excellence. In addition, lvpg is nationally recognized for producing quality outcomes competitive with the top healthcare institutions across the country. Patient and community education programs: community health and wellness - lvpg physicians and providers are dedicated to health and wellness through patient educational programs, community engagement, nutritional counseling, and chronic illness management. We focus on diabetes, obesity, asthma,”

“Service innovation and improvement efforts: lvpg has continuously improved access to care for all the populations we serve. Through an iterative series of improvements, lvpg continues a journey to improve patient access through schedule analysis, review, and optimization. In addition, emphasis is placed on leveraging our entire workforce and their clinical time as well as our virtual platforms. To enhance our ability to care for patients and to meet our "service promise," inter-practice scheduling was implemented across similar clinical areas. Leveraging our geographic regions, patients were able to be scheduled in local offices if their home practice did not have access. This scheduling model allows our staff to meet a patient's clinical needs in their desired timeframe. Patient satisfaction remains a significant area of focus. Our survey system (nrc) has provided our practice leadership with more real-time information for performance and service recovery. Routine reports are sent to practices / providers, providing feedback along with resources for improvement. Communication coaching is given to providers with opportunity to improve. We have instituted the relationship centered communication program as an educational offering in supplement with the partners in caring initiative. In addition, lvpg uses transparent provider star ratings and posting of direct patient comments online. Lvpg has been recognized as a top performer for patient satisfaction scores across medical groups nationally. Lvhn has continued to promote innovation in our care delivery model. One major innovation, live for five years, was the creation of the econsult program. This new tool allowed lvpg providers to pose patient-specific, non-urgent questions to their specialist colleagues in multiple disciplines. Requesting providers receive feedback within three working days. The model allows for interdisciplinary patient care without requiring the patient to travel for a face-to-face visit unless clinically indicated. The requests and recommendations are formally embedded within the emr and become part of the legal medical record. Lvpg's dedication to our community and the patients we serve remains paramount to our mission and future goals. Community health needs assessment (chna): a chna report examines the factors impacting people's health and wellness in a particular geographical area. The chna report provides an overview of the current state of health in the region and identifies potential areas of concern that can inform the design of clinical programs. These reports are generated annually and are reviewed by lvhn executive leadership at each campus. Population health needs are prioritized based on the community's input and lvhn's ability to make a difference on those initiatives. Next steps include developing strategies to address prioritized health needs which will be presented in lvhn's chna implementation plan.”

“Lehigh valley physician group (includes lehigh valley, hazleton, schuylkill, and pocono) reports annually (as part of lehigh valley health network) the amount of community benefit provided during the fiscal year. A summary of the costs incurred follows: medicare shortfall the medicare shortfall of $ 111,770,131 is the difference between medicare payments and the cost of providing patient care. This combines traditional medicare and medicare managed care. Medical assistance shortfall the medical assistance shortfall of $ 19,900,670 is the difference between medical assistance payments and the cost of providing patient care. This combines traditional medical assistance and medical assistance managed care. Uncompensated charity care uncompensated charity care at cost was $ 3,502,222. This total does not include bad debt. Lehigh valley physician group's determination of inability to pay differentiates charity care from bad debt. Bad debt lehigh valley physician group's bad debt at cost was $ 13,082,680. Bad debt is determined by either ability to pay but unwillingness to do so, or is the result of no determination of charity or bad debt status. Real estate taxes the amount of real estate taxes paid on owned and leased property by lehigh valley physician group was $691,898. Total - $ 148,947,601”

“Transfers to/from affiliates 159,849,440.”

“The audit committee of the board of trustees assumes responsibility for oversight of the audit and selection of an independent auditor.”