Accomplishments

The Hospital of Central Connecticut First in the Northeast to Use New Spinal Surgery Guidance System

The Hospital of Central Connecticut (HOCC) became the first hospital in the Northeast to use the Globus ExcelsiusGPS, a new, sophisticated surgical guidance system for spine procedures.

The ExcelsiusGPS brings an even greater level of precision to surgeons performing spine surgery and the patients they serve. The first robotic-assisted navigation system used by surgeons during a procedure in real time, it is designed specifically to make surgery safer and help surgeons ensure a more precise placement of implants and hardware. The minimally invasive technology makes for less blood loss, less muscle damage, and a faster recovery.

HOCC Awarded for Clinical Excellence

For the third year in a row, The Hospital of Central Connecticut (HOCC) was recognized for high-quality care by Healthgrades, an online resource for information about physicians and hospitals.

Healthgrades named HOCC as a “Distinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence.” HOCC also received “The Pulmonary Care Excellence Award,” which recognizes hospitals for superior outcomes in treating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and pneumonia. This was the second consecutive year HOCC received this award.

Advanced Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine Services at HOCC

The Advanced Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine Center at The Hospital of Central Connecticut has a newly expanded home on the New Britain campus. The center is now located at 5 Highland Street, providing convenient access for patients.

The New Britain location offers the most advanced therapies, products, and practices to the community. The new center includes two hyperbaric chambers, a transcutaneous oximeter, and six treatment rooms, allowing staff and physicians to treat more patients and heal difficult wounds. While most treatment is provided on an outpatient basis, patients with more aggressive non-healing wounds can use specialty devices to care for them at home.

HOCC Counseling Center Opens in Southington

The Hospital of Central Connecticut Counseling Center in Southington officially opened on May 21. The center, at 98 Main St., offers intensive outpatient mental health and substance abuse programs, including medication-assisted treatment and outpatient group and individual therapy. The team includes a nurse practitioner and two licensed clinical social workers. The renovated space includes two group rooms and two individual session offices. This project was supported by a generous grant of $54,000 from the Bradley Henry Barnes & Leila Upson Barnes Memorial Trust at the Main Street Community Foundation.

Hybrid Procedure Room Opens at HOCC

A new hybrid procedure room opened in June on The Hospital of Central Connecticut campus to improve clinical efficiency and effectiveness. A multidisciplinary team is able to treat patients who have a wide range of vascular issues and irregular heart rhythms in an advanced environment. The multidisciplinary team is made up of specialists in cardiology, infectious disease, wound care, interventional radiology, podiatry, plastics and endocrine. Vascular surgeons, electrophysiologists and invasive cardiologists are able to perform procedures guided by real-time images and technology provided by the hybrid procedure room. The state-of-the-art suite allows the hospital to take on a larger number of cases while reducing the average length-of-stay for patients.

Hartford HealthCare HealthCenter Opens in Southington

The Hartford HealthCare HealthCenter in Southington, which opened at 462 Queen St., is a 48,000-square-foot facility that expands access to convenient health care for the residents of Southington and neighboring towns. Services include primary care; endocrinology; The Hospital of Central Connecticut Rehabilitation Network; medical weight loss; nephrology; bariatrics; dermatology the Center for Healthy Aging; and the Ayer Neuroscience Institute, specializing in neurology, epileptology, neurosurgery, neurodiagnostics, and neuropsychiatry.

Connecticut Orthopaedic Institute at MidState Celebrates First Year

The Connecticut Orthopaedic Institute at MidState Medical Center marked its one-year anniversary in April. It is home to 52 orthopaedic surgeons from across the state.

Since opening, the institute has treated more than 4,200 patients. The average length-of-stay is 1.1 days for total knee and hip replacement patients, better than national benchmarks. Most patients are able to go home directly from the hospital, avoiding a stay in a rehabilitation center. The readmission rate is around one percent, indicating best practices are being used and patients are recovering well after they go home.

MidState Bariatric Services Receive Clinical Excellence Award

The American College of Surgeons (ACS) Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program (MBSAQIP), in partnership with the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS), awarded MidState Medical Center with a Comprehensive Center accreditation. This accreditation acknowledges MidState’s commitment to providing and supporting quality improvement and patient safety efforts for metabolic and bariatric surgery patients. MidState met essential criteria for staffing, training, facility infrastructure and protocols for care, ensuring its ability to support patients with severe obesity.

