After her annual mammogram detected breast cancer, mother of two Tracy Fishel underwent a double mastectomy with Dr. Rachelle Y. Leong.
“She dealt with a loved one of hers that had cancer,” Tracy said. “And so, I felt that she understood my side as a patient, as well as her side as a physician.”
Posted August 18, 2022
August 17, 2022 — Englewood Health has received the Healthgrades 2022 Labor and Delivery Excellence Award, the Obstetrics and Gynecology Excellence Award, as well as 5-star recognition for Vaginal Delivery and C-Section Delivery.
This marks the seventh year in a row that Englewood Health’s maternal and child services have been recognized by Healthgrades, the leading resource that connects consumers, physicians, and health systems.
“Receiving these acknowledgments from Healthgrades year after year speaks to our team’s commitment to providing exceptional women’s health services,” said Kathleen Kaminsky, MS, RN, NE-BC, senior vice president of patient care services and chief nursing officer at Englewood Health.
Obstetricians and gynecologists, along with other maternal/child health specialists at Englewood Health, provide the full spectrum of services including prenatal care, high-risk testing and monitoring, childbirth education, and post-pregnancy resources and support.
August 3, 2022 — Englewood Health has received the American Heart Association’s Silver Plus Get With The Guidelines® – Stroke quality achievement award.
This award recognizes Englewood Health’s commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines, ultimately leading to more lives saved and reduced disability.
“Receiving this quality achievement award is a testament to our ongoing efforts to bring the safest, highest-quality stroke care to our community,” said Warren Geller, president and CEO of Englewood Health.
Each year, Get With The Guidelines participants qualify for the award by demonstrating their organization’s commitment to providing quality care and educating patients to help them manage their health and recovery at home.
“Participation in Get With The Guidelines is associated with improved patient outcomes, fewer readmissions and lower mortality rates – a win for health care systems, families and communities,” said Steven Messe, M.D., chairperson of the Stroke System of Care Advisory Group.
In addition, Englewood Health received the American Heart Association’s Target: Stroke Honor Roll award by meeting specific criteria that reduce the time between an eligible patient’s arrival at the hospital and treatment to remove the clot causing the stroke.
Englewood Health also received the American Heart Association’s Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll award. This award aims to ensure patients with Type 2 diabetes, who might be at higher risk for complications, receive the most up-to-date, evidence-based care when hospitalized due to stroke.
July 26, 2022– In its annual “Best Hospitals” rankings, U.S. News & World Report named Englewood Health a Best Regional Hospital, ranking the hospital No. 6 in New Jersey and No. 24 in the New York metropolitan area.
In addition to its state and regional recognition, Englewood Health was rated as “high performing” in eight procedures and conditions: COPD, colon cancer surgery, heart attack, heart failure, hip fracture, kidney failure, lung cancer surgery, and stroke; and one specialty: orthopedics.
“We are proud to be named a best hospital in the state and region,” said Warren Geller, president and CEO of Englewood Health. “This mark of distinction reflects our commitment to providing the highest-quality care and the latest technological advancements to our patients across the gamut of procedures and conditions.”
The 33rd annual Best Hospitals rankings and ratings are designed to assist patients and their doctors in making informed decisions about where to receive quality care for challenging health conditions or elective procedures. For the 2022-2023 rankings and ratings, U.S. News evaluated more than 4,500 hospitals across 15 specialties and 20 procedures and conditions.
“The hospitals named to the U.S. News Honor Roll excel across numerous specialties and service lines,” said Ben Harder, chief of health analysis and managing editor at U.S. News. “When patients and their medical professionals are considering their options for care, the rankings are designed to help them identify hospitals that are superior in the kind of care they may need.”
For more information on the rankings and methodology of the list, visit: health.usnews.com/best-hospitals
July 19, 2022 — Englewood Health is one of the best hospitals in the nation, according to a new list released by The Leapfrog Group.
The healthcare watchdog organization teamed up with Money—a publication that assists consumers in making wise financial decisions—to determine the best hospitals in the country.
The pair sourced data from key performance measures to determine which hospitals were distinguished for providing safe, high-quality care, excellent patient experiences and an ethical approach to treatment.
To qualify for the list, hospitals were required to carry an “A” letter grade from the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Assessment and to meet a qualitative assessment of excellence.
Just 148 hospitals nationwide made the list.
“We are honored to be recognized as one of the best hospitals in the nation,” said Warren Geller, president and CEO of Englewood Health. “This reiterates what we know to be true: that we have highly skilled, compassionate, and dedicated healthcare professionals here at Englewood Health.” For the complete list and more information about the rankings and methodology, visit: money.com/best-hospitals/.
