OSF OnCall Connect and the I-80 region are partnering to offer a new obstetric care model. Pregnant or postpartum women in Ottawa, Peru, Mendota and surrounding communities will now have the opportunity to schedule more visits virtually during their pregnancy. In addition, all I-80 patients will be eligible to enroll in the Pregnancy and Postpartum Support program that offers 24/7/365 access to an OB care team. 

I-80 patients will now be offered virtual visits at eight, 12, 19, 24, 30 and 34 weeks. The two-week postpartum visit can also be scheduled virtually. 

Visits are available seven days a week from 7 a.m.-7 p.m., offering patients additional flexibility and opportunities. Nurses on the OSF OnCall Connect team will enroll all I-80 OB patients in the pregnancy and postpartum support program at no cost, providing continuous access for questions and concerns, conducting virtual discharges and scheduling follow-up appointments. Patients will also be screened for social drivers of health such as food, transportation, housing and other supports. OSF OnCall does have a mobile unit to support pregnant-postpartum women on Medicaid who might need care brought their doorstep.

”The one-year program combines virtual visits, 24/7 digital support and in-person care to ease travel burdens, strengthen follow-up and provide a healthier pregnancy and postpartum experience,” says Kate Johnson, manager of Digital Care-Women’s Services, OSF OnCall. “We are committed to innovative solutions that keep care personal while expanding access.” Johnson adds, “Women will benefit from coordinated prenatal and postpartum monitoring and stronger follow-up, while in-person care teams will maintain key milestones and bedside care.”

The OSF OnCall Connect care team will also support post-delivery education before a woman is discharged from the hospital, making sure she has follow-up appointments scheduled, understands the need for regular blood pressure checks and offering lactation services if needed.

The research collected during the year-long pilot will evaluate outcomes, patient experiences and staff insights to guide improvements and shape patient-centered care and communications. 

B-roll-OSF OnCall Pregnancy-Postpartum support for I-80 region

Additional content re: OSF OnCall Pregnancy and Postpartum support:
24-7 connection through OSF OnCall empowers patients and improves outcomes
OSF HealthCare receives $1.5 million for new mobile pregnancy and postpartum care unit

No one wants to go to a hospital emergency department (ED), but sometimes, there’s no avoiding it.

As OSF HealthCare joins other health systems struggling with staffing shortages, it is also seeing patients without access to primary care showing up in emergency rooms and facing long waits for less serious health issues. To meet the challenge of long wait times, OSF is turning to virtual technology to move patients through their ED experience more efficiently.

Anyone coming into the hospital emergency department at OSF HealthCare Saint Elizabeth Medical Center in either Peru or Ottawa, Illinois will be triaged to determine the seriousness of their condition or injury. Patients who qualify for this time saving option for care will be taken to one of our virtual care rooms where a nurse helps establish a video connection and assists the patient with any hands-on equipment needed for a video visit with the virtual provider.

“Our virtual physician will be able to do an assessment of each patient virtually, through the use of advanced technology and the onsite nurse. They will develop an appropriate treatment plan, coordinate prescriptions, and a follow up care plan,” says Dawn Trompeter, president of OSF Saint Elizabeth Medical Center. “We want to offer a better experience for everyone, and qualified patients can be seen more quickly and get on the road to recovery.”

Studies also reveal prolonged emergency department wait times and length of a visit reduces quality care and increases adverse events for patients with serious illnesses. “So, the goal with introducing this new model is to improve patient care as well as our patients’ experience,” Trompeter stresses.

The virtual emergency care area is located within the hospital emergency department and includes a mobile cart equipped with two-way audio and video capabilities, making it easy to have a conversation with the remote medical provider. The mobile units have high-resolution cameras to observe symptoms or injuries more closely.

A nurse or medical staff member will assist with completing the patient assessment using the advanced digital tools on the mobile units that allow the virtual doctor to hear a patient’s breath and cardiac sounds or look more closely into the patient’s eyes and ears, just as they would do if they were physically in the room.

