CNBNews

Strategic Affiliation for Lung Transplant and Advanced Lung Disease Services

(Philadelphia & Bethlehem, PA) – Temple University Hospital (TUH) and St. Luke’s University Health Network are announcing an innovative affiliation for advanced lung disease and lung transplant services that will provide patients living in the Lehigh Valley streamlined access to Temple’s highly experienced lung transplant team and pulmonology specialists close to home. This announcement builds on previously established affiliations between Temple and St. Luke’s for heart, liver, kidney, pancreas and bone marrow transplant, and will provide Lehigh Valley residents with easier access to these services by reducing much of the travel usually involved in this type of care.

Through the Temple Advanced Lung Disease and Transplant Program at St. Luke’s, patients living in the Lehigh Valley who may need a lung transplant will be pre-screened and cared for at St. Luke’s by both Temple and St. Luke’s pulmonary specialists. If a transplant is recommended, patients can be referred to TUH for further testing and transplant surgery. Upon discharge from Temple, post-transplant care will be shared between St. Luke’s and Temple specialists, with patients being able to return to St. Luke’s for the majority of their care after transplant. St. Luke’s pulmonary physicians will also be on-site at TUH to see patients and participate in clinical training.

“We are pleased to be able to expand our affiliation with St. Luke’s University Health Network to now include advanced lung disease and transplant services, bringing a collaborative approach to  patients in the Lehigh Valley,” said Michael Young, MHA, FACHE, President and CEO of Temple University Hospital. “This program offers many benefits to patients, including an experienced transplant team and a robust research program that is pioneering methods to make donor organs more available and avoid post-transplant complications.”

“This affiliation formalizes the coordinated, individualized care that we already provide our patients,” states Livia Bratis, DO, St. Luke’s Chief of Pulmonary Medicine. “Together with Temple, we are making it easier for those patients who would normally need to travel for transplant services.”

Temple’s lung transplant team includes internationally renowned pulmonologist Dr. Gerard Criner, and transplant surgeons Drs. Yoshiya Toyoda and Norihisa Shigemura. Dr. Toyoda developed the Antero-axillary approach in lung transplantation, a minimally invasive form of surgery that can help avoid many complications of the standard double-lung procedure.

St. Luke’s Pulmonary and Critical Care team cares for individuals who have both acute and chronic lung conditions, such as asthma, COPD, and pulmonary hypertension.  Additionally, St. Luke’s has three fellowship-trained general thoracic surgeons, who perform procedures such as lung resections, bronchial and pleural procedures, and anti-reflux surgery using advanced minimally invasive techniques.

Yaniv Dotan, MD, PhD, transplant pulmonologist for St. Luke’s, trained at Temple and will care for local patients needing advanced lung care before and after transplant.

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About Temple Health

Temple University Health System (TUHS) is a $2.1 billion academic health system dedicated to providing access to quality patient care and supporting excellence in medical education and research. The Health System consists of Temple University Hospital (TUH), ranked among the “Best Hospitals” in the region by U.S. News & World Report; TUH-Episcopal Campus; TUH-Northeastern Campus; The Hospital of Fox Chase Cancer Center and Affiliates, an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center; Jeanes Hospital, a community-based hospital offering medical, surgical and emergency services; Temple Transport Team, a ground and air-ambulance company; Temple Physicians, Inc., a network of community-based specialty and primary-care physician practices; and Temple Faculty Practice Plan, Inc., TUHS’s physician practice plan comprised of more than 500 full-time and part-time academic physicians in 20 clinical departments. TUHS is affiliated with the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University.

The Lewis Katz School of Medicine (LKSOM), established in 1901, is one of the nation’s leading medical schools.  Each year, the School of Medicine educates more than 800 medical students and approximately 240 graduate students. Based on its level of funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Katz School of Medicine is the second-highest ranked medical school in Philadelphia and the third-highest in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  According to U.S. News & World Report, LKSOM is among the top 10 most applied-to medical schools in the nation.

Temple Health refers to the health, education and research activities carried out by the affiliates of Temple University Health System (TUHS) and by the Katz School of Medicine.  TUHS neither provides nor controls the provision of health care. All health care is provided by its member organizations or independent health care providers affiliated with TUHS member organizations. Each TUHS member organization is owned and operated pursuant to its governing documents.

It is the policy of Temple University Hospital, Inc. that there shall be no exclusion from, or participation in, and no one denied the benefits of, the delivery of quality medical care on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity/expression, disability, age, ancestry, color, national origin, physical ability, level of education, or source of payment.

About St. Luke’s

Founded in 1872, St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network of more than 15,000 employees providing services at 10 hospitals and 300 outpatient sites.  With annual net revenue greater than $2 billion, the Network’s service area includes 10 counties: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe and Schuylkill counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey.  Dedicated to advancing medical education, St. Luke’s is the preeminent teaching hospital in central-eastern Pennsylvania.  In partnership with Temple University, St. Luke’s created the Lehigh Valley’s first and only regional medical school campus.  It also operates the nation’s longest continuously operating School of Nursing, established in 1884, and 34 fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with 226 residents and fellows.  St. Luke’s is the only Lehigh Valley-based health care system with Medicare’s five- and four-star ratings (the highest) for quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction.  St. Luke’s is both a Leapfrog Group and Healthgrades Top Hospital and a Newsweek World’s Best Hospital.  In 2019, three of IBM Watson Health’s 100 Top Hospitals were St. Luke’s hospitals.  St. Luke’s University Hospital has earned the 100 Top Major Teaching Hospital designation from IBM Watson Health seven times total and five years in a row. St. Luke’s has also been cited by IBM Watson Health as a 50 Top Cardiovascular Program.  Utilizing the Epic electronic medical record (EMR) system for both inpatient and outpatient services, the Network is a multi-year recipient of the Most Wired award recognizing the breadth of the SLUHN’s information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information.  St. Luke’s is also recognized as one of the state’s lowest cost providers.