Grand Rounds Tri-Cities July on East Tennessee Medical News

Grand Rounds Tri-Cities July

Quillen College of Medicine lauds faculty members at Convocation

JOHNSON CITY – Four faculty members with East Tennessee State University's James H. Quillen College of Medicine received honors at the 2010 Honors Convocation Ceremony held May 7 on the VA Medical Center campus.

Dr. Jill McCarley received the Leonard Tow 2010 Humanism in Medicine Award. McCarley is an assistant professor with the ETSU Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.

The Dean's Distinguished Teaching Award in the Basic Sciences was presented to Dr. David A. Johnson, professor and deputy chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

Drs. Mary A. Hooks and Fred E. Hossler each received two awards. Both received the Lamp of Learner Award as faculty hooders for the Convocation Ceremony. Hooks received the Faculty Gender Equity Award for Clinical Sciences, and Hossler received the Faculty Gender Equity Award for Basic Sciences. Hooks is a professor of surgery and Hossler is a professor of anatomy and cell biology.

MSHA wins Healthcare Marketing Report awards

JOHNSON CITY– The Mountain States Health Alliance Communications and Marketing Department received two Gold Awards, a Silver, a Bronze and four Merit awards from Healthcare Marketing Report, the nation's leading healthcare marketing publication.

The winning projects represented various hospitals and departments throughout the healthcare organization. MSHA's Niswonger Children's Hospital won Gold awards for its Admissions Packet and "Save Our Tag" campaign, as well as a Bronze award for its Kohl's Kids on the Move Get Jumping campaign, and a Merit award for its Grand Opening campaign.

MSHA also received a Silver award for a "special recruitment video production" that was shown in local movie theaters, and Merit awards for a physician recruitment campaign, a collection of brochures for Johnson City Medical Center's vascular surgery services, and a TV commercial message promoting JCMC's exclusive da Vinci robotic surgical system.

Wellmont's Director of Government Relations Accepted into Political Leadership Class

KINGSPORT—Wellmont Health System's director of government relations has been accepted as a member of the 2010 class of the prestigious Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership at the University of Virginia.

Beth Rhinehart is part of a class of 37 people that will meet monthly until December in various locations in Virginia. The program provides leadership development for Virginia residents who interested in becoming more active in public service as community leaders or elected officials.

The curriculum focuses on three main subjects: ethics in public service, public policy and campaign and advocacy skills.

Rhinehart has worked for Wellmont since 2006, serving previously as manager of community affairs and manager of government relations. She was elected a member of the Bristol, Va., school board in May and will start her four-year term in July. She is also past chairman of the St. Anne's Catholic school board.

Wellmont Receives Five Marketing Awards from National Healthcare Publication

KINGSPORT–Wellmont Health System has received five awards from Healthcare Marketing Report, including a gold award for the health system's online employee newsletter.

Wellmont was honored with a gold award, a bronze award, and three merit awards in the 27th Annual Healthcare Advertising Awards. The national competition received more than 4,000 entries.

Wellmont's marketing communications department produced all five winning entries.

Wellmont received a gold award for The eCommunication Connection, a monthly online newsletter for employees, physicians and volunteers. The health system earned a bronze award for "Gimme Three Shots," a video parody of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Gimme Three Steps" that promoted the importance of receiving seasonal and H1N1 flu shots.

Three merit awards recognized Wellmont's 2009 annual report, "The Path Forward," its 2009 television advertising campaign and its TV health news magazine, "The Wellmont Connection."

Johnston Memorial Hospital wins State Advertising Awards

ABINGDON, Va. – Johnston Memorial Hospital has won two advertising awards from the Virginia Society for Healthcare Marketing and Public Relations in the organization's Measure of Excellence Awards.

JMH received First Place for Television Advertising for its commercial "The Lab Coat" and third place for Special Purpose Publication for "Your Sleep Study."

After opening the new JMH Cancer Center in 2007, the hospital launched "The Lab Coat" in 2009 as a 30-second TV commercial designed to give the community a more intimate look into the lives of the JMH oncologists. The spot features each physician engaging in a hobby outside of work. This creative strategy was intended to show consumers that the doctors are normal, approachable members of the community who just so happen to share one common passion … fighting cancer and winning.

Your Sleep Study focused on the JMH Sleep Medicine Center and the need to improve educational materials related to sleep studies. Working closely with the center's director, staff, patients and hospital marketing staff, "Your Sleep Study" was developed. It is an educational booklet designed to answer the typical questions that patients ask as they prepare for a sleep study.

Holston Medical Group announces new HMG president

KINGSPORT–The Holston Medical Group Board of Directors is pleased to announce the selection of longtime HMG health provider, Scott R. Fowler, MD, as the Group's new president.

Fowler, a board certified physician and a regional leader who also currently serves as chairman of the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology at Wellmont's Holston Valley Medical Center, is unique in his education and experience in that he possesses both a doctorate of medicine degree (MD - Medical College of Georgia, Augusta) and a juris doctorate degree in law (JD - University of Georgia, Athens). Prior, Dr. Fowler received his undergraduate degree in philosophy and politics from Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana.

Serving HMG most recently as "Chair of HMG Legal Affairs," Fowler is an active member of the Georgia and Tennessee Bar. Most recently, he was sworn in as corporate counsel for Holston Medical Group before the Supreme Court of Virginia.

