Valor Voice

Valor Healthcare's Employee Communication

Top News for

Our Valued Colleagues

Issue 13 | April 2023

Table of Contents

Message from Leadership

Bell Seal Award

CBOC Spotlights

People & Culture

Talent Acquisition

Career Training

eQM Mentors and PACT

Behavioral Health

IT Updates

Business Development

Leadership Spotlights

Facilities Update

Employee Anniversaries

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A Word FROM DR. WISe

Happy April, Valor Colleagues!

I’m excited to introduce Dr. Kimberly Perry as Valor Healthcare’s new Chief Medical Officer.

In addition to her medical degree, Dr. Perry also holds both a Masters in Health Administration and a Masters in Business Administration. She has worked in many areas of healthcare including not-for-profit, managed care, emergency medicine and primary care, and has served in executive leadership roles for several healthcare organizations. Among many other attributes she brings to Valor, Dr. Perry is both experienced with, and has special interest in, data analytics and population health generally and Power BI specifically. Other areas of professional interest and expertise include the clinician experience, the patient experience, financial performance, and provider and staff engagement.

Welcome to Valor Healthcare, Dr. Perry!

Scott C. Wise MD, MBA

President and CEO

Valor Earns Bell Seal for Workplace Mental Health

We are proud to announce that Mental Health America (MHA) has awarded Valor Healthcare the 2022-23 Platinum Bell Seal for Workplace Mental Health! The Bell Seal for Workplace Mental Health is a first-of-its-kind workplace mental health certification that recognizes employers that strive to improve employee mental health and create a psychologically safe workplace for all. As a Bell Seal recipient, we join a community of leaders who transform the workplace environment into more supportive and healthier spaces where employees can thrive.

Dr. Wise recognizes that an investment in employee mental health is an investment in the organization’s financial, social, and emotional health.

Certainly, this was no easy feat, and we wish to thank our Engagement Committee (Clinical, HR, and Operations Departments) for completing the application process and highlighting our efforts. Our work in the following areas served to determine our Platinum certification:

Our Bell Seal status is a testament to the positive workplace culture you have helped us create here at Valor Healthcare, and we thank you for that. We encourage you to celebrate this significant accomplishment and reflect on the Bell Seal principles and how we can continue upholding them together. Championing workplace mental health is an evolving journey. However, investing in your well-being remains a firm commitment for the leadership team, and we appreciate the trust you have placed in us to continue transforming our work culture. If you would like to provide suggestions or have questions about the benefits and programs we offer, please email benefits@valorhealthcare.com.

CBOC SPOTLIGHTS - ReGION 2

Region 2 would like to welcome the following colleagues to the Valor Team

Danielle Brookman, RN, CA | Tompkins CBOC

Abigail Evans, PACT LPN | Oswego CBOC

Rebecca Sharp McMillen, NP | Jamestown CBOC

Kris Nelson, RN | Jamestown CBOC

CBOC SPOTLIGHTS - ReGION 2

Lockport

Lockport CBOC hosted a VA Open House on 3/3/23. The event was well attended by Veterans, with over 50 in attendance.

Participants included: VSO, VBA, Enrollment, Whole Health, WNY Heroes, Connected Care/MHV, Low Vision, Suicide Prevention Team, Community Engagement & Partnership Program, Vet Center, VFW, Timothy Wright with the Fiduciary Hub, Walt Koch – Senior Caseworker for Congressman Brian Higgins.

Veterans were provided with snacks and goodies. Signage was provided that thanked the Veterans for their service. The event was well received.

CBOC SPOTLIGHTS - ReGION 4

Cookeville

We are delighted to share a heartwarming message that was recently received by one of our own, Janette Kinkade CA, from the Cookeville CBOC.

It came from a distinguished author who also happens to be the grandson of Sergeant Alvin York, a World War I Medal of Honor. The author gifted Janette with a personally inscribed book containing this remarkable message, which she received with much appreciation.

We are thrilled to see the positive impact Janette has had on those around her.

Congratulations, Janette!

CBOC SPOTLIGHTS - ReGION 7

Durango

Durango CBOC staff/Veterans with their Easter goodies

From left to right:

• Greg, VSO, he was a Navy Seal (30 yrs.)
• Cody, MA, he was in the Army (10 yrs.)
• Sylvia, Social Worker, she was in the Army (7 yrs.)

I just wanted to take a minute to brag on my team here at the Durango clinic. We were recognized this morning at the VA in Albuquerque by their ELT (executive leadership team) and Service Chiefs at their 0915-huddle meeting with our celebration of our veteran's 100th birthday!

