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 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 and the lvhn corporate legal counsel. Draft 2 of the returns is reviewed by the executive vice president & 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 reviewed with the lvhn board leadership group (the board chair and three vice chairs). Copies of all 990's 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 2022 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 september 2, 2021 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 september 2, 2021 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 21, 2021 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 $1.8 billion and $7.6 billion (median of $3.0 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 2021 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, 2022 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”

“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.”

“Econsult program: as part of the econsult program, lvpg clinicians can pose non-urgent questions regarding their patients to their specialist colleagues across multiple disciplines. Requests and recommendations are formally incorporated into the emr and are included in the patient's medical record. The availability of specialists across the ambulatory landscape is thus enhanced. 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 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 continue to be the only children's er staffed with board-certified pediatric emergency physicians, along with board-certified emergency physicians. For more serious injuries, the lvhcedar 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 transitions-of-care "bridge clinic" that provides appropriate care immediately post-discharge. In the lehigh valley health network, lehigh valley physician group providers manage 10 emergency departments, as well as providing inpatient care to 4 of those locations. Of the 10 new facilities, 4 have been opened in the last 2 years in lehigh, northampton, carbon, and lackawanna county. Our performance in hospital mortality is in the top percentile as benchmarked to the vizient database. The visit volumes at both cedar crest and muhlenberg were record setting, while maintaining quality measures such as improved clinical care and pathway order set compliance. The lehigh valley emergency departments saw approximately 284,463 visits in fy22, which is an increase of 49,809 visits compared to fy21. This increase is due to new lvhn facilities to serve our community, as well as a return to pre-covid volumes, possibly driven by patients addressing deferred care. To support and address the overdose crisis within our community, the division of medical toxicology continues to provide care via a medication for addiction treatment & medically managed detoxification inpatient consult service. This group of board-certified medical toxicologists and addiction specialists, along with a team of certified recovery specialists, manage overdoses, withdrawal syndromes, and identify individuals who are appropriate for the initiation of medication for addiction treatment with medications such as buprenorphine (subutex, suboxone) or naltrexone (revia or vivitrol) for substance use disorder (sud). Medication to support recovery is then maintained across the entire continuum on an outpatient basis, including referrals to the lehigh valley health network inclusion health recovery care/center of excellence, to the lvhn obstetrics connections program for pregnant women with substance use conditions, and to community partnering organizations that provide support with counseling and rehabilitation on an outpatient and inpatient basis. Express care: within lvpg-lehigh there are 13 expresscare locations. Our expresscare locations provide immediate walk-in care to the community. Walk-in appointments are available for common illnesses and minor injuries, such as sprains, cuts, rashes, seasonal allergies, flu symptoms, bronchitis, ear infections, sore throat, fever and more. In addition, expresscare offers coverage for routine school physicals and follow up vaccinations to allow for patient convenience. In fy22, expresscare locations provided more than 251,000 visits to our community, consistently increasing year over year. This clinical care model is a lower cost, easy access alt”

“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, hypertension, and cancer screening. Patient engagement in lvpg is addressed via the lvpg patient education oversight committee. The goal is to manage effective healthcare education through an interdisciplinary, systematic, and collaborative approach by coordinating activities which will provide consistent information and outcomes for our patients, families, and caregivers. Print resources are the primary method to communicate health care instructions to patients. Interpreter services and multiple language educational documents are also available for patients as needed. Geriatric program - lvpg physicians provide guidance to the lvh geriatric program, located at the center for healthy aging at lvh. The educational offerings provide valuable information on wellness, healthy aging, and preventative care for mature populations, care giving information, holistic care of the older adult, disease control and management. These programs are delivered throughout the community and the lvh system including community organizations and agencies, the center for healthy aging, inpatient hospital rounds, help (hospital elder life program) rounds, and resident teaching rounds. Our geriatricians and nurse practitioners provide geriatric assessment in the inpatient trauma unit, the outpatient office, and the nursing home setting. The education programs are developed by physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses, and social workers. The formats include lectures, classes, screenings, and counseling sessions. The helwig health and diabetes center - the diabetes center is a recognized american diabetes association approved provider of diabetes self-management training. Services of the center include provision of outpatient pre-diabetes, diabetes and general nutrition education to patients and families, community members and health professionals in the mid-eastern pennsylvania region. Based on referral, nurse educators, supervised by lvpg physicians, assist in co-management of diabetes care. Free support groups and community education programs are provided on a regular basis. Nurse educators also provide inpatient diabetes education for hospitalized patients, their families, and all levels of health care providers involved in the hospital care of patients with diabetes. Inpatient standards of care for patients hospitalized with hyperglycemia and diabetes are developed and/or monitored by the inpatient specialists to improve patient outcomes. Pediatrics program - in collaboration with lvh, lvpg physicians and other practitioners participate in community programs to promote the health and safety of the children in our area. These include programs related to poison, fire and violence prevention, safety, and immunizations to the community. Lvpg physicians work with lvh to provide the medical evaluations for the child advocacy center of lehigh county which is a multidisciplinary response to allegations of potential child abuse. 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 new scheduling model allows our staff to meet a patient's clinical ne”

“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 $99,426,169 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 $15,686,922 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 $5,233,643. 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 $8,603,473. 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. The amount of real estate taxes paid on owned and leased property by lehigh valley physician group was $685,164. Total - $129,635,371”

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