Becker's Hospital Review

38 T he American Medical Association is one of the largest physician lob- bying groups in the United States with the goal of "promot[ing] the art and science of medicine and the betterment of public health." Here are 10 things to know about the AMA. 1. The AMA is one of the oldest, longest-standing medical associations in the United States. The AMA was founded in 1847 by Nathan Smith Davis, a 30- year old physician who was serving in the New York Medical Society and pro- posed establishing a national medical association. Dr. Davis received his Doc- tor of Medicine degree at the age of 20 from the Medical College of Western New York. Throughout his professional life, Dr. Davis attended 47 of the first 50 annual AMA meetings, serving as president from 1864 to 1865. He was also named the first editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1883. In current day, the AMA awards the "Dr. Nathan Davis Awards for Oust- anding Government Service" recognizing elected officials and government em- ployees committed to contributing to the advancement of public health. 2. Dr. Ardis Dee Hoven is the current president of the AMA. Dr. Hoven is the 168th president of the AMA, a position she assumed in June 2013. She has served on the AMA board of trustees since 2005, serving as secretary for 2008 to 2009 and chair for 2010 to 2011. Prior to serving on the board of trustees, Dr. Hoven held a member and chair position on the AMA Council on Medi- cal Service, served on the AMA Foundation board of directors and the Group Practice Advisory Council of the AMA and was appointed to the Practicing Physicians Advisory Commission. Before serving the AMA, Dr. Hoven was president of the Kentucky Medical Asosciation from 1993 to 1994, and she served as a delegate to the AMA from Kentucky. Dr. Hoven is board-certified in internal medicine and infectious disease and is a fellow of the American College of Physicians and the Infectious Disease Society of America. 10 Things to Know About the American Medical Association By Akanksha Jayanthi C arolinas HealthCare System, based in Charlotte, N.C., is the larg- est vertically integrated healthcare system in North and South Carolina. Here are 10 things to know about Carolinas Health Care System. 1. Carolinas HealthCare System is comprised of more than 900 care loca- tions, including academic medical centers, hospitals, physician practices, sur- gical and rehabilitation centers, home health agencies and more. In total, the system has 7,460 licensed beds and 60,000 full- and part-time employees. It is the seventh largest nonprofit system in the country based on number of acute-care hospitals (35). Additionally, Carolinas HealthCare System owns 24 urgent care clinics — only three health systems in the country own more. 2. Carolinas HealthCare System can trace its roots back to 1876, when women from a local church came together to open the state's first civilian hospital. During World War II, the federal government recognized the expertise of specialists at the third iteration of the hospital, Charlotte Memorial, and in- vited the hospital to organize the country's first overseas wartime unit not associated with a medical school. 3. Since 2002, Carolinas HealthCare System has been led by CEO Michael C. Tarwater, MBA. He is one of the highest-paid nonprofit health system CEOs in the country — in 2013, he earned about $4.9 million in total compensa- tion. Nine other Carolinas HealthCare System executives earned in excess of $1 million last year as well. 4. The system's annual budget is more than $7.7 billion. As of Sept. 30, 2013, the system's operating income was $60.5 million, down from $102.9 million the previous year. According to Mr. Tarwater, the public system is facing fi- nancial stressors from both North and South Carolina state governments' refusal to expand Medicaid under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as well as the delay of the Act's employer mandate, both of which mean the level of uninsured patients the system cares for will not decrease. 5. Carolinas HealthCare System is expanding its presence nationally through management agreements with other hospitals nationwide. Or- ganizations with management contracts with Carolinas Health Care Sys- tem include Greensboro, N.C.-based Cone Health and Cleveland County HealthCare System. 6. Through the work of its Dickson Advanced Analytics department, Caro- linas HealthCare System is able to harness the power of big data to improve patient care. The department analyzes clinical data to provide actionable in- sights on both a patient and population level and create predictive models to help the health system anticipate population health trends. The system is one of the first in the country without a provider-sponsored health plan to combine clinical and claims data to improve health. 7. The health system's focus on using data to improve care can be seen in the expansion of its executive team — Carolinas HealthCare System hired its first CMIO, Brent Lambert, MD, in 2010 and its first CNIO, Nancy Olson, RN, in 2014. 8. The Transplant Center at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte is one of the busiest in the state, averaging more than 100 referrals each month. The center is also one of only a handful in the country with its own hos- pital-based organ procurement program, which can reduce waiting times for patients. 9. In 2010, Charlotte Medical Center was designated the official Charlotte, N.C., campus for the Chapel Hill-based University of North Carolina School of Medicine. The medical center currently works with third- and fourth-year medical students, and has plans to increase the number of medical students in its program in an effort to alleviate the local physician shortage. 10. To become a leader in cancer care, Carolinas HealthCare System began the Levine Cancer Institute in 2010, a 13-location network throughout the health system designed to improve and standardize care as well as improve patient access to specialists, support services and clinical trials. n 10 Things to Know About Carolinas HealthCare System By Helen Gregg

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