October 15, 1998

I am pleased to announce that the MUSC Medical Center was honored last week by the National Research Corporation (NRC) by being named a 1998 Quality Leader along with co-winner Roper Hospital. The NRC annually recognizes the facilities most preferred by consumers for overall health care services based on a nationally syndicated study of nearly 170,000 households. The study compiles households’ perspectives on health plans, physicians, medical care, health systems, hospitals and communities’ health status. The announcement will be featured in the Oct. 12 edition of Modern Healthcare.

At the recent Board of Trustees meeting the Strategic Plan, including restructuring options, was approved in principle. The Board commended our planning efforts. Now the challenge will begin with implementation of the plan.

In regard to restructuring options, we are committed to open and continuous communication with employees. We have done a lot of homework in looking into how other leading academic health centers have restructured. While the decision making process concerning restructuring will be lengthy, we intend to ensure for the best interests of all Medical Center employees while fulfilling our institutional goals. I will discuss the restructuring options more at our next communications meeting.

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

Announcements

Paging System Upgrade

• Jane Lunn, manager, Hospital Communications, announced an upcoming paging system upgrade. It will be a two night process on October 22 and 23 beginning at 8 p.m. and ending at approximately 4 a.m. The communications system will be completely out of service for directory assistance and routine paging during these time periods. It is important to communicate to Simon System users that alphamate and PC based paging will not function during the outage. Operators will have limited capability to send urgent/emergent clinical pages on the back-up paging system during this time. Everyone is encouraged to be creative in establishing alternative options for locating telephone numbers and communicating with colleagues. Overhead paging will be available for in-house paging, but will be limited to minimize disturbance to patients. Portable radios will be available for any care providers who have a need to be in continuous contact with a particular unit/colleague.

ADA Resource Manual

• Susan Carullo, manager, Employment, Compensation and Employee Relations for Medical Center Human Resources, announced the upcoming distribution of a new resource manual which outlines the physical requirements to be included on position descriptions as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Department of Labor. The MUSC Department of Human Resources Management engaged the services of Rothaermel Associates, Inc., to conduct an objective assessment of physical requirements of jobs to prepare the manual.
• The manuals are being distributed to business officers. The purpose of the manuals is to help with the ease of administration and ensure compliance with ADA.
• The manual includes more than 100 comprehensive listings of physical requirements for a wide range of jobs. The appropriate listing must either be included in the verbiage of a position description or a copy of the listing may be attached to the position description. If you have variations from these descriptions or need clarification, please contact either Susan Carullo at 792-1684 or Eric Frisch at 792-7908. Additional details will be issued to managers soon.

Nursing License Renewals

• Carullo advised that nursing license renewals were mailed out by the State Board of Nursing in October. She requests that each unit collect its nursing licenses and forward two copies to the Nurse Recruitment office by Jan. 15, 1999. Please remember to keep a copy for your unit files.

Ambulatory Care Services’ New Home

• The Ambulatory Care Services Administration offices previously located in rooms 110 and 106 of the Clinical Sciences Building have moved to 136 Rutledge Avenue, across from Rutledge Tower. The Ambulatory Care Services Administrative Services offices previously located at 26 Bee Street have also moved to this new location. The new address is: Ambulatory Care Services 136 Rutledge Avenue, Ste. 200, P.O. Box 250577, Charleston, SC 29425 (843) 876-1360 (843) 876-1358

Reminder - Clinics Open On Election Day

• Dave Neff, administrator, Ambulatory Care Services, reminded the management team that the clinics will be open on Tuesday, Nov. 3, which is Election Day.

Information Management Survey

• Christine Lewis, manager, Coding and Record Processing in Health Information Services, announced an upcoming information management survey which will be conducted during the Oct. 27 Communications meeting.
• Lewis explained that completion of the annual survey is needed to fulfill Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) standards. Lewis encouraged managers and directors to obtain a copy of the Information Management Plan, if they haven’t already, to familiarize themselves with last year’s survey results (see appendix in Plan). Copies of the Information Management Plan are available through Vivian Gettys at 792-7688.
• Anyone who wishes to see the survey prior to the Oct. 27 communications meeting or who is unable to attend the meeting can receive it via E-mail. Contact Susan Sellers of Health Information Services by E-mail (sellerss) or by calling 792-3863.

Cost Accounting

• Donna Johnson, manager, Fiscal Services, introduced David Reynolds, Decision Support Analyst, who reported on the improved cost accounting system process which is supported by the Trendstar decision support system. The cost accounting system will enable departments to better measure and quantify expense and resource utilization, thus allowing for improved management of operating costs.
• Reynolds briefly outlined the system and its capabilities. Reports detailing costs at the procedure level may be produced to categorize and analyze costs for many categories of patient and procedure groupings.
• Reynolds is available to meet with departments or individuals to review reports in detail and answer any questions. He can be contacted at 792-1701.