MidState Receives Cardiovascular Rehabilitation Certificate

MidState’s Cardiovascular Rehabilitation Program received re-certification from the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation, which recognizes programs that offer the most advanced practices available. This program is designed to support people who have cardiovascular health issues by helping them recover and improve their quality of life using experience, education, and counseling.

Hartford HealthCare Breaks Ground in Cheshire for New Health Center

The Cheshire Planning and Zoning Committee approved of a state-of-the-art 49,000-square foot facility on South Main Street that will provide residents of Cheshire and surrounding towns access to a wide range of Hartford HealthCare services. The health center, which will open in 2019, will offer a wide range of outpatient services in one centrally located facility. Services include primary care, dermatology, endocrinology, neurosciences, rehabilitation, cardiology and full-service imaging. There will be space in the health center to add additional services based on needs of the community in future evaluations.

Hartford HealthCare Teams with GoHealth to Open 14 Urgent Care Centers across Connecticut

Hartford HealthCare-GoHealth Urgent Care opened a Bristol location in August – the third in the Central Region and the 14th in the state since May 2017. Meriden and Southington also have GoHealth locations. The urgent care centers are operated jointly by Hartford HealthCare and GoHealth Urgent Care, which manages over 50 urgent care centers in New York, the Portland (Ore.) metropolitan area and the San Francisco Bay area. Hartford HealthCare-GoHealth Urgent Care centers are staffed by physicians and physician assistants, radiology technicians and medical assistants. Urgent care centers are a less-expensive alternative to emergency rooms for patients who need immediate care for conditions that are not life-threatening, such as colds, flu, fever, asthma, allergies, emphysema, minor skin lacerations, cuts, and burns.

Central Region Wound Care Centers Celebrate Healogics Awards

MidState Medical Center and The Hospital of Central Connecticut (HOCC) received awards for clinical excellence from Healogics, the nation’s leading and largest wound-care management company. The Advanced Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine Center at HOCC won its second Center of Excellence Award and the center at MidState won its third for clinical metrics in 2017. Both wound care centers achieved patient satisfaction scores higher than 92 percent and had a healing rate over 91 percent in less than 30 median days, for a minimum of two consecutive years.

HOCC and MidState Get Stroke Care Awards

The American Heart Association and American Stroke Association recognized The Hospital of Central Connecticut (HOCC) and MidState Medical Center for their stroke care services. HOCC’s New Britain and Bradley campuses received the Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Gold Plus award, which reflects inpatient core measures, and the Target: Stroke Elite Plus award. MidState received a Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Silver award and their first Target: Stroke Elite Plus award. More than 75 percent of stroke patients received tissue Plasminogen Activator (tPA), an FDA-approved treatment for ischemic strokes, within 60 minutes of arriving at the hospital. This treatment is used to dissolve clots in the blood stream and return oxygen and nutrients to the brain through the previously blocked blood vessel, which can save lives and reduce the long-term effects of stroke.

New Breast Surgeon Hides Scars in Certain Breast Surgeries

Dr. Camelia Lawrence, Central Region director of breast surgery, became certified to perform hidden-scar surgery, which places incisions in areas – such as the edge of the areola, the inframmamary fold, or the armpit – where scarring won’t be visible after the incisions heal. The technique can be used either with a mastectomy, where surgeons remove the entire breast (allowing for a nipple-sparing mastectomy), or a lumpectomy, where surgeons only remove a small portion of the breast. The surgery is as effective as a mastectomy or lumpectomy, without leaving the lasting scars. It does not change the rate of recurrence as compared to more traditional methods and it doesn’t require additional treatments beyond what already may be warranted. While not all women are candidates for this approach, most patients can benefit. Candidates are based on the size and location of the tumor, breast shape, and breast size. However, with this improved technology, more and more patients are becoming eligible for this type of procedure.

Central Region Leads HHC in Hand Hygiene

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), hand hygiene is the most important infection prevention measure to prevent hospital-acquired infections. Diseases and conditions such as MRSA, C. Diff and influenza can be eliminated or reduced by a simple and thorough hand-washing.

The Central Region led all Hartford HealthCare regions in 2018 with the highest hand hygiene scores by implementing hand hygiene education, accountability programs and hand sanitizer dispensers outside of each patient room for staff to use when entering and exiting the room.