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Currents To Medical Center Employees: At the recent Board of Trustees meeting Lisa Montgomery, administrator of Finance and Support Services, reported the Medical Center's unaudited net income for Fiscal Year 02/03 was $12.7 million.  She also shared this report with the management team at a weekly communications meeting and her comments are highlighted below.  I commend everyone for a job well done. While we fell slightly short of our $13 million budget, according to the unaudited findings, we met with much success last fiscal year as I reported in a June 2003 Currents newsletter. As we prepare for the future we will be implementing new methods and systems to enhance our financial performance.  We need to meet our performance targets in order to finance the debt on the new phase I hospital facility. For this fiscal year our budgeted net income is $15.9 million and by fiscal year 2005/06 we will need to achieve a $26.4 increase in fund balance.  Our plan is to pay cash for capital renovations and equipment in the years ahead because of our debt service requirements for the new phase I hospital facility. We expect to make the capital renovation and equipment purchase process more sophisticated and objective. We also will be encouraging all employees to bring forward cost savings opportunities. Everyone’s efforts to control costs while continuing to provide high quality and compassionate patient care will be needed as we prepare for the future.  Thank you very much. W. Stuart Smith Vice President for Clinical Operations and Executive Director, MUSC Medical Center   STAR Productions presents ‘Dave’ In a scene from “Dave,” starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver, Kline’s character stands before the United States congress to admit wrong doing, and thus makes himself, as the president, accountable for his actions. Lois Kerr, JCAHO consultant, showed the scene to emphasize that while it’s important for individual leaders to be accountable, it’s equally important for all managers, directors, senior staff, nurse executives, and executive leaders to display accountability and leadership. According to JCAHO, the major functions of an organization’s leadership are planning and designing services, directing services, integrating and coordinating services, and improving performance.  Planning and designing consists of a mission, vision, values, a strategic plan, and other plans and policies to support the mission of the organization. The medical center leadership must also plan for all JCAHO patient care and organizational functions. The MUSC mission is to provide excellence in patient care, teaching and research in an environment that is respectful of others, adaptive to change, and accountable for outcomes. The MUSC organizational values are accountability, respect, excellence, and adaptability. The following are essentials for planning according to JCAHO standards: Plan for appropriate care of patients under legal restriction; Communicate the mission, vision, and values; Base plans on identified patient needs; Include community collaboration; Respond to patient and family expectations; Provide services in a timely fashion; Medical staff approves outside sources of care; Planning must include performance improvement priorities and must adjust planning in response to unusual or urgent events; Planning gives priority to processes that affect large numbers of patients, processes that place patients at risk if not performed well, if performed when not indicated, or not performed when indicated, and problem prone processes. JCAHO requires a regular assessment of patient and family expectations and satisfaction with care, including patient education, and those results must be used in the planning process. Planning must also be responsive, meaning it must address emerging needs identified through data collection and assessment, unantici-pated adverse occurrences affecting patients, changing regulations, significant patient and staff needs, changes in the environment of care, and changes in the community. JCAHO outlines uniform processes of care and states that patients with problems and care needs have a right to receive the same quality of care throughout the hospital and the access and appropriateness of care do not depend on patients’ ability to pay for services. The scopes of services must be in writing, approved by administration, medical staff or both, and each department provides care according to those written goals. Leadership must define clinical practice guidelines that identify criteria for selection and implementation consistent with mission and priorities, are reviewed and approved guidelines selected for implementation, and coincide with determined refinements to improve processes.  Department directors are specifically responsible for integrating services with the hospital’s primary function and other departments, developing and implementing policies, recommending a sufficient number of staff (qualified and competent), continuously assessing and improving departmental performance, maintain QC programs, provide orientation, in-service training, and continuing education for all persons in department, and recommend space and resources. Financial Update Lisa Montgomery, Finance and Support Services, told managers that the medical center came out on top this year concerning the budget, with $12.7 million net income. Montgomery translated this figure into a less than 1  percent variance when compared to the $13 million net income budgeted and asked the group to give themselves a round of applause. The budgeted net income for 2003-2004 is $15.9 million and in preparation for the large amount of debt MUSC will accrue in order to build the new hospital, Montgomery outlined the medical center’s thinking behind moving into a cash based spending system. Essentially this means that no more equipment will be leased and each dollar to leave the hospital will be carefully evaluated and based on priority.  Policy Update Rosemary Ellis, Quality director, told managers that should any of them or their staff have questions about a new physician in a unit, department or area and that person’s credentials, he or she may call 792-3932 during regular business hours and after hours contact an HFC office in MUH, both OR’s, both ER’s, or the IOP.  MUSC Customer Service Policy A-72 was reviewed with no revisions made.  Announcements Dave Neff, Ambulatory Care Administration, introduced John Sanders as the new Children’s Hospital administrator.  Sanders last position was with duPont Hospital for Children where he was the associate  administrator. Prior to that, he was an administrator with TriHealth in Cincinnati. Sanders started his career here at MUSC and is “glad to be coming home.”     Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to petersnd@musc.edu or catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Community Press at 849-1778.