CurrentsTo Medical Center Employees:On Aug. 31 and Sept. 1 three town hall sessions for Medical Center employees will be held as previously announced. We began town hall meetings last September and this will be the fourth round of meetings. The town hall meetings are intended to underscore our commitment to open communication. Among other things we will discuss our pilot incentive program experience and future efforts to take our tactical plan to the “next level.” Questions will be addressed. Additional details concerning the town hall meeting will be included in the next Currents. At the beginning of fiscal year 04/05 we rolled out a pilot incentive plan which called for a 1 percent lump sum award provided the Medical Center met both financial and patient satisfaction goals. While we met our financial goals, we did not achieve the desired patient satisfaction score increases. We plan to schedule an event on the horseshoe to celebrate our financial success. Clearly we are doing many things right. We have a good organizational infrastructure in place with our tactical plan. Much work is ongoing related to quality and performance improvement, patient satisfaction assessment, patient safety, enhancement of human resources practices and employee satisfaction, communication, and other priorities. In the months ahead we will update our tactical plan, to include emphasis upon service excellence, patient satisfaction, employee satisfaction and other priorities. We expect to engage the Studer Group sometime this Fall for a three day assessment involving interviews with a cross-section of the organization. Depending upon the assessment findings and subject to appropriate approval we will seek assistance from the Studer Group to take our tactical plan to the next level. Our plan will be to “hardwire excellence” and this will involve a long term process with accomplishments along the way. Thank you very much. W. Stuart Smith Vice President for Clinical Operations and Executive Director, MUSC Medical Center Blood team created to increase donationsRed Cross representative Becky Davidson announced a “Bloodhound Team” concept for increasing blood donations at MUSC. She said that by creating a Bloodhound Team in each department where people are not only encouraged to give blood, but to recruit others to give blood and recruit recruiters, donations can increase.For incentives there will be “top dog” trophies and “traveling” trophies to recognize individuals and departments. Also coupons to redeem yogurt, Chick-fil-A sandwiches and other treats are being offered. Posters and sign-up sheets are being circulated. The blood donation room is located on the second floor of the hospital across from 2West Amphitheater. Davidson said that the number one reason people give as to why they don’t donate blood is that they were never asked. Finance Update Finance director, John Cooper, said that at year-end, and with the final audit process yet to be completed, the Medical Center records a bottom line of $24.7 million. While this is a substantial improvement from the Medical Center’s -$28.1 million in 1999, it still falls short of the industry standard of 5 percent or $32.4. Cooper said that at present the hospital has 21 days of cash in reserve, a figure that could fluctuate throughout the month and is affected by payroll and other expenses. Compliance Training Update Compliance officer, Reese Smith, credited Christine Lewis and her team of coders for their fifth consecutive successful DOG coding audit, which had a 100 percent accuracy rate. She also announced that CANTS compliance training is due Dec. 31. Smith, along with Kelly Shaw and Nancy Pope will be contacting managers in the fall to schedule time to attend staff meetings to make a brief presentation to staff regarding compliance. Human Resources Update Susan Carullo, employment and compensation manager, gave an update on several initiatives under way in the PeopleAdmin system that will improve communication with applicants and streamline the job posting process. Applicants will soon receive an e-mail that informs them that their application has been sent to the hiring manager for review. A follow-up e-mail is planned to inform applicants if that position has been filled. In addition to these initiatives, Human Resources is working with PeopleAdmin to streamline the posting process to enable managers to post their own job openings. Carullo also made a request for volunteers to participate in our mentoring program. This is an outreach programs aimed at high school students within the community. Anyone interested should e-mail Carullo at carullos@musc.edu. Helena Bastian, director of Human Resources, announced that the Human Resources and payroll systems will not be available for routine changes from Sept. 1 through 6, due to a scheduled migration to a new server. Bastian also announced that the Medical Center’s Human Resources procedure for pre-employment drug screening will be implemented soon. The (post-offer) drug screening procedure will be effective Sept. 6, and will be required of all Medical Center (Hospital Authority) new hires. Human Resources’ applicant Web site (http://www.muscjob.com) will inform prospective applicants of this new requirement. Hiring officials are also requested to communicate this information to prospective employees. The drug screening procedure will also affect the language in the Employee Health and Employment Procedure Policies. Policy Management Update Rosemary Ellis, outcomes and quality management director, announced the following policy updates and added that any questions or requests for additional information should be addressed to the contact individual listed:
Smoking Initiatives Children’s Hospital administrator John Sanders presented a brief overview of the Medical Center’s smoking policy:
Friday, Sept. 2, 2005
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