April Recognitions

• Thanks to the leadership of Stephanie Maturino-Nix, we have successfully completed our scheduling audit and finished at 100%
  
• Path and Lab, Dr. Coffman, Cristal Everett, Terraih Martinez, and Dr. Michael Reyes for successful AABB inspection
  

Shawna Shilaikis and the Durango CBOC staff threw a birthday party for one of Dr. Gruber's patients who turned 100. The Veteran and his son really enjoyed it, he liked the balloon and was waving it around.

CBOC SPOTLIGHTS - ReGION 7

Denton

Katherine Anderson

Denton CBOC’s March winner for “You got Gnomed”

Kathy has been a loyal member of the Denton team for six years. She is the regular MOR stationed at the front check in desk, and is known as the face of the Denton team. Our veterans love Kathy!

Brooks Snow, RN, CPPS Recognized as a Certified Professional in Patient Safety (CPPS)

On March 25, 2023, The Certification Board for Professionals in Patient Safety (CBPPS) recently recognized Brooks Snow, RN, CPPS, of Roosevelt Utah as a Certified Professional in the field of Patient Safety (CPPS).

“Earning this credential attests to Brook’s professional competency in patient safety science and application,” said Patricia McGaffigan, RN, MS, CPPS, President, CBPPS. “This achievement demonstrates his expertise in this critical discipline and positions him among those committed to and leading patient safety work.”

Brooks earned this credential in part by passing a rigorous, evidence-based examination that tests candidates on their competency in patient safety science and application. Brooks is currently employed as Quality Management Nurse Manager and Clinic Administrator, Roosevelt, Utah with Valor Healthcare. With the conferring of certification Brooks is privileged to use the CPPS credential.

Brooks has been the QM RN Nurse Manager since 2017 and is dedicated to his field. Please join us in congratulating Brooks on his hard work and dedication to his role as Quality Management RN and his recent certification in Patient Safety!

About CBPPS

The Certification Board for Professionals in Patient Safety (CBPPS) was established by the National Patient Safety Foundation (NPSF) as a separate organizational entity in 2012. Effective May 1, 2017, NPSF merged with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI). CBPPS was created to advance, standardize, and promote patient safety knowledge competencies for health care professionals. To this end, successful completion of the rigorously designed Certified Professional in Patient Safety (CPPS) exam attests to candidates’ knowledge of essential patient safety competencies, upon which time the board confers the CPPS credential. Those attaining the CPPS designation represent a group of committed professionals from across health care who are determined to advance the patient safety field and make the health care system safer for all.

NEEDS YOUR HELP

Local Recruiting

We need your help! Please keep your eyes and ears open for any recruiting efforts being done in your immediate areas. If your local VFW is having a job fair, if your county fair has advertising space, if your local hospital system is offering $50,000 sign-on bonuses, we want to know! Do you have any ideas on how to attract talent in your area? Or nationwide? Are we missing a source?

Please email any news or suggestions to Carole at carole.franklyn@valorhealthcare.com.

COLLEAGUE REFERRAL PROGRAM

Refer a friend, and you may be eligible for the following bonus!

See the Colleague Referral Bonus policy on SharePoint for more details.

Visit ValorHealthcare.com/careers for more details and to see all of our current openings.

Employee relations

Happy Spring everyone.

The Employee Relations division of Human Resources has certainly been busy this month.

We welcomed our newest member of the team, Lacey Cook who began orientation in March and hasn’t slowed down since she started.

Partnered up with Iva Armstrong the Employee Relations team, led by Kathleen Arlinsky, is working hand in hand with Operations to create efficiencies, collect and share useful data and lend internal subject matter expertise in areas such as policy review, training opportunities, and compliance issues. Working with a focus on our strategic initiatives of Engagement, Retention, Trauma Informed, JEDI and Profitability, the employee relations team has begun working with their respective CBOC Regions to expand the reach of Human Resources to support all of our colleagues.

Iva Armstrong is the ER Specialist assigned to Regions 1, 3, 4 and 6, while Lacey is working with Regions 2, 5 and 7. You can always reach our team through the HR inbox at hr@ValorHealthcare.com.

leadership development

Valor Healthcare was honored to be invited to participate in a Beta Test with our leadership development partner, Franklin Covey on April 6, 2023. Twenty of our senior CBOC leaders actively engaged in an all-day training entitled “Leading at the Speed of Trust.” The purpose of the partnership in this opportunity was to provide Franklin Covey with real world responses to their developmental program. Valor Healthcare benefited as trust is the foundational piece of all relationships and this course provided insight and tools to enhance the use and broaden the understanding of the significance of employing trust skills as a leader.

In addition to the incredible course content, the highlight of our day was that our facilitator was Kory Kogon. Franklin Covey Vice President and bestselling author Kory Kogon is a world-renowned productivity expert.

