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 2023 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 august 16, 2022 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 august 16, 2022 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 22, 2022 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 $2.0 billion and $9.0 billion (median of $3.2 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, 2023 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 mark”

“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.”

“Spirit clinic lvhn started its first post-icu recovery clinic in january 2022. Up to half of all icu survivors have post-icu syndrome (pics), which consists of new or worsening cognitive, physical, or behavioral deficits that persist after discharge to home. This syndrome is often unrecognized and frequently remains untreated. The spirit (successful post icu recovery interprofessional team) clinic at lvhn is a multidisciplinary team including a pulmonary/critical care physician, clinic coordinator crnp, critical care pharmacist, physical and occupational therapists, and a social worker. The patient and their loved ones meet with each team member to review the details of their icu stay, review medications, receive medication teaching, receive screening for persistent deficits and other symptoms of pics, and then are referred to the appropriate resources. This service is available to the majority of icus at the cedar crest and muhlenberg sites, also providing video visits when needed for patients who were transferred from outlying campuses. Lvhn's critical care staff members also benefit from the program: spirit patients often send a message of gratitude (via video, pictures, or handwritten notes) back to the bedside care team, providing a much-needed boost in morale. Sleep medicine program the sleep medicine section of pulmonary and critical care provides comprehensive sleep care by a team of physicians and apcs. The network currently has 10 sleep center locations (3 outpatient and 7 home testing sites) and completes more than 8,000 sleep studies annually, including both in-lab and home-based studies. In-laboratory testing occurs at lvh-17th street, health center at bethlehem township, and the lvh-hazleton sleep labs. Sleep physicians care for patients with obstructive sleep apnea, complex apneas and respiratory failure, restless legs, insomnia and rem sleep behavior disorder as well as co-management with ohns/ent of surgical sleep patients. The sleep clinician team offers patients a wide variety of locations for evaluation including outpatient sleep and pulmonary medicine sites at lvh-17th street, health center at bethlehem township, lvh-cedar crest, lvh-muhlenberg, and health center at palmer township. They also provide a robust video visit component to sleep care for patients in our surrounding areas. Sleep medicine has grown its scope of practice this year with the launch of the inspire program and a new multidisciplinary conference with ohns to review surgical sleep patients. The departments have collaborated on a qi program for the inspire program which received regulatory approval in the spring 2023 and is growing quickly, with over 150 dedicated inspire consultations performed by our team in the last six months. Sleep medicine has also developed a partnership with women's health with the recent irb approval of pregnancy and sleep apnea feasibility study aimed at testing and treating pregnant women for osa. Our pulmonary sleep team is also growing a relationship with dental medicine to provide patients with alternatives to cpap in select patients. Fleming memory center at fleming memory center, our team of geriatricians offer comprehensive memory services to geriatric patients impacted by dementia and other forms of cognitive decline. The program provides team-based care to patients and their caregivers/family members, offering dedicated support and focused education about dementia and related disorders. Services include a thorough evaluation by a geriatric expert with a preceding comprehensive psychosocial interview with a family member. These patients and families are also offered supportive services like caregiver education, caregiver support group engagement and memory support team program. Our team of education specialists and nursing navigators also assist in connecting caregivers with appropriate resources in the community and regional office of aging. We have recently introduced the caregiver scholar program whic”

“Neurosciences: lvpg physicians provide treatment for stroke, brain tumors, aneurysms, spine disorders and degenerative neurological disorders in the areas of neurology, neurological surgery, neuropsychology, interventional neuroradiology, and neuro oncology. Lvh onboarded the first mobile stroke unit (msu) in pennsylvania, which allows stroke patients to begin rapid treatment before hospital arrival, such as initiating clot busting medication or reversing coagulopathy. The availability of neuroimaging on the msu allows precise triage and routing to an appropriate level of stroke center and prevents the intra-facility transports that can delay arrival to the comprehensive stroke center. In addition to the above services, other programs include a neuromuscular disease program, an als center, a neuroimmunology/multiple sclerosis program, an epilepsy program and monitoring unit, a headache center, movement disorders program, general neurology program and multiple subspecialty multidisciplinary programs including neurocardiology and neurology in pregnancy, as well as programs in functional neurosurgery, pediatric neurosurgery, and augmented/virtual reality for neurosurgical planning. - region's 1st neuro-ophthalmology clinic opened, devoted to the diagnosis and management of neurologic disorders affecting eye and vision movements. This clinic is under the supervision of drs. Casey judge and negar moheb, both fellowship-trained in neuro-ophthalmology. - launched a multidisciplinary muscle disease clinic co-directed by drs. Alissa romano and alison walsh, designed to diagnosis, and manage muscle diseases with collaboration among physicians and rehabilitation specialists from several specialties. - hoffman family deep brain stimulation program welcomed a nurse navigator who provides important education and support to movement disorder patients as they travel through the process of preparing for dbs surgery. - the als center is part of the healey platform trial centered at massachusetts general hospital and was recognized as a top enroller, being ranked 6th out of 57 international enrolling sites. - the mobile stroke unit (msu) expanded its ems partnerships to include topton ems, which expands the reach of the msu. Currently, there are only 20 programs in the country that operate msus, which provide patients earlier access to advanced stroke care during emergencies. - across lvhn, we have responded to over 2,000 stroke alert emergencies in the last year with average intervention times of 40 minutes, which is well below national benchmarks and performance. - the laboratory accreditation board reaccredited the cedar crest eeg neurodiagnostic lab for 5 years. The lab received the initial accreditation in 2007 and is based on quality and compliance with established required standards. - all lvhn certified stroke center campuses were recognized with awards for quality care in the 2023 best hospitals exclusive rankings for stroke hospitals. These accolades extend beyond what is required for certification and recognizes 24 months of consecutive performance. - the cedar crest comprehensive stroke program was named a healthgrades 2024 stroke care excellence award winner. - the neuroscience institute was ranked high performing in us news and world report for neurology and neurosurgery. - educational initiatives include an acgme-accredited neurology residency and acgme-accredited fellowships in vascular neurology, clinical neurophysiology, and neurocritical care. 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 includ”

