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Town Hall Meeting Organizational goals, surveys discussed Stuart Smith, vice president for clinical operations and executive director of the Medical Center, greeted employees before outlining issues and information featured in the meeting’s 45-minute agenda.  Using the MUSC Excellence pillars format, Smith reviewed details relating to organizational goals, employee perspectives survey and action plans, service lines and name change associated with the MUSC clinical enterprise. Service: Serving the public with compassion, respect and excellence Smith reported on Fiscal Year (FY) 2007/third quarter (Jan-March) results of each service area’s patient satisfaction survey data. Using Press Ganey as the Patient Satisfaction Survey vendor, the survey is reported by mean scores and percentiles and compared to other similarly-sized (non-academic) hospitals within its database.   Smith pointed out that for purposes of this report, the Medical Center’s scores are compared to all hospitals in the Press Ganey database.  The Medical Center’s scores are more favorable when compared with other academic medical centers.    For the third quarter, gains were reported in the Children’s Hospital, Outpatient Radiology, Ambulatory Surgery, Ambulatory Care, Adult ED, and Inpatient/Outpatient Behavioral Health. Adult Hospital Patient Satisfaction—Scores continue to rise in this area since FY07/first quarter (40th percentile) to (51st percentile). Ambulatory Care—Because the Press Ganey tool has been used in this area since FY 2005 (longer than any of the hospital service areas), the patient satisfaction rankings continue to remain steady. Ambulatory Care has surpassed its goal (62nd percentile)  and currently stands at the 65th percentile.  Children’s Hospital—Numbers reflected a significant jump in the Patient Satisfaction scores from the first quarter (42nd percentile) to second quarter (77th percentile). This is attributed to the introduction of AIDET training (Acknowledge, Introduce, Duration, Explanation and Thank You) to hospital staff. The third quarter ranking is in the 73rd percentile. Leadership will introduce a new pilot that will track the benefits of inpatient/outpatient post-discharge phone calls or visits as conducted by staff. Adult ED—Deemed as this quarter’s success story, the area is challenged by limited space and staff. Patient Satisfaction numbers have nearly tripled since its original first quarter efforts (21st percentile) to third quarter numbers (63rd percentile) exceeding its goal of the 50th percentile.  Inpatient Behavioral Health—Patient satisfaction numbers have steadily increased from first quarter (32nd percentile) to second quarter (36th percentile). Third quarter results have reached the (51st percentile). Smith reviewed a patient satisfaction measurement summary that provided a side-by-side comparison of the 13 service areas and their activity through three quarters beginning July 1, 2006 to March 31. Some areas have been subdivided like Outpatient Radiology and Lab and Emergency-Adult, Pediatrics and Charleston Memorial Hospital (CMH). People: Fostering employee pride and loyalty Smith reported the Medical Center is not on target with its goal to reduce employee turnover to 14.5 percent.  The current turnover of 17 percent is not out of line with the industry norm, but misses the target. Smith explained the goal was ambitious and the turnover is difficult to change quickly since it’s measured during a 12 “rolling months” period. A substantial amount of turnover is not preventable. A work team is currently drilling down and examining all 35 turnover reasons, data reporting methods, operational procedures and profiles (length of service, job category, age, etc.) of employees who leave employment. Smith explained as we move forward, we will roll out new methods to retain employees and reduce preventable turnover.  Quality: Providing quality patient care in a safe environment MUSC’s goals for the mortality index (the function of how well our patients do versus what’s expected) is compared to a national database.  As of December 2006, the Medical Center’s index was .76 compared to its goal of .77.   Smith stated that in the future the mortality index formula will be revised and our goal will need to be modified.  Finance: Providing the highest value to patients while ensuring financial stability The operating margin goal for FY07/third quarter remains above the set goal (5 percent), which is considered the industry standard. By operating at this level, hospitals are able to purchase new equipment, begin new programs and pay competitively in the marketplace.   The operating margin will be impacted by the fall opening of the new Ashley River Tower, which will provide almost double the capacity of patient care space. Next year’s mortgage payment is expected to equal this year’s profit thus affecting the operating margin.       FTEs Per Adjusted Occupied Beds (including Ambulatory Care) is evaluated as a measurement of efficiency for length of stay, which has steadily decreased. This does not affect discharges. Currently, MUSC is not meeting the FTE goals set by industry standards. According to Smith, a comparison of the FTE-adjusted discharge goal is a better measurement for the organization. Growth: Growing to meet the needs of those we serve Inpatient growth during FY07/third quarter has reached its highest numbers ever with 7.5 percent in March. This high reflects the length of stay numbers. Outpatient Growth remains steady and is above its goal at 7.5 percent in March. Employee Perspectives Survey Betts Ellis, administrator for institutional relations, revisited the previous employee satisfaction survey conducted in July 2005 and then gave an update on the employee perspectives survey conducted last October.   The survey results were used to develop department-specific and organizationwide action plans. He stated everyone should be familiar with their departmental action plans.    Ellis gave an overview of the  action plans developed by the administrative team. The plans include tactics and focus upon the following opportunities: Overall, I am satisfied with this organization; Senior Leadership can be trusted to be straightforward and honest; I would recommend this organization to a friend as a good place to work; Overall, I am satisfied with my job.   Among other points, Ellis stated that all managers have been given employee satisfaction goals based upon mean scores from the employee perspectives survey.  Managers with departmental mean scores of 70 or higher are asked to sustain or improve; those with scores from 69.9 to 60 have a goal to improve two points; those with scores of 59.9 or less have a goal to improve three points. Another survey is planned for August. Ashley River Tower MUSC formally announced Ashley River Tower (ART) as the name of the new hospital facility. In an effort to embrace MUSC’s growing presence among specialty services around the Tri-county, MUSC leaders will announce a new name for the entire clinical enterprise. The new name chosen is MUSC Health and will be incorporated in marketing and public relations campaigns. The MUSC Medical Center name will remain synonymous with the downtown hospital site.     Smith also announced the establishment of a clinical service line management model in ART. The service lines model features the partnership between a physician and administrative leader in the Children’s Hospital, Digestive Disease Center and Heart & Vascular Center. Service lines are expected to meet patients and providers’ needs for convenience, access, consistency and quality of care. Both leaders will share accountability for service line performance.   Starting July 1, four service lines will be introduced in the Children’s Hospital (Phil Saul, M.D., medical director, John Sanders, administrator); Digestive Disease Center (Mark Delegge, M.D., medical director; Vicki Marsi, administrator); Heart & Vascular Center (Eric Powers, M.D., medical director; Bill Spring, administrator) and Transplant Center (Prabakar Baliga, M.D., medical director; Ken Chavin, M.D., David Ploth, M.D., Mark Payne, M.D., interim team of physicians, and June Darby, interim administrator).     Friday, May 4, 2007 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 catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Island Publications at 849-1778, ext. 201.