Virtual Leadership Meeting Discussing COVID-19
The Hamot Health Foundation Board of Corporators was honored to welcome Derek Angus, MD, as their special guest in a recent virtual meeting hosted by Hamot Health Foundation.
Dr. Angus is chair of critical care medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and UPMC. He is one of the world's leading researchers in the field of critical care medicine.
As explained by Dr. Angus, UPMC has developed and organized a system-wide philosophy surrounding COVID-19 with local execution by individual hospitals. Regarding UPMC Hamot’s COVID-19 response, Dr. Angus affirmed actions taken under UPMC Hamot President David Gibbons’ leadership and gave a special nod to Vice President of Medical Affairs, Gregory Beard, DO, and his team.
Treatment Protocol
One of the greatest challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic is the need for treatment protocol as opposed to supportive care. Dr. Angus’s presentation revolved around the work being done by UPMC in this regard to discover and identify successful therapies for COVID-19. He spoke of the concept of randomized embedded multifactorial adaptive platform (REMAP). UPMC’s COVID-19 REMAP process was launched this month and is attracting attention and participation globally. REMAP continually integrates and analyzes treatment data in real time to point health care providers toward therapies showing the most promise, while discarding those with poor results. The outcome is a continual maturing and refinement of therapy choice.
Strong Leadership
Another highlight from Dr. Angus’s discussion is a point of pride for UPMC and a reflection of strong leadership at the helm. Resource allocation is a critical mechanism for managing hospital resources, including lifesaving equipment during periods of high demand. UPMC’s work on a quality resource allocation plan caught the eye of Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf. Subsequently, UPMC was asked to write an allocation plan for the entire state of Pennsylvania.
“UPMC’s resource allocation plan became Pennsylvania’s plan. It’s now been adopted by hundreds of hospitals across the country and by multiple states. The plan has been written up by The New York Times and is one more example of the way in which UPMC moved quickly to think through all eventualities in COVID-19,” said Dr. Angus.