Greater Cincinnati's remarkable healthcare response to the COVID-19 pandemic has received media attention and earned praise from various circles. The response, deemed among the best in the nation, was anchored in transparency and open dialogue among the region's healthcare providers. These organizations put aside their normally competitive stance against each other to create a unified response, one that no doubt saved many lives.
To gain some insights into the role two premier Uptown medical institutions, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC) and UC Health, had on the steering committee that guided the region’s response, we talked with its co-chairs Dr. Evaline Alessandrini and Dr. Steve Davis.
Dr. Alessandrini is the executive vice president and chief medical officer for UC Health and the interim chief operations officer. Dr. Davis is the chief operating officer at CCHMC. Both are pediatricians.
"We set a goal of being the first region, the first set of hospitals, that could say they were over-prepared," Dr. Davis said. So, the steering committee began meeting seven days a week in early March 2020, monitoring how the pandemic was developing worldwide and especially in the United States. Sometimes, an additional afternoon call was held if some piece of news earlier in the day required immediate consideration.
"We didn't know whether we were going to be a Seattle or a New York City, or not," Dr. Alessandrini said. "But we were definitely prepared for the worst. I think one of the things that perhaps brought us together was that uncertainty. It helped to accelerate relationship building because we needed to have other people in our sphere that we could share information with and work together to make decisions."
"Our region had the advantage of having something like the Health Collaborative, which very few areas of the country have, and that also put us in a good position to start working together," Dr. Davis said.
To help establish transparency and trust among the hospitals, the committee developed three guiding principles to aid in their decision-making and planning.
Keep our workforces safe.
No one hospital will carry the burden of caring for all the COVID patients.
Commitment to transparency with one other.
With these guiding principles in mind, the steering committee began implementing COVID restrictions and plans in their hospitals, and soon, these practices applied to the city at large.
"One of the things that being transparent helped us with is that we realized we were all a little bit nervous," Dr. Davis said. But openly discussing those feelings helped the committee members to bond—and to share. For example, if one hospital had a breakthrough in treatment, it was discussed amongst the group. If another hospital had a surplus of personal protective equipment, it was distributed to those healthcare providers who needed it.
"What we wanted to do was present a consistent approach to the public," Dr. Davis said. All of the hospitals in the network adopted the same COVID policies. This way, no patient had to decide on one hospital over another because of different policies, such as whether visitors were permitted or not.
![_S5A3786 Evie Alessandrini MD[2].JPG](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58079bc8ebbd1a0533c5560d/1624480166063-Q39YUAH0PNKFEI9WBF89/_S5A3786+Evie+Alessandrini+MD%5B2%5D.JPG)
"This allowed us to focus on the important things, as opposed to any type of disagreements that perhaps would not matter in the long run," Dr. Alessandrini added.
The steering committee also brought in experts to help inform their strategy. For example, they invited the supply chain leaders from each hospital to discuss how their role was affected and what that impact meant for patient care and safety.
When considering what the steering committee did best in terms of their COVID plans, Dr. Davis said that placing patients’ best interest before that of any hospital elevated their program compared to other cities. "I don't know of any other area of the country that did it as effectively as we did," Dr. Davis said.
"We're going to compete again, but we're going to compete in a way that if anybody's stuck and in trouble, the competition falls aside, and we do what's best for the patients," Dr. Alessandrini said. She added that while there were too many lives cut short or deeply impacted by COVID, the collaborative efforts of the healthcare providers saved countless lives.
“The efforts of the steering committee are commendable and will have a lasting impact on Uptown and the city for years to come,” Beth Robinson, President and CEO of Uptown Consortium, Inc. (UCI), said.
And if it happens again?
"We've got a playbook," Dr. Alessandrini said. Moreover, it’s a playbook that could be reactivated rather quickly should the need arise.
The steering committee is still meeting, though no longer seven days a week. "We continue to follow the data," Dr. Alessandrini said. "We want to make sure that we're prepared for anything that can happen."