She is the lead author of the Wall Street Journal bestseller The 5 Choices: The Path to Extraordinary Productivity, as well as Project Management Essentials for the Unofficial Project Manager, and Presentation Advantage. Kory’s passion is helping leaders understand that their main job is to inspire people to volunteer their best efforts to achieve extraordinary results.

On May 31, 2023 Valor Healthcare will continue this partnership with Franklin Covey by participating in a course entitled “Working at the Speed of Trust.” This course will allow twenty of our Clinic Administrators to learn and share their input in this test setting facilitated by Franklin Covey.

We will update you with the results of our partnership in a future edition of the Valor Voice.

Quilt of Valor

By: Kathleen Arlinsky

This month I want to share with you a very personal honor that was bestowed upon my husband, Harris D. Arlinsky. On March 19, 2023, Harris was awarded a Quilt of Valor. A Quilt of Valor® (QOV) is a quality, handmade quilt that is machine or hand quilted. It is awarded to a Service Member or Veteran who has been touched by war. The Quilt says unequivocally, “Thank you for your service and sacrifice in serving our nation.”

To use the term Quilt of Valor, Quilts of Valor or QOV, the quilt must be a specific size, must have a label with required information, it must be awarded (it is not a gift) and it must be recorded.

Harris has had an illustrious career serving our great nation. During the Vietnam War, Harris served in the Special Forces as a Green Beret for two tours.He would go on to retire from the Army, serve in a civilian capacity in intelligence through the cold war and beyond and end his career in counter terrorism.

Harris was nominated for a quilt of Valor by one of his cousins, Gayle Omansky, who served as an Army nurse. A quilter herself, once notified that Harris was to be a recipient, Gayle requested that she be allowed to make the quilt to be awarded to Harris. The picture to the left is the actual QOV.

The history of the Quilt of Valor is interesting in its own right. Quilts of Valor Foundation began in 2003 with a dream, literally a dream. Founder Catherine Roberts’ son Nat was deployed in Iraq.According to Catherine:

The dream was as vivid as real life. I saw a young man sitting on the side of his bed in the middle of the night, hunched over. The permeating feeling was one of utter despair. I could see his war demons clustered around, dragging him down into an emotional gutter. Then, as if viewing a movie, I saw him in the next scene wrapped in a quilt. His whole demeanor changed from one of despair to one of hope and well-being. The quilt had made this dramatic change. The message of my dream was: Quilts = Healing.

The model appeared simple: have a volunteer team who would donate their time and materials to make a quilt. One person would piece the top and the other would quilt it. I saw the name for this special quilt: it was Quilt of Valor, a QOV.

From the beginning, Catherine Roberts had definite ideas about standards of excellence for Quilts of Valor:

I knew a Quilt of Valor had to be a quality-made quilt, not a “charity quilt.” A Quilt of Valor had to be quilted, not tied, which meant hand or machine quilting. It would be “awarded,” not just passed out like magazines or videos, and would say unequivocally, “Thank you for your service, sacrifice and valor in serving our nation.”

On March 19, 2023, surrounded by family and friends, Harris received the honor of a Quilt of Valor.

Valor Healthcare honored Harris with a challenge coin, the accompanying certificate and a personal note from Dr. Wise – one soldier to another, along with a lovely floral arrangement. This was a very special day made even more so by the support of our Valor Healthcare family.

eQM Mentors + PACT = Success

Valor takes pride in sharing eQM scores not only with our VA partners but also as we grow in other Service Lines. With that in mind, we are excited to announce a new mentor program to help Valor achieve that mission.

Dr. Sweigart, Dr. Sarma, and Dr. Perryman have all graciously accepted roles as Interim Area Medical Directors and have agreed to be eQM Mentors. In the next few days, our Mentors will reach out to providers who, through PACT Audit Report (PAR) scores, have been identified as candidates for the mentorship program.

This program is designed to help provide PACT teams with the tools and resources needed to effectively assist in improving clinical quality scores to reflect the high quality of care Valor provides. The goal of this program is to take a deep dive into processes, procedures and patient care outliers based on eQM scores.It is our plan to utilize currently developed training materials and gather lessons learned along the way to ensure all colleagues are successful.

Please be on the lookout for communication from one of the Interim Area Medical Director’s listed above. We are excited about this mentorship program!

Trauma Informed Care Update

As we begin the second quarter of 2023, it’s important that we maintain our focus on the goals we set for ourselves in 2022. During the Trauma Informed Care (TIC) training last year, we talked about working on internal resilience and developed a work plan to address all the recommendations received from colleagues around the country.

This “nothing about me without me” approach ensures that executive leadership meets the needs and desires of colleagues in a meaningful way.

Below, please find some of the specific actions taken by leadership that are a direct result of your feedback and recommendations.

