By Susan Elise Campbell
The strategic focus of Jill Johnson VanKuren since she took over the helm of Saratoga Hospital as president and CEO in September 2022 has been on establishing a Center for Successful Aging that meets the needs of the community’s growing population of seniors. At some time during the third quarter of 2024 the Hospital will be switching over to a new electronic medical records system that VanKuren said “will provide the backbone” for a comprehensive center that brings together services supporting seniors along a continuum of care throughout the aging process.
“Albany Med is about to start their implementation of a new medical records system in the first quarter,” VanKuren said. Then affiliates under the Albany Med Health System will follow.
Saratoga Hospital is slated to integrate its records around October, she said, and “that is the Hospital’s main focus for this year.”
“This implementation has actually been several years in the making for us,” according to VanKuren. “It is more difficult than one might think to transition to a new EMR on face value, much less to do it as a large system with many different perspectives melding into one.”
But for VanKuren, the change means more than just coming under an improved EMR that reaches across the entire Albany Med network, she said.
“It’s the basis of my strategy as a new leader in developing the Center for Successful Aging,” said VanKuren. “This is a collaborative, interdisciplinary model of care as people age that starts with integrated medical recordkeeping among those disciplines.”
The concept of the Center for Successful Aging is similar to the way the industry provides care in the oncology arena, VanKuren said, and what is good for cancer patients can be good for the full continuum of care from pediatrics through geriatrics.
“We surround the cancer patient with all the different specialists and services they may need, try to keep them in one place and bring all the services to them,” she said. “The success in the patient’s care is this interdisciplinary approach where you get various opinions about the plan of care and then implement the plan as a team.”
This approach supports the patient in their clinical life as well as social determinants, such as their access to food, housing, education and other aspects of their lifestyle, she said. The benefits are the breadth of services across disciplines, ease of access, and ease of making appointments.
“The greater utilization of care happens as we grow older,” VanKuren said. “A senior’s whole life can be built around doctor’s appointments, all on different days and at different places.”
Streamlining these puts less of a struggle on the “sandwich generation” of children caring for their aging parents or accompanying them to appointments, when they have jobs and are also raising their own children, she said.
“Wouldn’t it be nice to coordinate the appointments around one day, so you would only have to take one-half day off of work instead of five little snippets of a day,” said VanKuren. “At the end of that day, the whole team comes together, the same way they do with oncology, sits with you and your siblings and your parents with the x-rays and test results, and says, ‘This is what’s going on and these are our recommendations.’”
These may involve following up with physical therapy, occupational therapy, a nutritionist, at some point recommending getting help at home or bringing in a visiting nurse, and setting up the next appointments, she said.
“And by the way, on your way out you can visit the ‘Farmacy’ and pick up fresh fruits and vegetables,” said VanKuren. “This is a better and different way to deliver care.”
“Once centralized, all medical records and appointment making will be up and running,” she said. “We can begin to share information and have immediate access to an individual’s full medical record.”
“But the willingness to come together and evolve the way we care for patients in a collaborative fashion will make the true difference,” Van Karen said. “To me, that’s what the Center for Successful Aging is, an interdisciplinary working model.”
VanKureun’s full vision includes a physical building that brings together some higher level specialists.
“These specialists may have offices in the community now or may come up from Albany Med to work with our primary care base and specialty base, and add some services patients would normally have to drive to Albany for,” she said.
Over the years the Hospital had attempted but was not able to get approval to build an ambulatory care center off Myrtle Street. VanKuren said that lot is ideal for the future Center for Successful Aging because of its proximity to the main campus. But if not, she said there is more than adequate space in areas like Malta and Wilton where busy satellites of Saratoga Hospital now reside.
“There is no shortage of possibilities,” she said.
Her vision for a successful aging process starts in the first year of life, when the need for medical services is most intense.
“You are having your well baby visits and getting vaccines, but then the needs slow down through adolescence and early middle age, when it starts to pick up again as we progress into our senior years,” she said.
“So it is supporting families through that journey. As your need for wellness care and interventional medicine increases, we are there every step of the way,” said VanKuren.
“To communicate with family members, that access to EMR is very important, where we can share information back and forth more seamlessly with not only the person, but their designated support system as well,” she said. “That interaction is very important to the success of their health.”
VanKuren said “you don’t cut a ribbon over an EMR,” but when the new center occupies its permanent building in the future, it will be worthy of some “celebratory process.”
“It is an exciting year,” VanKuren said. “Despite the pandemic and ongoing workforce challenges, the health care industry is very strong and we are committed to our common goals and serving our community.”