In 2014, Yale New Haven Hospital experienced a year of high patient demand. Inpatient volume decreased slightly, with 78,529 patient discharges, but outpatient visits increased to 1.2 million – more than 9 percent higher than last year. YNHH’s “Y Access” patient transfer center grew significantly with an average of nearly 500 transfers per month for a total of 5,878 cases; a 5 percent increase over the previous year. To support more patient transfers, YNHH announced SkyHealth, an air ambulance service which is a joint venture between North Shore-Long Island Jewish Hospital and YNHHS.
Yale New Haven Hospital received national recognition for its clinical programs and services ranking among the country’s top hospitals in 11 specialties in U.S. News & World Report's annual “America’s Best Hospitals.” Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital was also ranked among the best nationally for seven pediatric subspecialties by U.S. News in the 2013-14 Best Children’s Hospitals rankings.
To enhance access to ambulatory programs, YNHH opened several new care sites last year, including a Pediatric Specialty Center in Trumbull and two outpatient Smilow Care Centers in Trumbull and Fairfield, as well as a new ophthalmic oncology suite in Smilow Cancer Hospital. YNHCH opened a Maternal Fetal Medicine Center and expanded the Pediatric Specialty Center at Long Wharf.
YNHH continued to make major investments in the Saint Raphael Campus. The Grimes Center was renovated to better meet patients’ rehabilitation and post-surgery orthopedic needs, and operating rooms and cardiac catheterization labs at the Saint Raphael Campus also underwent major construction this year. The Hospital continued to transition clinical programs between campuses, moving elective joint replacements and spine surgery to the Saint Raphael Campus, as well as opening the prototype inpatient unit for the new Musculoskeletal Center on the Verdi 4 North unit. Geriatrics began its move to the Saint Raphael Campus, and the new Center for Restorative Care for Older Adults prepared to open on Verdi 4 West.
