During USC Verdugo Hills Hospital’s State of the Hospital event on Wednesday, hospital executives discussed ongoing projects and noteworthy achievements while emphasizing the staff’s commitment to serving the diverse needs of the community.
Dr. Armand Dorian, chief executive officer of the hospital, emphasized USC-VHH’s status as a “hybrid hospital,” meaning it has community doctors and faculty-academic physicians.
“This creates an ecosystem for learning and care where each [discipline] learns from each other and ends up bringing a unique opportunity for health care delivery,” Dorian said. “And that makes us feel now that we’ve created a new type of hospital, which is a community academic hospital, where we’re getting the best technology but we’re also getting personalized care.”
The hospital’s value is evident to more than simply those who work there. Dorian pointed out that 2023 was the hospital’s biggest fundraising year in its 51-year history with more than $4.2 million raised.
“If [the community] is willing to invest in some of the health needs and some of our ability to reach those needs, it shows that we turn the tide and our reputation is growing and the quality of care that we’re serving our community is coming through,” Dorian said.
Additionally, USC-VHH received an “A” rating from The Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit watchdog organization dedicated to healthcare transparency. The hospital’s medical surgical ICU team also received the Gold Beacon Award for Excellence from the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses — an honor only 5% of California hospitals have been given.
Theresa Murphy, USC-VHH’s chief nursing officer, highlighted the hospital’s recent accreditation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center for its nurse residency program.
“While this is nurse driven, in large part, it really recognizes the entire medical center as an interdisciplinary practice is necessary to deliver that quality of care,” Murphy said.
In addition to these accolades, Dorian also shared the hospital’s plan to open an Ambulatory Surgery Center on the USC-VHH campus. ASCs provide same-day surgical care, including diagnostic and preventive procedures, creating a more streamlined and efficient process for minor surgeries.
With visits to the emergency room nearly doubling over the last two decades, Dorian emphasized that streamlining care is as important as ever, while maintaining high quality service. He went on to draw a lighthearted parallel between the ER and the In-N-Out Burger drive-thru line, noting the streamlined methods of operation both have had to facilitate over the years.
The hospital will also open an emergency room overflow area within the next couple of weeks. Redesigning the front entryway, adding more bike racks, expanding electric vehicle charging stations and modernizing hospital elevators are more ongoing projects the hospital is working toward currently.
Throughout the State of the Hospital event, everything circled back to the concept of community whether that is partnering with local organizations — such as with the One Glendale Program and the Glendale chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness — or hosting coffee talk hours with hospital executives to invite the community to chat or ask questions.
“Our mission is to provide personalized, high quality health care relevant to our patient community,” Dorian said. “It’s really important to understand that a community hospital’s goal is to serve the population that comes seeking care and our vision is to differentiate our hospital by delivering excellent clinical outcomes and superior customer service.”
First published in the March 23 print issue of the Glendale News-Press.