“We all know that war brings wounds,” says Michael Cioroiu, MD, medical director of wound care services at Englewood Health. When the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America asked for help aiding the people of Ukraine, the team at Englewood Health pulled together and gathered supplies for treating infected wounds. The donation, filling seven pallets, included Xeroform dressings, debriding agents, and antibiotic ointments.
Posted July 6, 2022
July 6, 2022 — Englewood Health has been recognized for excellence in patient care by the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers (NAPBC), a quality assurance program administered by the American College of Surgeons.
The NAPBC has once again granted accreditation status to the Leslie Simon Breast Care and Cytodiagnosis Center at Englewood Health, which has been accredited since 2009.
“Earning this accreditation is a testament to the ongoing efforts of our doctors, nurses, and other staff to bring the safest, highest-quality, and most technologically advanced care to our community,” says Mindy Goldfischer, MD, chief of breast imaging and the medical director of the Leslie Simon Breast Care and Cytodiagnosis Center.
Accreditation by the NAPBC is granted only to programs that are committed to providing the best possible care to patients with breast cancer. Patients receiving care at NAPBC-accredited centers have access to:
“For us, it’s all about the patient. While we have the latest diagnostic technology, it’s also about making the patient feel warm and safe at a stressful time,” says Christine Weiselberg, APN, administrative director of the Leslie Simon Breast Care and Cytodiagnosis Center. “Every patient’s response to diagnosis and treatment is very personal and individual, so we take the time to form a bond with our patients so that during these emotional interactions we know what each patient needs.”
To achieve NAPBC accreditation, a breast center must undergo a site visit every three years and demonstrate compliance with the NAPBC standards that address a center’s leadership, clinical services, research, community outreach, professional education, and quality improvement for patients.
June 27, 2022 — Englewood Health has become the first hospital in New Jersey and one of only 20 hospitals in the country to introduce new advanced technology for robot-assisted spine surgery with GPS-like precision to improve spine surgery. The Excelsius™ Ecosystem is a robotic imaging and navigation platform that will enhance patient safety, improve accuracy and efficiency, and enable minimally invasive surgery.
“This technology takes us to the next era of spine surgery,” says Kevin Yao, MD, chief of neurosurgery at Englewood Health. “It facilitates more precise and more minimally invasive spine surgery, which will translate into shorter patient recoveries and better outcomes.”
Spine surgery is frequently used to stabilize vertebral bones and spinal joints and relieve pressure on the nerves in the spine. Traditionally, spine surgery is performed either percutaneously (minimally invasive surgery) or open and requires several types of imaging equipment for procedures. The new technology gives surgeons an all-in-one imaging capability allowing enhanced visualization of the patient’s anatomy. The Excelsius Ecosystem (Globus Medical) combines the Excelsius3D™ imaging system and the ExcelsiusGPS® robotic navigation platform to provide surgeons with a comprehensive intraoperative image-guided robotic surgery tool.
At Englewood Health, spinal procedures such as lumbar or thoracic fusion will now be possible with more minimally invasive, highly precise techniques. Patients with spine conditions such as degenerative disc disease, fractures, scoliosis, spinal stenosis, and spinal tumors will benefit from newly enhanced procedures made possible by robotic navigation technology. The application of this technology is expected to expand for use in other spine procedures.
To be successful, spinal surgery requires highly accurate placement of surgical hardware used to hold vertebrae. The ExcelsiusGPS generates real-time information before and during the procedure, allowing surgeons to use robotic navigation to place screws and rods with a high-level of precision anywhere from the cervical to the sacroiliac spinal regions.
“Robot-assisted navigation can also help increase predictability of outcomes,” says Asit K. Shah, MD, PhD, chief of orthopedic surgery at Englewood Health. “It is like a GPS for the spine, which gives surgeons a very precise way to choose exactly where to place surgical hardware, such as metal screws.”
Dr. Yao adds, “Many spine surgeries that traditionally required large incisions can now be performed through slit-like openings. This is beneficial for patients, allowing them to mobilize more comfortably and sooner.”
The Excelsius Ecosystem combines a robotic arm and full navigation capabilities into a single platform for accurate trajectory alignment in spine surgery. The new technology brings a greater level of precision to surgeons performing spine surgery and reduces imaging requirements before, during and after surgery, therefore reducing radiation exposure for the patient and staff.
