Kevin Elledge has been named chief administrative officer for OU Physicians, the physician practice of the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine.
In his new role, Elledge will work closely with OU Physician leadership to advance the mission of patient care across the OU Health Sciences Center enterprise. He will be responsible for the collective business and operational performance of the OU Physicians clinical practice, including the provision of core practice management services, revenue cycle functions, financial management, clinical operations, strategy development, information technology and analytics. Elledge will support the delivery of high-quality patient care across OU Physicians practice divisions and clinical units and will ensure coordination with the University’s missions of education and research.
Elledge has more than 14 years of experience with OU Physicians, most recently serving as the executive director of operations.
“As interim chief administrative officer, Kevin has worked tirelessly and very effectively to advance a number of important initiatives for our group,” said OU Physicians President Jesus Medina, M.D. “He has earned my respect as a trustworthy administrator, manager and leader. I am excited to continue working with him for the benefit of our organization.”
Elledge holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Central Oklahoma. Prior to joining OU Physicians, he resided in Atlanta where he founded and operated a successful healthcare technology company.
With more than 1,000 doctors and advanced practice providers, OU Physicians is the state’s largest physician group. The practice encompasses almost every adult and child specialty. Many OU Physicians have expertise in the management of complex conditions that is unavailable anywhere else in the state, region or sometimes even the nation. Some have pioneered surgical procedures or innovations in patient care that are world firsts.

Independent studies place Mercy in the lead for quality of care and patient safety

Shorter hospital stays, fewer complications and better patient results are just a few metrics used to rank Mercy as a leading health care organization. For the third year in a row, Mercy is one of the top five large U.S. health systems in the 2018 Watson Health 15 Top Health System study. In addition, Mercy Hospital Oklahoma City received an “A” safety grade from The Leapfrog Group, an independent hospital watchdog group, in ratings released today.
“This level of national recognition reflects the hard work of countless co-workers who care for our patients every single day,” said Jim Gebhart, president of Mercy Hospital Oklahoma City and regional strategy officer. “We have made these efforts across many communities and many states because, like the Sisters of Mercy before us, we are dedicated to providing exceptional care for all.”
The Watson Health study, formerly the Truven Health Analytics study, analyzes 338 health systems and 2,422 hospitals across the U.S. Leapfrog Hospital Safety Scores assign A, B, C, D and F letter grades to 2,500 hospitals nationwide, providing the most complete picture of patient safety in the U.S. health care system.
Both Watson and Leapfrog combine rigorous analysis of individual hospital performance and metrics by using objective, independent research and public data sources. Hospitals and health systems do not apply for consideration.
Mercy outperformed peers in the following ways:
*Saved more lives and caused fewer patient complications
*Lower cost of care
*Readmitted patients less frequently
*Shorter wait times in emergency departments
*Shorter hospital stays
*Better patient safety
*Higher patient satisfaction
Some of the keys to improving the quality of patient care have included efforts made possible because of Mercy’s dedicated team, leading technology and best practices:
* Hand hygiene, while seemingly simple, is difficult to enforce, especially across an organization with 40,000 co-workers. By establishing Mercy-wide goals and putting rigorous plans in place, Mercy has reduced one of the most common health-care associated infections, Clostridium difficile (C-diff), by 67 percent from 2016 to the present.
* With more than 2,000 integrated physicians – one of the largest medical groups in the nation – Mercy brings primary care and specialty doctors together to implement proven, clinical-based best practices to improve patient care.
* Mercy was among the first health care organizations in the U.S. to have an integrated electronic health record (EHR) connecting all points of care. With a finely-tuned EHR, clinical best practices can be hard-wired into the system, resulting in triggers that warn of possible complications at very early stages, as well as data that can help reduce variation and improve compliance.
* Specialty councils, made up of physicians, nurses and clinicians, represent more than 40 areas of medicine, providing best practices for everything from heart surgery to the delivery of babies.
“This award speaks to the engagement of our staff and physicians in the journey toward high quality, reliable care,” said Terri-Anne Bone, vice president of performance improvement for Mercy Hospital Oklahoma City. “While the award recognizes our efforts to date, we know that there is work to be done. The kind of diligence our co-workers demonstrate will enable Mercy to continue to improve care in the future.”
Mercy Hospital Oklahoma City was also recently named one of the nation’s 100 Top Hospitals® by IBM Watson Health. In addition, Mercy Hospital Oklahoma City was one of only 13 hospitals in the nation to receive the Everest Award, achieving the highest national benchmarks along with the greatest improvement over five consecutive years.

The seventh annual Cross Family Benefit for the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation will be held on May 7 in Kingfisher. Cowboys from across the country will saddle up to raise money for cancer research and also to honor the life of Floyd Cross.
Cross battled – and defeated – recurring bouts of colon and liver cancer for 12 years before passing away in 2016. The Cross family continues to fight the disease in his honor by raising funds to support cancer research at OMRF.
“The Cross family is a great example of how Oklahomans can do something meaningful to help combat diseases like cancer,” said OMRF Vice President of Development Penny Voss. “Grassroots efforts like this one make a big difference in giving momentum to the world-class research happening right here in Oklahoma City.”
In addition to the steer wrestling competition and t-shirt sales, raffle tickets will be sold for $1 or six for $5 for a wide variety of prizes. A weekend getaway to Red River, New Mexico, will be up for auction.
The event will be held at 1 p.m. at the Kingfisher Rodeo Roundup Club Arena. To enter or for more information, call Sherrie Cross at (405) 375-4872 or (405) 313-1776. The books are open from 10 a.m. until noon on May 7. Admission is free.