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Appleton, Wis. (2/27/2012) -  Affinity Health System, Children's Hospital of Wisconsin and ThedaCare are creating a new organization to provide outpatient child and adolescent mental health services. Catalpa Health is being formed to provide seamless, accessible, collaborative behavioral and mental health services.
"The current approach to providing mental health services for children and adolescents in the Fox Cities is not optimal," said Daniel E. Neufelder, president and CEO of Affinity Health System. "Our current model is fragmented with limited access to care and not financially sustainable. It was time to think differently about our collective approach to care."
The 2006 LIFE study showed that the community needs to focus on children's mental health, and in response, Affinity, ThedaCare, and Children's Hospital of Wisconsin began collaborating. That led to the Fox Valley Children's Mental Health Center. The 2011 LIFE study confirmed that a need still existed, and in February 2011, Neufelder along with Dean Gruner, MD, president and CEO of ThedaCare and Peggy Troy, president and CEO of Children's Hospital and Health System, formed a committee to lead a strategic planning process to take the next step in addressing the community's pediatric mental health care needs.
The process led the committee to form Catalpa Health, a stand-alone entity that will provide outpatient services including: individual and group therapy, psychological and neuropsychological testing, medical management (psychiatry) and prevention services for the local public schools. Inpatient behavioral and mental health services will continue to be provided by St. Elizabeth Hospital.
"It was clear from the start we needed to create a single, unified entity to provide the full continuum of pediatric mental health services," said Dr. Gruner. "Catalpa Health is our response to the desire to find better ways to serve the mental health care needs of children in the Fox Valley."
"We set lofty goals and we believe we can achieve them," said Troy. "We are absolutely committed to increasing the number of children and adolescents whose behavioral/mental health care needs can be served. Catalpa Health will allow us to improve access to all levels of mental health care, eliminate duplication and improve operational effectiveness and create tighter connections with schools and community agencies."
Catalpa Health is focused on:
- Providing consistent best practices across the care continuum
- Creating a common electronic medical record for outpatient services
- Removing insurance barriers and other barriers to care
- Improving the ability to attract, retain and develop talented physicians, providers, management and staff
Community representatives have been involved in defining the scope of the challenges, helping develop recommendations and helping engage the community in fundraising efforts.
A board of directors for Catalpa Health has been named. There are three board members representing each of the three partners and one from each organization must be a community member. Board members to date include:
- Travis Andersen, president, St. Elizabeth Hospital
- Larry Donatelle, MD, vice president of medical affairs, St. Elizabeth Hospital
- Tom Schmidt, executive chairman, U.S. Venture, Inc.
- Mary Downs, executive director, ThedaCare Behavioral Health
- John Edwards, MD, pediatrician, ThedaCare
- Dave VanderZanden, former president and CEO, School Specialty, Inc.
- Mary Hosmer, director, Children's Hospital & Health System Foundation, Inc.
- Tim Klunk, executive director, Children's Hospital of Wisconsin
- Marne Keller-Krikava, vice president of strategy and business planning, J.J. Keller & Associates, Inc.
A search has begun for a president and CEO for Catalpa Health and is expected to be completed in April. Catalpa Health will employ approximately 21 providers and 15 support staff.
Physicians and staff from the three organizations will be transitioning to the new organization over the next few months. A facility search currently is also being conducted and it is expected Catalpa Health will be fully operational by Jan. 1, 2013.
A sustainable funding model draws on community and other support to provide long-term access to care and quality outcomes. Catalpa Health is dependent upon community support for referrals and funding. Fundraising efforts are being led by Children's Hospital and Health System Foundation with support from the St. Elizabeth Hospital Foundation, Mercy Health Foundation and the ThedaCare Foundation.
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About Catalpa
Catalpa Health provides a full continuum of outpatient behavioral and mental health services to children and adolescents in the Fox Valley. A collaboration of Affinity Health System, Children's Hospital of Wisconsin and ThedaCare, Catalpa Health provides comprehensive, community-based care to children. Catalpa Health relies on community support and fundraising efforts are being led by Children's Hospital and Health System Foundation with support from the St. Elizabeth Hospital Foundation, Mercy Health Foundation and the ThedaCare Foundation.
Affinity Health System, a faith-based regional health care network, sponsored by Ministry Health Care, is the Fox Valley's second-largest employer, according to the Fox Cities Chamber of Commerce & Industry. For the fourth consecutive year, Affinity has been named one of the nation's top 64 health systems based on clinical performance according to Thomson Reuters, a leading provider of information and solutions to improve the cost and quality of health care. For 10 consecutive years, Affinity Health System has been named to the SDI (formerly Verispan) Integrated Health Network Top 100, an annual assessment of the 100 most highly integrated health care networks in the nation. Both St. Elizabeth Hospital in Appleton and Mercy Medical Center in Oshkosh rank among the top one percent of hospitals nationwide in terms of quality and efficiency, as determined by the 2007 Premier | CareScience Select practice National Quality Award. Network Health Plan has achieved Excellent accreditation status from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), the highest possible level. It has been nationally ranked in the Top 50 Health Insurance Plans for five consecutive years in the U.S. News and World Report/NCQA Best Health Plans in America listing. Members of Affinity include Mercy Medical Center and Mercy Health Foundation, Oshkosh; St. Elizabeth Hospital and the St. Elizabeth Hospital Foundation, Appleton; Affinity Medical Group, a regional network of 26 family practice and specialty clinics – 23 of which are recognized as NCQA Level III medical homes, the highest level of recognition – in 14 communities; Calumet Medical Center, Chilton; Network Health Plan, Menasha; and Affinity Occupational Health.
Children's Hospital of Wisconsin is the region's only independent health care system dedicated solely to the health and well-being of children. The hospital, with locations in Milwaukee and Neenah, is recognized as one of the leading pediatric health care centers in the United States, named one of America's Best Children's Hospitals by U.S. News & World Report. Children's Hospital provides primary care, specialty care, urgent care, emergency care, community health, foster and adoption services, child and family counseling, child advocacy, family resource centers, research and fundraising. In 2010, the health system invested more than $105 million back into the community to improve the health status of children through medical care, advocacy, education and pediatric medical research. For more information visit the website at chw.org.
ThedaCareTM is a community health system consisting of five hospitals: Appleton Medical Center, Theda Clark Medical Center, New London Family Medical Center, Shawano Medical Center, and Riverside Medical Center in Waupaca. ThedaCare also includes ThedaCare Physicians, ThedaCare Behavioral Health, ThedaCare At Work and ThedaCare At Home. ThedaCare is the largest employer in Northeast Wisconsin with more than 6,175 employees. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
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