Wittstock, Population Health Coordinator at SCH, Wins Ripple Effect Award

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Crossriver Quality Health Partners is incredibly proud to announce the sixth recipient of the Ripple Effect Award, Tabitha Wittstock, MA, Scotland County Hospital, Memphis, MO. The Ripple Effect Award is a recognition awarded to a clinical or non-clinical staff member who has exemplified the mission and vision of Crossriver Quality Health Partners (CQHP). These individuals can be nominated by their teammates, one up, or providers. The award is given to a staff member whose enthusiasm for their work causes a ripple in their departments and furthermore, their entities. 

Scotland County Hospital & Clinics is a partner in the Crossriver Quality Health Partners which is a Clinically Integrated Network (CIN) of healthcare providers from the region who have made a collective commitment to performance improvement by focusing on the quality and efficiency of care for the patients they serve. The mission of CQHP is to unite physicians and other healthcare providers in the region to improve the patient experience, the health of populations, reduce the cost of healthcare, and improve provider satisfaction. 

Tabitha Wittstock is a Medical Assistant for Scotland County Hospital. Prior to working in Population Health for the hospital and clinics, she was a receptionist at Memphis Medical Services for six years. Tabitha was nominated by Scotland County Hospital doctors Randy Tobler and Jeff Davis, along with the support of her clinical supervisor, Lori Nelson, RN and CQHP Manager of Quality and Performance Improvement, Gerri Buss, DNP, RN. 

As the Population Health Coordinator, Tabitha is described by fellow SCH team members as exhibiting top notch organizational skills and always willing to continually improve processes, with excellent communication skills with both patients and staff. Dr. Tobler states, “Her personal connections up, down, and horizontally on the organizational chart results in better data input and transfer to both Crossriver and Caravan (An Accountable Care Organization which is a group of physicians and other healthcare providers such as hospitals that takes responsibility for the care and cost of delivering care to a defined population of patients) and has made a huge impact in the remarkable growth of Scotland County Hospital and the efforts made toward Annual Wellness Visit (AWV), Hierarchical Condition Coding (HCC), and Chronic Care Management (CCM) capture.” Dr. Davis added that her tireless efforts to read and research everything she can get her hands on in relation to these topics is inspiring. “She synthesizes the information so quickly and turns it into action for the population health team and readily excels in her role as coach and mentor for the clinicians and nursing staff.” Dr. Tobler emphatically requested that she be awarded the “Tsunami Award”, which he proposed was for ripple makers who in turn are making waves! “As Scotland County was just tiptoeing into the ocean that is population health, Tabitha grabbed onto the concept strategically and tactically like it was in her genes. Now, with the infrastructure, educational resources, and collegial support of the Crossriver team and fellow CIN entities, she is manning the ship for all SCH population health initiatives. She offers truly inspirational leadership and vision while doing the work of much more than one full-time employee.” Dr. Jeff Davis remarked, “She has launched our population health initiative into next level status!” 

Gerri Buss was proud to offer her support of Tabitha’s nomination. “It is my privilege, as Tabitha has been an awesome population health champion for Scotland County in her first year in the Medicare Shared Savings Accountable Care Organization. She has taken it upon herself to obtain resources for HCCs in order to better assist with record reviews and provider reminders for HCC documentation. She is always on top of accountable care organization events and often has files downloaded from the Caravan portal prior to it being mentioned to her.” She functions as part of the team-based model to move population health forward in Scotland County. 

Dr. Davis shared a recent success story from Scotland County and credits Tabitha with the outcome. “Recently, Tabitha contacted one of my chronic disease patients. She encouraged both he and his wife to come in for their Annual Wellness Visits even though they see me regularly for routine care. During their joint visit, he told the nurse he had been having significant shortness of breath when walking up the hill from his house to his barn. Sometimes, this even caused a little discomfort, and he had to stop to rest. During the face-to-face portion of his visit, I examined him and suggested he see a Blessing Physician Services cardiologist. Tabitha and the Population Health Team scheduled a stress test at SCH, and the result came back as abnormal. He followed up at Blessing Hospital soon thereafter for a cardiac catheterization and received angioplasty and stents for critical coronary artery disease. His Annual Wellness Visit literally saved his life. Tabitha played the essential role in making this happen, and his is not the only story. Tabitha has a running list of success in Scotland County and Northeast Missouri. We just can’t say enough about the job that she is doing and the professionalism and poise with which she does it.” Dr. Tobler was proud to share this success. “The ultimate ripple is of course, patient impact. This story from Dr. Davis is a shining example. There are plenty of touching stories of how the ripple that starts with Tabitha translates to “saves”, both acute and chronic, that wouldn’t have happened without her efforts.” 

“What more can we say about Tabitha?” asked Lori Nelson, RN, Clinics Manager at SCH. “Since day one, she has made Population Health her baby and she has nurtured and taken care of the whole project with care and compassion.” It is evident to Tabitha’s entire team that she goes above and beyond and is working diligently to fulfill the mission and vision of Crossriver Quality Health Partners.