Pennsylvania Hospital’s extensive history of medical innovation began at its founding. In response to increasing cases of physical and mental illness in Philadelphia in the 18th century, PAH founder Thomas Bond initiated the idea of creating a facility to treat these populations – becoming the first hospital in the nation. Since we broke ground, we’ve continued to break barriers and cultivate a culture of innovation, adopting new ideas and technology to better our patient care and hospital operations.
As health care professionals, we are invested in our patients’ health and safety, and because of that, we invest in new, innovative programs to advance our quality of care. It is a mission that is embraced at PAH and was even discussed by Daniel Feinberg, MD, at the November Becker’s Hospital Review panel “Striking the Balance Between Financial and Quality Initiatives.” As our Chief Medical Officer, he investigates and determines opportunities for enhancing patient care at the hospital.
One of Dr. Feinberg’s initial ideas in this role was launching our palliative care team nearly a decade ago. This team was recruited and trained for specialized care, enhancing quality of life for individuals living with serious illnesses. As a result, PAH is able to better serve these patients and reduce their lengths of stay at the hospital, transitioning them to comprehensive care plans that could be conducted in the comfort of their homes.
More recently, Dr. Feinberg collaborated on the system-wide initiative Penn Medicine Connects, which is featured in this month’s System News. This patient outreach program hopes to reduce readmissions and increase patient satisfaction, maintaining connections with patients via text messages or calls to check in on their health following discharge from the hospital.
Despite being a historical hospital, we never dwell too long on our past. We are always poised to move forward and discover the next best practices and procedures for PAH, and I look forward to the innovative ideas that will shape our future.