“We will work together to take care of patients with the same high standard of care given by our in-person physicians,” says Benjamin Kemp, MD, the lead physician for virtual emergency care.

If at any time the care team thinks someone needs to be seen in person by a doctor, they can be immediately transferred to the traditional ED.

“If a patient requires care that is too complex for virtual interaction, we will easily and seamlessly work with the in-person team to get the great care patients deserve,” Dr. Kemp emphasizes.

OSF is using several innovative approaches to reduce ED wait times and improve the overall experience, including using virtual behavioral health clinicians to make sure people with mental health issues are seen within the target goal of one hour. Additionally, research is underway to see if predictive modeling using artificial intelligence can help match staffing with surge times.

B-roll of Virtual ED

The OSF HealthCare Advanced Practice Provider (APP) Fellowship program is adding emergency medicine to the list of tracks for fellows.

The OSF HealthCare APP Fellowship is accredited with distinction as an Advanced Practice Provider Fellowship Program by the American Nursing Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation in Practice Transition Programs.

The 12-month program has more than a 97% graduation rate and offers 100% of graduates a permanent position within OSF HealthCare. The robust, cutting-edge APP Fellowship program at OSF is among the most mature of all health systems in the country.

The APP fellowship program focuses on professional growth by offering mentorship, regular feedback and skills assessment that build on the knowledge fellows learned in graduate school. At the end, they are more prepared to transition into full-time practice. OSF HealthCare is also leveraging federal grant money to extend primary care support to high-need communities with vulnerable populations, using resources such as OSF Care-A-Vans to support street medicine teams or on-site clinics.

The APP Fellowship curriculum stresses the importance of excellent communication with patients and colleagues. Other confidence-building exercises result in developing decision-making and other soft skills that often result in fellows advancing quickly to leadership positions within their area, region, or even across the OSF Ministry.

This new track in emergency medicine will allow fellows to rotate through a variety of emergency departments within our OSF HealthCare system, caring for different populations of patients in critical access hospitals to Level 1 Trauma Centers. Using the Jump Trading Simulation and Education Center, the program will provide hands-on skills training to equip new APPs for any situation they may encounter.

If interested in joining the APP fellowship program, please fill out the form here to receive more information.

More than a year after it closed, Peru, Illinois, has its hospital back.

OSF HealthCare Saint Elizabeth Medical Center – Peru opened its doors to the public on Sunday, April 7.

“It's definitely been an adventure,” says Dawn Trompeter, president of OSF Saint Elizabeth Medical Center. “It’s been an evolution and a lot of hard work by many people.”

The Peru hospital, which is the second campus of OSF Saint Elizabeth in Ottawa, is opening in phases. Phase 1 is completed and includes a full emergency department and two inpatient medical beds, as well as ancillary services that support the emergency department and inpatient beds including diagnostic imaging, laboratory, dietitian, pharmacy, EKG and respiratory.

The second phase, which will take place later this year, will include opening 12 inpatient beds as well as outpatient services.

The new hospital reflects a shift in health care where there is more of an emphasis on outpatient services.

“There has been an evolution of change from inpatient to outpatient services over the years, thanks to the advancement of medicine,” says Trompeter. “The key is to get the emergency department, our physician offices and clinics up and running, both in primary care and specialty, and then have those robust outpatient services as well as hospital inpatient services available here in the Illinois Valley.”

OSF HealthCare acquired the former Midtown Plaza complex, Midtown Clinic and Granville Clinic in June. Those sites opened last July and included OSF PromptCare, OSF Medical Group – Primary Care locations, OSF Occupational Health and OSF Rehabilitation.

Other new primary care locations opened in Spring Valley and Ogelsby, along with OSF Medical Group – Obstetrics & Gynecology in Peru. OSF HealthCare hired more than 450 former employees, physicians and advanced medical providers of St. Margaret’s Health to staff the hospital and other locations. 

