Connect with Encompass Health

Artificial intelligence is all the buzz lately, but how are healthcare providers using it to enhance patient care and outcomes? In this episode of Connect, Dayle Unger, clinical IT advisor for Encompass Health, and Andy Lueders, senior manager and lead consultant with Oracle Cerner, discuss how the two companies partnered together to create some of the first predictive analytics models in the post-acute care space. Using AI and machine learning, the models utilize data from Encompass Health's EHR to help reduce hospital readmissions and falls while in the inpatient rehabilitation setting. They also offer insights into implementing models such as these and getting buy in from clinicians. After all, the models, they both note, are designed to support clinical decision-making, not replace it. 

Healthcare is always evolving, but as a clinician, how do you keep up and implement change in a method which is science-based and beneficial to your patients? It's a challenge most healthcare professionals face, but it can be overcome. In this episode of Connect, Cheryl Miller, vice president of therapy operations, shares how her team puts evidence-based research into everyday practice at Encompass Health rehabilitation hospitals. Also, learn how Encompass Health is contributing to evidence-based research in the inpatient rehabilitation space through its therapy grant program.

What does it mean to have a patient-centered IT department? In this episode of Connect, Encompass Health's Darren Freeman, vice president of corporate systems and business intelligence, and Jake Knight, associate director of business intelligence data warehouse, discuss with host Mary Ellen DeBardeleben how IT plays a critical role in patient care at Encompass Health. The proprietary platform developed by their team, Beacon, helps support clinicians in caring for patients by taking data from various sources and visualizing them in an easy-to-read manner to tell a greater story and identify trends to improve patient care at the hospital and company level.

When Dawn Rock's mentor and supervisor approached her early in her career to help start a compliance department from the ground up, Rock recalls thinking, "That sounds terrible." But her mentor challenged her to grow and try something new. Today, Rock is the chief compliance officer for Encompass Health. Had it not been for her mentor pushing her, Rock said she would not be in the role she is. In this episode of Connect, Rock talks with host Mary Ellen DeBardeleben on the importance of mentors and being open to new opportunities, as well as why you should embrace your differences.

Lynne Lee is Encompass Health's vice president of risk management. She has been with the company for nearly 20 years, but before that she was an emergency department nurse. During the two decades she served as a nurse, Lee continued her education. She has not one, but two masters, as well as a law degree. In our latest episode of Connect, learn how she managed working and getting an education, as well as what it's like to be the point of contact for more than 30, 000 employees during a global pandemic.

Renee Tyree was an active college student well on her way to becoming a doctor when an illness left her paralyzed from the waist down. Well before the Americans with Disabilities Act, her dreams of becoming a doctor were crushed, but she didn't give up. Tyree is now the director of pharmacy for Encompass Health's West region. In this episode of Connect, she and host Mary Ellen DeBardeleben discuss Tyree's journey after her disability, which includes earning not just one medal, but three, from the Paralympics, as well as a successful career in healthcare, even though many told her she should give up.

From a pandemic to staffing shortages, the healthcare field has faced its challenges the past few years. So, why go into healthcare now? In this episode of Connect, our host Mary Ellen DeBardeleben talks with Encompass Health President and CEO Mark Tarr and Charmaine Blanchard, our chief nursing officer in Stuart, Florida, on the challenges healthcare workers face, but also on why the field offers a wide variety of opportunities to grow your career while also helping others when they need it the most.

At some point, all clinicians have found themselves in the midst of a challenging interaction with patients. While it can be tempting to write these patients off as “difficult,” it is important to understand the factors that may be driving a patient’s behavior—and the clinician’s reaction. Liz Bilderback, psychosocial counselor, shares insight as to what mental struggles these patients may be facing, how to empathize with them and manage these difficult interactions, and strategies to assess your own stress levels.

ABOUT LIZ BILDERBACK

 Liz Bilderback has a master’s degree in clinical psychology with a specialty in neuropsychology. She has been the coordinator of the stroke and brain injury programs at Encompass Health Rehabilitation Hospital of San Antonio since it opened in 1988. Liz has a long career educating and counseling patients with depression and chronic pain.

ABOUT ENCOMPASS HEALTH

As a national leader in integrated healthcare services, Encompass Health offers both facility-based and home-based patient care through its network of inpatient rehabilitation hospitals, home health agencies and hospice agencies. 

With a national footprint that includes more than 135 rehabilitation hospitals, more than 240 home health locations, and more than 80 hospice locations in 39 states and Puerto Rico, the Company provides high quality, cost-effective integrated healthcare. Encompass Health is ranked as one of Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For.

For more about Encompass Health, visit our blog at blog.encompasshealth.com.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed our lives in many ways. While some of these may one day subside, some may stick around after the pandemic—especially in healthcare. Dr. Lisa Charbonneau, chief medical officer of Encompass Health, outlined the lasting changes that could remain and improve healthcare in a recent blog article. In this episode of Connect with Encompass Health, she dives deeper into those topics, including an increased focus on mental health of clinicians, importance of open communication and more.

ABOUT DR. CHARBONNEAU
Elissa (Lisa) Charbonneau, D.O., M.S., was appointed to chief medical officer of Encompass Health in June 2015. Prior to that role, she served as the company’s vice president of medical services. From 2001 to early 2015, she served as medical director at New England Rehabilitation Hospital of Portland, a joint venture of Maine Medical Center and Encompass Health, where she held a staff physician position at the hospital since 1992. She served on numerous committees at Maine Medical Center, where she was head of the Division of Rehabilitation Medicine. In 2020, she was recognized as one of Modern Healthcare’s 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives. Dr. Charbonneau received her doctor of osteopathic medicine from New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine, a master’s degree in natural sciences/epidemiology from the State University of New York at Buffalo and a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University. She is a diplomate of the American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and of the American Osteopathic Board of Rehabilitation Medicine.

ABOUT ENCOMPASS HEALTH
As a national leader in integrated healthcare services, Encompass Health offers both facility–based and home–based patient care through its network of inpatient rehabilitation hospitals, home health agencies and hospice agencies. 

With a national footprint that includes more than 135 rehabilitation hospitals, more than 240 home health locations, and more than 80 hospice locations in 39 states and Puerto Rico, the Company provides high quality, cost-effective integrated healthcare. Encompass Health is ranked as one of Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For.

For more about Encompass Health, visit our blog at blog.encompasshealth.com.

In this episode of Connect with Encompass Health, Lisa Little, CNO at Encompass Health Mechanicsburg, shares lessons she’s learned as a nurse leader during the COVID-19 pandemic. She discusses how her hospital prepared and responded to the virus, addressing employee’s safety and mental health. Little also shares her tips for helping nurses feel confident and connected, while also providing advice for nurses who are taking a deeper look at their career paths.

ABOUT LISA
Lisa Little serves as chief nursing officer at Encompass Health Rehabilitation Hospital of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. She brings experience from all aspects of the healthcare field including pre-hospital and family medicine, emergency, telemetry and medical/surgical nursing, as well as case management. She has her associate’s degree in nursing from Harrisburg Area Community College and her bachelor’s degree in nursing from Kaplan University.

ABOUT ENCOMPASS HEALTH
As a national leader in integrated healthcare services, Encompass Health offers both facility–based and home–based patient care through its network of inpatient rehabilitation hospitals, home health agencies and hospice agencies. 

With a national footprint that includes more than 135 hospitals, more than 240 home health locations, and more than 80 hospice locations in 39 states and Puerto Rico, the Company provides high quality, cost-effective integrated healthcare. Encompass Health is ranked as one of Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For.