Fowler, who began with HMG in 2005 upon the merger of his successful private practice, Blue Ridge Obstetrics & Gynecology, initially re-located to the Kingsport area in 2000. It was after an extensive search of the United States, looking for one of the "best places in America to raise a family" that he and his wife, along with their children, made the move from Louisiana to Kingsport, Tennessee.

Land exchange benefits regional health systems

JOHNSON CITY—In another collaborative move between the region's two largest healthcare providers, Mountain States Health Alliance and Wellmont Health System have agreed on a land exchange that will provide each organization with property more in line with their individual strategic plans.

MSHA will be gaining 29 acres on State of Franklin Road at the intersection with Sunset Drive in Johnson City, while Wellmont will be gaining 9.29 acres at the intersection of MeadowView Parkway and South Wilcox Drive in Kingsport. Each property was professionally appraised and the two organizations paid fair market value for each.

The two healthcare systems began discussions on the swap last year as each organization realized the other's property would better suit their own strategic needs.

Rhinehart elected American College of Physicians Fellow and Achieves Certified Diabetes Educator Status

ABINGDON, Va. –Andrew S. Rhinehart, MD, FACP, CDE has been elected a Fellow of the American College of Physicians (ACP), the society of internists. The distinction recognizes achievements in internal medicine, the specialty of adult medical care.

Rhinehart was elected upon the recommendation of peers and the review of ACP's Credentials Subcommittee. He may now use the letters FACP after his name in recognition of this honor.

The National Certification Board for Diabetes Educators (NCBDE) has also announced that Dr. Rhinehart has achieved Certified Diabetes Educator® (CDE®) status by successfully completing the Certification Examination for Diabetes Educators. Candidates must meet rigorous eligibility requirements to be able to take the Examination. Achieving certification status demonstrates to people with diabetes and employers that the health care professional possesses distinct and specialized knowledge, thereby promoting quality of care for people with diabetes.

Rhinehart is medical director and diabetologist at the Johnstom Memorial Diabetes Care Center, and he also serves as the medical director and hyperbaracist at the Johnston Memorial Center for Comprehensive Wound Care. He is board certified in internal medicine by the American Board of Internal Medicine. He was also recently accepted to the Biltmore Who's Who Registry of Executives and Professionals.

Rhinehart is a member of the American Diabetes Association Professional Section and Executive Community Council, the Virginia Diabetes Council, the American Society of Hypertension, the National Lipid Association, the American Association of Diabetes Educators, and the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists.

Kingsport Community Foundation Introduces Kingsport Families Legacy Project

KINGSPORT –The Kingsport Community Foundation is empowering the people of Kingsport to turn hopes and dreams into lasting legacies.

The Kingsport Families Legacy Project is providing area residents the opportunity to establish a named fund to deliver needed support for an interest or initiative that benefits the community. By committing a minimum of $10,000 over a period of time of their choosing, Kingsport families can establish a fund to support a cause they believe in – for example, education, the arts, the environment, health care or human services.

The process to set up a Kingsport Families Legacy Project fund is straightforward. Professionals at the East Tennessee Foundation, the non-profit community foundation that provides administrative support to the Kingsport Community Foundation, are available to guide interested families through the process. All donations to a family fund are tax-deductible.

For more information, please call Terry Holley, senior vice president for programs and regional development for the East Tennessee Foundation and Kingsport Community Foundation, at (865) 524-1223 or 1-877-524-1223. Holley may also be reached by e-mail at tholley@etf.org.

New study ranks Quillen College of Medicine first in the nation for producing primary care physicians

JOHNSON CITY – A new study by a renowned professor of health policy ranks East Tennessee State University's James H. Quillen College of Medicine as the top school in the nation for producing primary care physicians and 12^th among U.S. medical schools on a "social mission" scale.

Dr. Fitzhugh Mullan, the study's lead author, is a professor of health policy at George Washington University's School of Public Health and Health Services and the author of several books on medical practice and U.S. health policy. Formerly the U.S. assistant surgeon general, Mullan and researchers at George Washington examined the record of 141 medical schools in the United States and Puerto Rico in graduating physicians who will be able to meet the primary health care needs of an expected influx of newly insured patients.

The study, which is published in the June 15 edition of the journal Annals of Internal Medicine,assigned a score to all medical schools based on their ability to meet a "social mission" defined by these criteria: producing physicians who practice primary care, who work in underserved areas, and are minorities.

The study showed that 53.5 percent of Quillen graduates went into primary care practice. ETSU and East Carolina University were the only two medical schools with more than half of graduates practicing primary care.

The findings bring attention to the role that medical schools play in determining the makeup of the U.S. physician workforce, Mullan said.

Contract Services Available for Deaf or Hard of Hearing

JOHNSON CITY—The Communications Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing provides services for people who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing under contract with Government Agencies, Businesses, Industries, Hospitals, Service Agencies, and Individuals who are in need of assistance in communicating with people who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing.

CCDHH extends its services in 11 counties: Carter, Claibourne, Cocke, Greene, Hamblen, Hancock, Hawkins, Johnson, Sullivan, Unicoi and Washington. The program of Frontier Health helps businesses comply with the Title V of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 by providing interpreter services.

The program for Deaf or Hard of Hearing also provides a 24/7 Emergency Pager. This service is for any service provider in need of an interpreter after office hours or on weekends. Contact the program via phone (423) 434-0447, fax (423) 434-0880, TTY (423) 434-0448, and Sorenson (423) 218-1215.