May 20, 2022

COVID-19 update

While our hospitalizations have leveled a bit this week, we continue to see an uptick in community prevalence, which may be underreported, due to the use of home tests. As of Friday morning, our seven-day rolling positivity rate is 8.46% and we have 24 COVID-positive patients, 21 of whom remain infectious.

We hope the recent rise is a small swell in cases, rather than the beginning of a surge. It is likely that we will continue to see cycles of rising and falling cases, hopefully with each swell becoming smaller and smaller.

We have developed flexible processes and our teams are well prepared to adjust as needed to manage rising volume. Our physician groups are focusing on medication management to make sure patients have early access to antivirals and other treatments. Internally, our Employee Health team is watching closely for any signs of increased transmission among staff.

Just as we have over the last several weeks, we continue to be cautiously optimistic and we will remain prepared to protect our staff and our community.

CoxHealth named a ‘Best Place to Work’ by Modern Healthcare

For the second year in a row, CoxHealth has been selected by Modern Healthcare as one of the Best Places to Work in Healthcare. I am enormously grateful for our staff who have served their community with courage and grace in the face of this pandemic. I believe the credit for this recognition rests squarely on the shoulders of our frontline leaders. They have worked to exhaustion and with unyielding resolve to support and protect our staff, as our staff has done the same for our community.

New CARE Mobile unit to serve Springfield students

Later this year, CoxHealth will launch a new CARE Mobile unit that will provide basic health care to students in the Springfield Public Schools system. Kids will have access to hearing and vision screenings, immunization and flu clinics, sports physicals and well child exams.

I am grateful for the partnership with Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals that has made this expansion possible. The new unit is in addition to our existing CARE Mobile, which will continue providing health care services for adults and children in 26 counties across the Ozarks.

DNV survey update

We hosted surveyors from DNV-GL at Cox Branson and Cox Barton County this week for our accreditation survey. The surveyors praised our teams, making note of our transparency, our people and the culture of the organization. I am proud of the outcome of our surveys and I am grateful to see surveyors recognize the excellence and dedication of our staff and frontline leaders.

MU Medical School faculty awards

The MU Medical School Springfield campus presented its faculty awards this week, to 11 physicians recognized for their work with medical students. This year’s honorees included eight CoxHealth physicians: Drs. Will Moore, Brian Biggers, Arijit Chowdhury, Anthony Bentley, Shelby Hahn, Nagib Chowdhury, Melissa Gaines and Benjamin Lisle. I am proud of our CoxHealth recipients for their commitment to medical education.

A special ‘thank you’

I want to extend my sincere thanks to Board Chair Rob Fulp and our entire board and leadership team who joined me for my final Board meeting on Thursday evening. The kind comments felt like Tom Sawyer going to his own funeral. I have been moved by how many people have taken the time to reach out over the last few months. I will never be able to find the right words to share my gratitude to this organization that has offered me so much opportunity. It has been an unbelievable journey!

Voice of the patient

From patient feedback at Cox Barton County Emergency Department: “Everyone was very professional and courteous. I highly recommend these doctors and nurses to anyone.”

Thank you for all you do,
Steve

Direct Line from Steve Edwards for 5/20/22