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The Future of Emergency Medicine for the People of North Carolina

The Future of Emergency Medicine for the People of North Carolina

Purpose

Our Vision:

To provide, teach, and advance patient- and family-centered emergency care within the nation’s leading public school of medicine.

Our Mission:

Our mission is to provide outstanding emergency care through excellence in clinical care, education, research, administrative stewardship, and strategic initiatives. Central to this mission is to create an environment of inclusion for persons from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and abilities.

 

Our Core Values

Collaboration – Innovation – Integrity – Service – Transparency

Strategic Pillars

Our Goals:

Clinical

Deliver excellent, state-of-the-art care chosen by patients in our community and state maximizing safety, value, efficiency, patient-centeredness, and equity.

Education

Provide a foundational emergency medicine experience for all students, continue excellence in resident and fellow education, and cultivate system-wide clinical provider education to ensure state-of-the-art expertise.

Research

Advance emergency care through the generation and implementation of new knowledge.

Administration

Provide a supportive administrative environment to promote growth, maintain financial solvency, and inform decision-making. Create a fairly compensated, transparent, caring, and safe environment where we choose to invest our time, energy, and talents.

Strategic Initiative

Explore, develop, and implement innovative acute care solutions for an evolving health care system.

Strategic Initiatives

Value Based Care

Value-based reimbursement structures (fee for value) are becoming commonplace as they provide incentives for health care providers to offer the best care at the lowest cost to patients. Value-based reimbursement has increased the number of services doctors and hospitals deliver while offering them in convenient, streamlined approaches. This change has had a positive effect on patient quality of care and overall satisfaction with healthcare systems while removing common financial barriers for many populations. Therefore by improving our local healthcare financial systems, we can address entire populations and communities.


Inclusive Excellence

The patient population we serve here at the University of North Carolina is remarkably diverse and we aim to serve and meet their needs by providing the very best in clinical care, education, and research.


Telemedicine

In the Spring of 2018, UNC Health Care introduced the virtual care service “UNC Urgent Care 24/7” to provide faster, easier access to physicians via phone, tablet or computer. The program offers patients a solution to turn to when walk-in clinics are closed, curving emergency department visits for non-emergent cases.

“This innovative virtual technology fits with our mission of providing care to all North Carolinians at any time. We expect that this service will increase access to affordable urgent care, especially in underserved and rural parts of our state. We firmly believe that the future of medical care has to include more telehealth options.” – Dr. Bill Roper, Former CEO of UNC Health Care


Geriatrics

In 2018 the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) launched an accreditation program to improve and standardize emergency care for older patients. With more than 60% of national hospital admissions for patients over 65 coming through the emergency department, accreditation can help hospitals focus on factors leading to fewer hospitalizations and more successful outcomes after discharge. At the end of 2018, UNC Hospital’s Hillsborough Campus became the first in North Carolina to receive Geriatric Emergency Department Accreditation (GEDA), earning a Level 2 “Silver” accreditation from the ACEP.

“A healthcare system should signal to the community that we know how to care for older adults. We’re thinking about the structure and the processes of care.” – Kevin Biese, MD, MAT, Co-Director of UNC’s Geriatric Emergency Medicine Service


Global Emergency Medicine

UNC Global Emergency Medicine is committed to the development of Emergency Medicine as a specialty in East Africa. The UNC Division of Global Health and Emergency Care is conducting important epidemiology, emergency department triage, and youth violence-related research in both Kenya and South Africa. Novel data from this research is helping to shape future research, policy, and educational initiatives in the East and Southern African region as it pertains to emergency care capacity-building.