LG Health Honored for Geriatric Fracture Program

Lancaster General Health has achieved Premier Level Certification from the International Geriatric Fracture Society. LG Health joins just 11 other organizations that have earned premier certification, the highest possible level for geriatric fracture care programs.

Rodney E. Brenneman, M.D., Director of the Lancaster General Hospital Geriatric Fracture Program, said the prevalence and cost associated with geriatric fracture care for our aging population is a leading healthcare challenge.

“The Lancaster area has a growing number of geriatric patients, and with increasing age comes an increased risk of falling and sustaining a hip or fragility-related fracture,” he said.

LGH manages approximately 355 hip fractures per year. While each patient is unique, those who sustain fragility fractures face many of the same challenges. This relatively large group of similar patients with similar needs has created a unique opportunity to standardize and streamline care management.

In 2009, Gerald Rothacker Jr., M.D., envisioned and created LGH’s Geriatric Fracture Program in an effort to improve the quality of care for these patients and maximize efficiency by reducing cost and length of stay.  Under his leadership, and with the help of a large team of representatives from many diverse departments, the care of hip-fracture patients at LGH has dramatically improved. One of the most recent developments has been a collaboration between the inpatient hip fracture program and nursing/rehab facilities that receive these patients after discharge.

The International Geriatric Fracture Society, which formed in 2012, is the worldwide leader in assessing and improving the management of geriatric fragility fractures.

The IGFS certification program is a global quality improvement initiative designed to recognize the achievements of organizations that exceed outcome benchmarks in management of geriatric fractures. In receiving this recognition, LGH documented its ability to exceed target benchmarks on key quality indicators over the past year, including readmission rates, length of stay and time to surgery.

“LGH’s collaboration with the IGFS, other top-performing hospitals and fragility fracture experts will help us continue to improve the quality of care for our own patients and the fragility fracture population around the world,” said Dr. Brenneman. “In the words of program founder Dr. Rothacker, the IGFS certification is truly a ‘feather in the cap’ for LGH and the Geriatric Fracture Program.”