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44 JUL / AUG 2020  I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF BATON ROUGE   Hospital Rounds we are doing the right things for our patients and our community.” “As the nation copes with a challenging pan- demic, our gratitude extends to hospital leader- ship and health care workers everywhere for their tremendous dedication,” said Leah Binder, presi- dent and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “We hope this A helps to thank the people who work, prac- tice medicine, and volunteer for Our Lady of the Lake. They are role models in putting patients first, and their service has been extraordinary in our country’s time of need.” Developed under the guidance of a national expert panel, the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade uses up to 28 measures of publicly available hospi- tal safety data to assign grades to more than 2,600 U.S. acute-care hospitals twice per year. The Hos- pital Safety Grade’s methodology is peer-reviewed and fully transparent, and the results are free to the public. Woman’s Lab NowProcessing COVID-19 Tests Woman’s Hospital is now processing all of its inpatient and outpatient COVID tests in its own lab. This required the completion an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Led by molecular biologists Lori Breland and Lori Stewart, Woman’s lab had to perform its own quality control tests to prove its results are reliable. For this particular test, they had to run 30 posi- tive controls, 30 positive patients, and 30 negative patients and were able to get accurate test results. Led by director Jay Latour and manager Kim- berly Gruse, the success of the lab at Woman’s in these efforts can in part be attributed to its par- ticipation with the River Road Testing Lab at the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine that was set up to help area hospitals get quick, reliable results for COVID tests. Ogden serves as medical direc- tor of the lab. “The relationship with LSU’s Dr. Stephania Corm- ier and her team has helped us have better knowl- edge on how to set up testing and to prevent viral contamination during testing,” said Ogden. “They have also begun working on research stud- ies to better understand COVID infection, immune response, and transmission.” Woman’s Hospital GRACE ProgramHelps 100th Patient The Guiding Recovery and Creating Empow- erment (GRACE) program at Woman’s Hospi- tal recently enrolled its 100th expecting mom. Launched in the fall of 2018, GRACE is a care coor- dination program for pregnant women with opioid use disorder that connects them to resources in the community to provide treatment and support. Funded by a grant from the United Health Foun- dation, it is the only program of its kind in Louisi- ana and one of few in the nation. Women enrolled in this program receive support throughout preg- nancy and for six weeks after giving birth. “The GRACE Program has shown that we can make a real difference in health outcomes for this vulnerable group of women and their infants,” said Barbara Griffith, MD, president & CEO of Woman’s Hospital. “We are grateful for the sup- port of United Health and are excited to enter into the next chapter of our battle against opi- oid addiction.” In addition to the grant from United Health, Woman’s Hospital was one of two hospitals in the state selected by the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) to participate in the NOWS Pilot Project, helping the state create a plan to improve outcomes associated with neonatal opioid with- drawal syndrome (NOWS). The Center for Medi- care and Medicaid Services also selected Loui- siana as one of 10 states to participate in the Maternal Opioid Misuse (MOM) model program. Woman’s is the care delivery partner working with LDH to address gaps in the care of pregnant and postpartum Medicaid members with opioid use disorder. GRACE is open to any pregnant woman in the Baton Rouge area seeking treatment, regardless of where she is receiving prenatal care. All phone calls are private and confidential. Woman’s Hires Patrick Seiter as General Counsel Patrick D. Seiter, JD, MPH, has joined the Wom- an’s Hospital team as general counsel. In his role, he provides legal support and direction, as well as oversight of compliance and all hospital contracts. Seiter has extensive experience in healthcare law. Prior to his new role at Woman’s, he served as a partner at Taylor Porter, representing healthcare clients in a wide range of general business, trans- actional, and regulatory matters, including busi- ness organizations and contracts, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, fraud and abuse, Stark, HIPAA, EMTALA, health information tech- nology, medical staff, reimbursement, and alter- native delivery and payment systems. Seiter has extensive experience and interest in the unique relationships and challenges of academic medi- cine. He provided legal services for the Our Lady of the Lake and LSU partnership, as well as other public/private healthcare partnerships across the state. He formerly served on the Woman’s Hospital Board of Directors, and currently serves on the board of the Bridge Center for Hope. He has also served on the board of Health Care Cen- ters in Schools as chairman when it was incorpo- rated as an independent nonprofit corporation and obtained 501(c)(3) status. Seiter served on and was chairman of the board of Capital Area Human Services District. Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, OLOL Ascension Receive A for Safety Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Cen- ter and Our Lady of the Lake Ascension were each awarded an A from The Leapfrog Group’s spring 2020 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade. The national distinction recognizes Our Lady of the Lake’s achievements for providing safer health- care. This is Our Lady of the Lake’s third consec- utive A grade. The Leapfrog Group is an independent national watchdog organization committed to healthcare quality and safety. The Safety Grade is a letter grade assigned to all general hospitals across the country and updated every six months, assessing how well the hospital prevents medical errors and other harms to patients. “To be recognized nationally as one of the safest hospitals in the nation, especially in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, makes us extremely proud,” said K. Scott Wester, president and CEO of Our Lady of the Lake. “Our outstanding physicians and dedicated team members work hard each day to provide high quality, safe care. We will never stop working to enhance patient safety measures on behalf of those we serve. This recognition affirms