“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 (high-risk) medicine, and pelvic reconstructive surgery. Clinical programs in general obstetrics and gynecology include a maternity care pathway, 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. 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 neighboring hospitals as well. Cancer services: lvpg provides medical care and leadership within the lehigh valley topper cancer institute (lvtci). Lvtci is comprised of 7 hospital-based locations with 121 infusion bays, 4 radiation therapy departments with 8 linear accelerators, and breast health services in 6 health centers and one mobile coach. A new building for the cancer center opened 2023 in hazleton. Lvcti offers a range of cancer services in one convenient, patient-focused location. Cancer care services include prevention, detection, diagnosis, therapy, clinical trials, rehabilitation, and the evaluation of cancer-related care. Infusion therapy services are offered consistently across the region we serve, including in the newly opened hecktown oaks and carbon locations. Lvcti is a member of the memorial sloan kettering cancer alliance, which provides patients with even more lifesaving care options and access to more advanced clinical trials. Cancer support services at lehigh valley topper cancer institute are a significant part of the patient experience. Services provided by cancer support services include nurse navigation, social work, counseling, nutrition, and genetics. The nurse navigation program consists of oncology certified nurses who serve as a link between the patients and the healthcare team. The gregory & lorraine harper cancer risk and genetic assessment program is realizing year over year growth in the utilization of genetic screening resources. Cancer not only affects physical health but mental health as well and there is an extensive social work team to assist with transportation, referrals, prescription assistance, mental health/substance abuse referrals and grant funding support. When a patient requires additional coping support, there is a dedicated behavioral health therapist in the surgical oncology office for in-person or virtual consultations. Dietitians are available to work with the patient to manage dietary needs during and after treatment. Lehigh valley institute for surgical excellence: lvpg physicians, advanced practice clinicians and allied health providers perform comprehensive, coordinated surgical care and provide services in specialties such as: bariatric surgery, burn surgery, cardiac and thoracic surgery, general surgery, neurosurgery, ophthalmology, orthopedic surgery, otolaryngology, pediatric otolaryngology, pediatric general surgery, pediatric urology, pediatric plastic, pediatric neurosurgery, plastic and reconstructive surgery, surgical oncology, transplant surgery, trauma surgery, urology and vascular surgery. In addition, our surgeons serve as the program director and core faculty for the general surgery residency program. In the past year, surgical volumes at lvh-cedar crest and lvh-muhlenberg were 48,405 cases. Over this past year there were >100 organ transplants, including”

“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 continue to be the region's only children's er staffed with board-certified pediatric emergency physicians, along with board-certified emergency 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 that provides appropriate care immediately post-discharge. In the lehigh valley health network, lehigh valley physician group leaders and clinicians manage 10 emergency departments, as well as providing inpatient care at all those locations. Of the 10 new emergency departments, 5 have been opened in the last 3 years in lehigh, northampton, carbon, and lackawanna county. Our performance in hospital mortality and sepsis care is in the top decile as benchmarked by the vizient database. The visit volumes at our campuses were record setting, while maintaining quality measures such as improved clinical care, pathway order set compliance and improved throughput and efficiency. The lehigh valley health network emergency departments saw approximately 327,681 visits in fy23, which is an increase of 42,577 visits compared to fy22. This increase is due to new lvhn facilities that serve our community, as well as other volume and efficiency interventions. To support this higher volume, we hired 22 emergency medicine physicians and 11 apcs in fy23. Our inpatient clinicians (hospital medicine) saw 203,781 visits in fy23, with noticeable growth at our northampton and carbon locations. In fy23 we hired 27 hospital medicine physicians and 11 apcs. 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.s 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. To support our emergency medical service community, we have developed multiple partnerships with our ems colleagues across our region. We have the region's premier paramedic program where our lvpg clinicians provide education, medical direction and real- time advice to our partners. Virtual care transformation (telemedicine): catalyzed by the covid-19 pandemic, lvhn and lvpg undertook transformative and impactful actions. The lvpg clinical footprint was quickly expanded to include virtual care offerings, including video visits, phone visits, and e-visits. This virtual model has continued to expand and is now part of basic service offerings, allowing any appropriate encounter to be performed”

“The diabetes and metabolic center - lvhn opened a dedicated diabetes and metabolic center in 2023, incorporating the prior helwig center resources. The team continues to be 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 and ambulatory pharmacists, 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 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”

“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 $113,296,404 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 $13,762,428 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 $3,634,370. 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 $11,197,365. 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 $696,055. Total - $142,586,622”

“Transfers to/from affiliates -12,888,544.”

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