UNC Health Care will be taking several steps, including pausing some complex pediatric heart surgeries, to “restore confidence in its pediatric heart surgery program.”

The health care system announced the initiatives on Monday, after a New York Times investigation published on May 31 detailed concern regarding the quality of care some children with serious heart issues received at the UNC Children’s Hospital.

UNC Health Care will now publicly share Society for Thoracic Surgeons’ data on patient outcomes, create an external advisory board to make recommendations for improvement, create a new pediatric heart surgery family advisory council, recruit additional physicians for the heart surgery team, invest $10 million in technology and other enhancements over a three-year period and develop a new system to “support our Hospital Quality and Safety reporting efforts.”

UNC Children’s will also “temporarily pause repairing congenital heart defects in children,” according to Monday’s release.

“While UNC Health Care and its Board of Directors have strong confidence in our extraordinary current pediatric heart surgery team, we believe it is vitally important that both current and future patients, our medical colleagues, key regulators, and the public share this confidence,” chair of the UNC Health Care Board Charlie Owen said in the release.

Owen added that the hospital would wait for the final report from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services before conducting more of these surgeries.

“We will resume performance of these surgeries only after both regulators and the esteemed physicians on the Advisory Board agree it is appropriate,” UNC Health Care CEO Dr. Wesley Burks said.

UNC Hospitals will also be making more data publicly available. Officials said the health care system has shared mortality data from the pediatric heart surgery program with STS since 2005.

“UNC previously used its STS data for internal peer review and performance improvement efforts,” according to the release. But that data will now be publicly available. A current STS analysis is available on the UNC Children’s website.

The release goes on to say that it “is extremely difficult to evaluate a surgical program’s success based solely upon data that is risk-adjusted by the STS, we are releasing past data to help restore public confidence in the program, and will continue to do so in the future.”

UNC Health Care officials acknowledge that “there were past periods, in which for the most complex cases, survival rates were lower than the national average.” The release adds, “while survival rates for less complex cases were higher than the national average.”

The health care system attributes “personnel changes and other improvements” for “very strong” data from the past year.

Burks said these steps will help further UNC Health Care’s mission to serve North Carolinians.

“Our pediatric heart program cares for very sick children with incredibly complex medical problems, and our clinical team works tirelessly to help those patients return to normal, healthy and productive lives. We grieve with families anytime there is a negative outcome, and we constantly push to learn from those tragic instances.

“I want to acknowledge in the sincerest way possible, that for our team and me personally, the death of any child is one too many,” Burks continued. “These steps are part of a comprehensive effort to ensure UNC Health Care’s mission to serve all North Carolinians with the highest quality care is.”

Related Stories
‹
UNC Health Care Rebrands, Changes Name and Logo
UNC Health Care announced Thursday morning it has changed its name to simply UNC Health as part of a rebranding effort. The state-owned health care system launched its new identity to reflect its approach and commitment to improving North Carolinians’ health, saying in a release the new name is symbolic to its strategy of transformational […]
UNC Hospitals Accreditation Affected After Problems Found
A national accrediting agency has placed UNC Hospitals on “preliminary denial of accreditation status” after finding problems during a recent review. UNC Health Care confirmed the decision by the Joint Commission in a statement Friday but didn’t detail the problems. It said the status would remain in effect until another survey is completed. The statement […]
UNC System Chair Defends Interim President After Board Disclosure Concerns
The chair of the UNC System Board of Governors is defending the actions of the system’s interim president after a report detailed a lack of disclosure regarding serving on boards of major corporations. WBTV in Charlotte published a report on Tuesday saying that William Roper served on boards for private companies while leading the UNC […]
State Investigation Finds 'No Current Deficiencies' at UNC Hospitals
State health officials have wrapped up their investigation of events at UNC Hospitals and found that “there were no current deficiencies cited as a result of the investigation.” The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services made the announcement in a statement Thursday. The investigation began earlier this year after an article in the […]
UNC Health Care Celebrates Construction of New Surgical Tower
Mary Gillam addressed a large crowd on Monday afternoon celebrating the beginning of construction on a new surgical tower at UNC. Gillam said that moment would have seemed impossible two years before, after she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. “Until then, I had never been sick. So, I ignored my symptoms,” she told the crowd. […]
UNC Health Care Celebrates Groundbreaking at Chapel Hill Eastowne Campus
Heavy machinery and large mounds of dirt let you know that work is well underway on the redevelopment on UNC Health Care’s Eastowne property on 15-501 near the line separating Chapel Hill and Durham. But officials from the town and health care system gathered under Carolina blue skies on Tuesday to celebrate the work that […]
UNC Health Care Implementing Visitor Restrictions During Flu Season
UNC Health Care is implementing visitor restrictions in an attempt to limit flu case increases. The restrictions will impact UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill and UNC REX Hospital in Raleigh, according to a release from the health care system. Children ages 11 and under will be prohibited from visiting inpatients and inpatient waiting rooms at […]
UNC Donates Kits for 'Autism Friendly' Performance of Elf at DPAC
Earlier this month, UNC Health Care sponsored an “autism-friendly” performance of “ELF The Musical” at DPAC. The performance was designed for those on the autism spectrum that may have difficulty focusing in a theater or could benefit from a more relaxed environment. UNC Health Care donated over 2,000 sensory friendly kits for audience members with […]
UNC Health Care Promises $15 Minimum Wage for Triangle Workers
UNC Health Care is pledging to increase pay for employees to a minimum of $15 per hour by July 2019. A first pay jump will come on January 13, bringing all employees to at least $14 per hour. The bump to $15 will then come in July. The increase will help to “attract and retain […]
UNC Health Care Working Toward Normal Operations After OWASA Shortage
UNC Hospitals are beginning to return to normal operations after services were scaled back due to a significant water shortage in southern Orange County Monday. A water main break at the Orange Water and Sewer Authority facility on Monday morning led to a boil water advisory and the utility urging residents to limit water use […]
›