Becker's Hospital Review

15 EXECUTIVE BRIEFING 4 EXECUTIVE BRIEFING acquisition dramatically expanded City of Hope's geographic footprint and increased care capacity to over 134,000 patients treated in 2022. As part of this transformation, Dr. Trisal emphasized, "The promise to patients is that no matter what door they come in from, they will get excellent care." Operating as "One City of Hope" For the first year that CTCA was under the City of Hope umbrella, the locations in Atlanta, Chicago and Phoenix continued to operate under the CTCA brand. During this time, those locations went through various legal and administrative processes to begin functioning as nonprofit organizations. Also during this time, City of Hope broadly extended its wealth of knowledge, expertise and know-how to all locations with the objective to achieve care delivery that is consistent, integrated and of the highest quality. This required a systemwide EHR integration, which is scheduled for completion in 2023, care standardization and increasing connections between CTCA and City of Hope clinicians through joint tumor boards. Today, CTCA is integrated with City of Hope as part of "One City of Hope." This is far more than a rebrand; it is one cohesive and collaborative organization. "We aim to have no daylight between what City of Hope does in Duarte or in Chicago or Atlanta or Phoenix," Dr. Trisal said. "Our objective is to deliver consistent care at each site." An important area in which City of Hope has extended its expertise to benefit patients at the organization's newest locations is in the diagnosis and treatment of complex cancer cases. Dr. Trisal explained that in addition to standard oncology services that City of Hope offers throughout its clinical network, patient cases are being presented at joint tumor boards, where national experts provide education and insights on complex cases, such as unique carcinomas, sarcomas and genetic mutations, to provide the best care across all locations. Through these joint tumor boards, City of Hope physicians can tap into the knowledge and extensive experience of specialists and subspecialists throughout the system to collaboratively come up with the best diagnosis and treatment option for each patient. "We are applying these learnings in Phoenix, Atlanta and Chicago," Dr. Trisal said. "That is directly benefiting patients." Another benefit of working as one, collaborative organization — "One City of Hope" — is working toward extending participation in the organization's many clinical trials to benefit even more patients across more geographies. A relentless focus on quality City of Hope recognizes that the concept of quality does not have one narrow meaning. For many patients, quality means how quickly they can be seen and how quickly they can get to treatment. According to Dr. Trisal, quality also relates to making the correct diagnosis, treating patients with the most appropriate therapeutic approach and delivering care in a holistic, deeply patient-centered way that humanizes the care experience and reduces treatment-related toxicities. Because of the importance of quality, City of Hope has spent extensive time defining what matters and how to measure it. To assess the organization's level of quality and to constantly improve the care that is delivered, City of Hope has developed what it calls "7 x 7 quality metrics." These are seven metrics that measure in-patient quality and seven separate metrics for outpatient quality. Metrics include areas such as patient experience, infection, complications, pressure ulcers, readmissions and end-of-life care. The next 100 years Dr. Trisal said City of Hope will continue to focus on delivering excellent, compassionate care. The organization will also work to expand access to care by providing treatments to even more patients, increasing participation in clinical trials and continuing to accelerate development of innovative treatments. They are also recruiting more physicians and adding operating room capacity to be able to take care of even more patients. City of Hope will continue to be recognized as one of America's leading cancer research and treatment organizations, delivering unprecedented patient-centric care, training the next generation of elite scientists and clinicians and engaging in innovative, leading-edge research and clinical trials. During the past few years, City of Hope has expanded its research capabilities into precision medicine through its affiliation with TGen and extended its reach through its acquisition of CTCA. These initiatives give City of Hope the ability to provide even better treatments to more patients across more geographies. City of Hope's enhanced national system will positively impact more patient lives by connecting people to the innovation and expertise available at a comprehensive cancer center. In the last century, City of Hope built a reputation as a world leader in the research and treatment of cancer and other serious diseases. As the organization continues to advance care and extend its reach, this legacy is poised to continue another hundred years.

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