OSF HealthCare closed on the purchase of the hospital less than five months ago, and Mission Partners (employees) got busy getting the hospital ready to open. Hundreds of Mission Partners were involved in cleaning, repairing and upgrading systems to get the Peru campus up and running.

Trompeter says the response from the Peru community has been overwhelming.

“Everyone has been so supportive, regardless of when we run into them or where we run into them,” she says. “They are very grateful and supportive of the work, for OSF coming in and opening these services back up. We're appreciative of all their support.”

Trompeter adds that as the rural health care landscape has changed across the country, OSF HealthCare has been very intentional in its planning for the future. That includes the announcement that OSF HealthCare plans to build a new OSF Saint Elizabeth hospital across the street from the current campus in Ottawa, Illinois. Construction is expected to be completed by the end of 2027.

“We are creating a sustainable health care system for years to come,” she says. “As other rural hospitals and services are closing across the nation, we feel strongly about being here to continue to serve these communities.” 

Interview Clips 

B-Roll

As part of an ongoing commitment to transform, preserve and sustain evolving health care along the entire I-80 corridor, OSF HealthCare plans to build a new inpatient hospital in Ottawa, Ill.

OSF HealthCare intends to file a Certificate of Need (CON) application with the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board to build a new inpatient hospital facility to replace the current one in Ottawa. The new hospital will be built across the street, south of East Norris Drive (Route 6), on a vacant 31-acre plot of OSF-owned land. The current OSF HealthCare Saint Elizabeth Medical Center was built in the early 1970s and is at the end of its useful life with infrastructure challenges necessitating this decision.

“Over the past decade, OSF HealthCare has sustained and grown quality health care services in and around Ottawa,” says August Querciagrossa, CEO of the Western Region for OSF HealthCare. “When the new hospital is built, it will be reimagined as levels and types of services offered are realigned throughout the I-80 corridor. Our intent across all our I-80 communities is to ensure current and future generations have access to care locally.”

OSF HealthCare expects to submit the application to the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board by the end of March with approval for the new facility anticipated by the end of 2024. A tentative opening date is expected in late 2027.

This is a multi-year plan centered on the following future-state services.

OSF Saint Elizabeth – Ottawa Campus

The new hospital will be designed with the patient at the center of the care model. OSF Saint Elizabeth-Ottawa will have a 26-bed inpatient behavioral health unit, 12 medical/surgical beds, and a state-of-the-art surgery suite, emergency services, diagnostic imaging, and robust outpatient care services. Primary and specialty care clinics, including cardiovascular care, general surgery and OB/GYN, will continue to provide services in Ottawa.

OSF is committed to growing and expanding cancer care through the Fox River Cancer Center as part of the continuum/network with the OSF Cancer Institute in Peoria and the Patricia D. Pepe Center for Cancer Care at OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center in Rockford. In addition, rehab services will be moving to the newly constructed YMCA this spring.

OSF Saint Elizabeth – Peru Campus

Due to its central location, OSF Saint Elizabeth-Peru will serve as the hub hospital within the I-80 corridor and support a full range of inpatient and outpatient services. This includes 45 medical/surgical beds, 8 ICU rooms, 11 obstetric rooms to support the regional birthing center, surgery and procedure rooms, emergency services, diagnostic imaging and robust outpatient care services.

In addition to these changes, OSF HealthCare serves residents of Mendota, Princeton, Streator, Marseilles, Spring Valley, Oglesby, Granville and Henry with a wide variety of services. “Care has advanced from traditional inpatient settings to outpatient services. These advances in medicine allow patients today to receive more efficient and effective care than previous generations experienced,” says Dawn Trompeter, president of OSF HealthCare Saint Elizabeth Medical Center. “This transformation also creates centers of excellence across various specialties, including wound care and occupational health. This is beneficial for patients because it means they are receiving focused and expert care in specific areas, ensuring better outcomes and tailored treatments for their needs, as well as recruitment and retention of high-quality clinicians and ancillary teams.”