Jan. 8, 1998

I am pleased to bring you a great piece of news to start off 1998. MUSC Medical Center has once again been named one of the top 100 hospitals in the country in HCIA-Mercer’s “100 Top Hospitals of 1997.” This ranking, based on hospitals’ performance in comparison to a “model” hospital, reflects the ability of hospitals to manage their institutions efficiently and deliver high-quality patient care. Our being included is truly the result of a collective effort by every member of our staff and faculty. I thank you and congratulate you. More about the study is included elsewhere in this newsletter.

W. Stuart Smith Interim Vice President for Clinical Operations CEO, MUSC Medical Center

MUSC Medical Center a Top 100 Hospital for 1997

• The HCIA-Mercer ranking of the top hospitals in the country includes MUSC Medical Center for the second year in a row. This annual study by HCIA Inc., a health care information company, and William M. Mercer Incorporated, a consulting firm, looked at more than 3,000 hospitals nationwide. The performance measures used were:
• Risk-adjusted mortality index;
• Risk-adjusted complications index;
• Severity-adjusted average length of stay;
• Expense per adjusted discharge, case mix-ad- justed and wage-adjusted;
• Profitability (cash flow margin);
• Index of outpatient activity;
• Index of total facility occupancy;
• Long-term growth in equity; and
• Productivity (total asset turnover ratio).
• The study focuses exclusively on general, short-term, acute-care, non-federal U.S. hospitals. Some specialty hospitals, such as children’s, psychiatric and rehabilitation hospitals, smaller hospitals and those in several other categories are excluded from the group of hospitals considered in the study or chosen as benchmarks. Data used in the study is gathered from public domain sources (such as Medicare cost report and discharge data).
• MUSC Medical Center was placed in the category of major teaching hospitals having more than 400 acute-care beds. Fifteen other hospitals in this category were among those in the top 100.

Announcements

• The management team will participate in a day-long retreat on Thursday, Jan. 29. Main topics of the retreat will be compliance issues and the Medical Center’s tactical plan.
• The Department of Health and Environmental Control is expected to conduct its licensure inspection of the Medical Center soon. The unannounced inspection is overdue and could begin any day.
• The federal Department of Justice is in the early stages of an investigation into physician billing practices at hospitals around the country, including MUSC Medical Center. Presently, MUSC lawyers are responding to requests for information.
• T-shirts celebrating MUSC Medical Center’s “Accreditation With Commendation” on the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations survey last summer will be distributed to Medical Center employees this week.

Recognition for a Job Well Done

• The following areas recently received recognition from patients or customers in the form of APPLAUSE Awards (managers’ names appear in parentheses): 10 East (Colleen Corish); MICU (Cindy Layne); 9 West (Jennifer Hebra); Medical Center Benefits Office (Katy Kuder and Janet Browning); 7A (Carolyn Viall); Pharmacy (Marc Summerfield); and Employee Health Services (Laurie Zone-Smith).

Fellowship Program Under Way

• The Medical Center is participating in a fellowship program involving three fellows (a journalist, a philosopher and a lawyer) who will be working with several different departments throughout the hospital. This five-month program is designed to provide leaders from areas outside the health care industry with a close-up look at how patient care is delivered. The fellows’ training program includes a variety of seminars and research activities.

WorkMed Carolina to Operate Employee Health Services

• The MUSC Board of Trustees approved WorkMed Carolina, a division of Carolina Family Care, to be MUSC’s occupational medicine provider and operate Employee Health Services. Laurie Zone-Smith, manager of Employee Health Services, announced that MUSC’s contractual agreement with WorkMed Carolina to provide employee health services was effective Jan. 1. All MUSC University and Medical Center employees who sustain a work-related injury or an occupational exposure will be seen by WorkMed Carolina. The office will remain at 158 Rutledge Ave. Office hours are 7 a.m. - 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. After-hours care is available at MUSC Emergency Services.
• The WorkMed team includes: Barry Weissglass, M.D., medical director and administrator; Cheryl Brian-Buse, nurse manager; James Hanna, operations manager and manager of the North Charleston office of WorkMed Carolina; and Sue Ivey, director of marketing and technical support. A.W. Hursey, M.D., and David Gross, P.A., provide services for WorkMed Carolina. WorkMed reports to Howard Evert, M.D., president of Carolina Family Care.
• Contracted services include all the services that have been provided by Employee Health Services (such as the TB satellite, pre-employment screening and vaccines). The WorkMed team also can provide medical case management of occupational injuries, evaluate potential hazards in the work place, help control infection and help prevent work place accidents.
• Wayne Brannan, director of University Risk Management, went over the steps to take when an employee is injured on the job. He said WorkMed Carolina is authorized to see only employees who need new-hire physicals, annual physicals (required for some job classes) or who have bona fide injuries or occupational exposures that have occurred during the performance of their job duties. Employees who are injured on the job will need to bring a “First Report of Injury” form, signed by the manager or supervisor reporting the incident, with them to WorkMed Carolina (or to Emergency Services after hours).