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A regional collaboration between competing healthcare systems to establish influenza season parameters
David H. Priest MD, MPH1, Susan L. DeCamp-Freeze RN, MBA1, Cynthia B. Snider MD, MPH2, Melissa G. Morgan MSN, RN2, Misty D. Garner MLS3, Laurence B. Givner MD4, Catherine L. Passaretti MD5 and
Andrea B. McQuaigue RN6 1Department of Infection Prevention, Novant Health, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 2Department of Infection Prevention, Cone Health, Greensboro, North Carolina, 3Department of Infection Prevention, Randolph Health, Asheboro, North Carolina, 4Department of Pediatrics, Wake Forest Baptist Health, Winston- Salem, North Carolina, 5Department of Infection Prevention, Atrium Health, Charlotte, North Carolina and 6Department of Infection Prevention, High Point Regional UNC Health Care, High Point, North Carolina
To the Editor—Collaborative public health partnerships between competing healthcare system hospitals are uncommon in today’s healthcare environment, despite their potential for improving community health.1–4 One potential area of collaboration between hospital systems is management of influenza season parameters and messaging team members and the community. Traditionally, acute-care facilities make independent decisions regarding influ- enza season parameters. In geographic areas with multiple healthcare systems, the lack of coordination in influenza-season decision making can lead to a local patchwork of policies and messages. These different public health messages can be confusing to patients and the public, potentially affecting patient care, visitor access, and patient satisfaction. We established a regional collaboration between multiple
healthcare systems that emphasized information sharing and unified messaging to the public and local media. A weekly con- ference call was initiated that included 6 competing healthcare entities located in the piedmont region of North Carolina: Novant Health, Cone Health, Randolph Health, Wake Forest Baptist Health, Atrium Health, and High Point Regional UNC Health Care. In total, these systems represent 36 acute-care facilities covering ~9,000 square miles with ~4 million people.5 All of these systems have mandatory influenza vaccination programs for team
Author for correspondence: David H. Priest, MD, MPH, 1381 Westgate Center Drive, Winston-Salem, NC 27103. E-mail:
dhpriest@novanthealth.org
Cite this article: Priest DH, et al. (2019). A regional collaboration between competing
healthcare systems to establish influenza season parameters. Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology 2019, 40, 258–260. doi: 10.1017/ice.2018.297
© 2018 by The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. All rights reserved.
members, and 4 of the systems have mandatory masking pro- grams for team members unable to be vaccinated (ie, Novant Health, Atrium Health, High Point Regional UNC Health Care, and Randolph Health). The call included infection prevention representatives, marketing/communication professionals, nursing leaders, physicians, and hospital administrators. Each healthcare system reported their local emergency department influenza-like- illness (ILI) rate for comparison with the other systems. Facility differences were noted based on the geographic location of the hospitals. Emergency department (ED) ILI data were obtained using the North Carolina Disease Event Tracking and Epide- miologic Collection Tool (NC DETECT), a statewide syndromic surveillance system.6 Collective decisions were made to establish parameters for influenza season, which were then communicated through internal and external communication pathways. Influenza season was declared when the ILI rate in North
Carolina hospital ED visits reached ≥5% and ended when the ILI rate declined back to <5% (Fig. 1), considering the general ILI trend. For the 2017–2018 influenza season, the start date was December 27, 2017, and the end date was March 30, 2018. Declaring when influenza season started and ended was more important for those healthcare systems that require mandatory masking of team members who do not receive an influenza vaccination, as this was the date in which mandatory masking began. In the past, for some healthcare systems, the influenza season started and ended using predetermined dates such as October 1 (start) and March 31 (end). Although the time between these predetermined dates typically encompassed the influenza season,
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