As leaders continue to implement the workplan and review recommendations, I am confident you will see additional actions taken because of your feedback and input. If you missed the email in January, please find the entire TIC report, which has links to the recommendations and workplan, here: 22TICYearEndReport.pdf

IT Updates

Valor's IT is spearheading the development of a cutting-edge capability that will revolutionize the way clinics operate by enabling seamless and efficient communication of appointment reminders to esteemed Veterans through text messaging technology.

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

By: Sabittin Yelken

Valor is pursuing several opportunities across the Federal Government Healthcare space with a diverse set of government partners. The BD team would like to highlight a few of our government partners. We are expecting Request for Proposals (RFPs) to be released over the next few weeks and are diligently working on capture strategies. We are excited to be partnering with some leading healthcare companies to assemble a strong team and position Team Valor as a trusted partner for the execution of these exciting programs.

LEADERSHIP SPOTLIGHT

Christine Collins | Clinical Program Director

CAPT Christine R. Collins, MA, BS, BSN, RN, a Registered Nurse with 30 years of clinical practice ranging from direct patient care to executive clinical and hospital program management. She brings a versatile nursing career which includes 28-years of active and reserve duty with the United States Air Force and United States Public Health Service. As a 14-year Air Force veteran, CAPT Collins served in both enlisted and officer capacities. She completed her Air Force career as a trauma critical care nurse serving in the Afghanistan War, saving the lives of our armed service members and coalition forces.

CAPT Collins served as the Chief of National Federal Patient Movement, where she led the National Disaster Medical Service’s Federal Patient Movement program through partnerships with State, Local, Territorial, and Tribal leaders under the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response. She developed and implemented the first Aeromedical Evacuation (AE) and Critical Care Air Transport (CCAT) training program which lead to the creation of HHS’s first AE and CCAT Teams and served as vital assets to the HHS Secretary during the inaugural AE flight moving 3,002 evacuees during the historic COVID-19 repatriation mission in 2020.

Previously, CAPT Collins worked as the Director of Operations and acting Chief of Staff for the United States Surgeon General. During her tenure with the Office of the Surgeon General (OSG), she served 3-Senate

confirmed Surgeon’s General and two acting Surgeon’s General. She developed, implemented, and evaluated program efficacy and operations within OSG, which encompassed the United States Commissioned Corps Headquarters and the Nations Doctor.

CAPT Collins joined the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps in 2009, where she started her career with the Indian Health Service, stationed in Tuba City, Arizona. CAPT Collins served as the lead clinical nurse manager to the adult urgent care clinic, providing critical services to more than 19,000 patients per year.

CAPT Collins was born and raised in rural Miami, Arizona. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in health care services from the University of Colorado, a master’s degree in business-Organizational Management and a second bachelor’s degree in nursing from Grand Canyon University. Retiring in 2022, Collins continues to serve her military roots through supporting our veterans with Valor Healthcare in the position of Clinical Program Director.

LEADERSHIP SPOTLIGHT

Jay Pearson | Director of Capture and Program Development

Mr. Raymond “Jay” Pearson joined Valor Healthcare as the Director of Capture and Program Development reporting to our EVP of Strategy.

Mr. Pearson is a seasoned Sr. Portfolio and Program Manager who has led capture, development, and execution for large contracts in the Federal markets, including Navy, Air Force, and Department of State. A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, upon commission in the U.S. Navy, he joined the Surface Warfare community, where he served on two ships, USS Long Beach in San Diego and USS Stout in Norfolk. His eight years of service also include two years as a training advisor living in the Middle East and as the aide to a Four-Star Admiral.

Upon separating from the US Navy, Jay joined a large consulting firm to embark on a career supporting US Security Cooperation efforts across DOD services and Federal Government organizations. He earned his Master’s in Business Administration (M.B.A.) from Johns Hopkins University and brings a wealth of experience in both capturing & developing, and executing federal government programs, domestically and overseas. Jay was raised just outside of Minneapolis, MN, and currently resides in Washington, D.C., with his wife, Lauren.

USS Long Beach

USS Stout

FACILITIES UPDATE

Ryan Case

We are excited about several new and ongoing facilities projects stemming from new wins. Below is a list of facilities projects we are currently working on:

• Stuart, FL will be the first of the five WPB clinics to begin renovations on 4/17.
• SW San Antonio will be submitted for permit on 4/20.
  
• New Danville clinic is scheduled to open on 5/1.
• Facilities will be rolling out a new facilities maintenance work order program on May 4th.Please stay tuned for further updates.
• Cookeville, TN renovation construction will be completed on 5/10, with EOC rounds on 5/19, followed by the Mini Grand Opening 5/26.

MAY Employee Anniversaries

Congratulations to our colleagues celebrating a milestone anniversary. We appreciate your service.

suggestions or questions?

Reach out via email: communications@valorhealthcare.com