Radiology images are taken on the day of surgery and imported into the Excelsius equipment. The surgeon then uses these images to determine the size and placement of implants and create a patient plan based on the patient’s anatomy. That plan is used by the surgeon to guide the robotic arm to a specific region of the spine and follow a pathway, like following a GPS. During the procedure, surgeons view live images and the established pathway to accurately place the implants using surgical instruments. The accuracy of hardware placement is then confirmed by 3D image before the patient leaves the operating room.
Beyond greater accuracy and safety, the Excelsius Ecosystem allows for improved surgical efficiency. Additionally, with enhanced visualization, more spinal procedures can now be performed minimally invasively, which means smaller incisions, less tissue damage, reduced post-operative pain, shorter hospital stays, and faster returns to activity.
June 1, 2022 — As part of a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved, investigator-initiated clinical trial, Englewood Health is offering a new treatment for varicose veins that utilizes an emerging technology: Sonovein® echotherapy. This no-incision, no-scar treatment is designed to provide patients relief from their varicose vein symptoms and a quick return to normal activities following the procedure.
On May 6 and 7, Englewood Health entered the first four patients to receive this novel therapy into the trial. These patients also mark the first in the U.S. to undergo this treatment for varicose veins. In each case, the Sonovein treatment was administered without the need for any kind of anesthesia or infiltration.
Steve Elias, MD, director of the Center for Vein Disease at Englewood Health explained, “We appreciate the opportunity to be the first and only hospital to trial this technology for this indication. But more importantly, we really appreciate our patients for participating and helping to improve vein care for all.”
Sonovein represents the only completely noninvasive varicose vein treatment option using echotherapy to treat damaged veins from outside the body. During echotherapy, high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) waves target veins and generate thermal energy. As thermal energy is delivered to the veins, they shrink and ultimately seal closed.
At least three out of every 10 people experience varicose veins in their lifetimes. In a healthy leg vein, the surrounding muscles, combined with the vein walls and valves, work together to ensure that blood is transported against gravity from the legs back towards the heart.
If the vein valves no longer function properly—or the elasticity of the vascular walls weaken—a blood build-up can occur in the legs. This enlarges the vein walls, causing varicose veins to develop and the possible onset of symptoms like itchy, swollen, or heavy-feeling legs. If left untreated, such symptoms can worsen over time, resulting in leg ulcers and other complications.
For those wondering whether they indeed have varicose veins, a consultation with a vein specialist will provide clarity as to whether their veins are functioning properly or if treatment might be necessary.
This is a single-center study with a planned accrual of 20 patients with diagnosed symptomatic primary great saphenous vein (GSV) insufficiency. Interested patients will provide informed consent and be screened for participation.
If eligible, participants will be scheduled for a one-day Sonovein treatment, which consists of:
At follow-up visits scheduled for one week after treatment and 3 months after treatment, changes in veins and flow characteristics will be evaluated by ultrasound and physical exam.
There is no cost to patients who qualify for participation in the trial. If interested in participating, you can reach Dr. Elias at the Center for Vein Disease at Englewood Health, 201-894-3252.
May 24, 2022 — Englewood Health has appointed Peter Shin, MD, chief of medicine. Dr. Shin has served as section chief of hospital medicine since 2015.
Dr. Shin is board certified in internal medicine and specializes in caring for hospitalized patients. At Englewood Health, he is a faculty member in the Internal Medicine Residency Program and supervises residents as they care for patients through multidisciplinary hospital care. He also works closely with Englewood Health’s information technology department as the inpatient physician lead, helping to establish provider workflows and adapt the Epic electronic medical record system to fit the institution’s needs.
Dr. Shin serves on numerous hospital task forces and committees, including the Medical Staff Professional Practice Evaluation Committee, Opioid Task Force, CHF Readmission Reduction, Denial Appeals and Revenue Recovery, and the Clinical Informatics Committee.
“Dr. Shin is not only an accomplished clinician in his field, but a respected leader who will help ensure that Englewood Health remains a top hospital in the nation,” said Hillary Cohen, MD, senior vice president of medical affairs at Englewood Health.
“It is an honor to serve as chief of medicine at Englewood Health and to be entrusted with ensuring that our hospital patients are cared for properly and our residents are given an excellent learning experience,” said Dr. Shin.
Dr. Shin received his MD from Columbia University and completed his internal medicine residency at NewYork-Presbyterian Columbia University Medical Center. He is a member of the Society of Hospital Medicine, a clinical assistant professor at Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, and an exam writer for the American Board of Internal Medicine.
Dr. Shin assumes his new role as chief of medicine following the long-time tenure of Alexandra Gottdiener, MD.
