To Medical Center Employees

At the April 5 management communication meeting Brad Masteller, general manager, Sodexo Dietetic Services, and Mary Basil, nutrition manager, gave the management team an impressive update on a wide variety of initiatives ranging from optimizing nutrition for very low birth weight babies to community support projects. The opening of the renovated University Hospital cafeteria and the "at your request bedside meals," as discussed by Masteller, have both been a big hit this year. Masteller mentioned the January AVATAR patient satisfaction results indicate a mean score of 92.34 for "room service" and, for the Children's Hospital, a Press Ganey survey ranking of 95th percentile for "quality of food." Additional details are included in this newsletter.

Christine Lewis, Coding and Processing manager, updated the management team on a major project underway to convert the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) 9 codes to ICD-10 codes for diagnoses and procedures. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is requiring these changes by October 2013. The changes will involve a dramatic increase in the number of new codes and will require a new system and education. We can expect a number of related operational and policy changes in the future. Additional details are in this newsletter.

On another matter, recently you may have read an article in The Catalyst concerning advancements with social media. Our Public Relations, Marketing and other departments throughout the organization have been creative in using social media to enhance our communication and business operations. Not surprisingly, abuse of social media, such as Facebook, has been observed here and at other hospitals. I have asked a task force to revisit our current guidelines and policies and prepare recommendations on how we can maintain access to Facebook and other social media while eliminating on-the-job abuse. The task force's recommendations will be disseminated in or around June 2011.

Finally, we continue to make progress with drilling down on our 5 + 5 cost savings plans as discussed in previous Currents newsletters and town hall meetings. Our goal is to reduce costs (using fiscal year 2009 as the base year) by 5 percent this year and 5 percent next year while improving the quality of care. We are using the IMPROVE performance improvement tool to structure and track our cost savings. We currently have more than 300 individual costs savings (IMPROVE) plans covering topics such as: reductions in average length of stay; operating room turnover; discharge process; standardization of contracts, supply savings, reduction of bloodstream infections; improved blood utilization; reduction of overtime and many others. At this point our costs, in general, appear flat over the base period, but we have absorbed a pay increase and routine inflation increases. I am optimistic that in the next several months that we will see the results of much hard work. I want to thank everyone involved for your dedicated efforts.

Thank you very much.

W. Stuart Smith
Vice President for Clinical Operations
and Executive Director, MUSC Medical Center

People–Fostering employee pride and loyalty

Sodexo update
Brad Masteller, Dietetic Services general manager, and Mary Basel, chief clinical dietitian and nutrition manager, reviewed highlights from a recent expectations meeting with MUHA administrators. He reviewed details from completed projects such as last August's Phase 2 renovation and grand opening (University Hospital Cafeteria); At Your Request Room Service Dining (University Hospital); Sodexo's Star Chef Club; Sodexo's Global Chef program and other programs that contributed to improved patient satisfaction scores.

Basel spoke about progress made in clinical nutrition from staff presenting research, Dietetic Services Partnership (enteral ordering and delivery); parenteral nutrition, MUSC-Citadel's Heart Health program to a partnership with Weight Management Program supporting food service employees.

Other successful projects include Healthy Holiday Cooking demonstrations, food swap, Stuff the Bus campaign; sustainability harvests with local farmers, Katie's Krops, recycling and other activities.

HR update
Helena Bastian, MUHA Human Resources director, presented the following topics:
New HR Performance Improvement Initiative—Recruiters now rounding monthly on pool of new hires with goals to improve— retention of new hires, application tracking system (People Admin), On boarding process, and HR Web site to include New Hire links

SuccessFactors Job Transitions —If an employee is in a new job or if the job has significantly changed, a Transitional Planning form is available in SuccessFactors to assist managers with the evaluation process. Contact Kim Duncan, 792-1962, duncanki@musc.edu or Michelle Forman, 792-6219, foreman@musc.edu.

Retirement Plan selection (employees in regular [permanent] positions)—All employees hired into regular (permanent) positions, regardless of the number of hours worked, must participate in a retirement plan and make a selection in first 30 days of regular (permanent) employment. For information, contact the Benefits Desk, 792-0826.

LDI Tracking Database update—The database is down from 10-11 a.m., Tuesdays and Thursdays. Managers are encouraged to close out the database prior to 10 a.m. on those days. LDI tracking database classes are offered from 1-2:30 p.m., the second Thursday of each month. Register via CATTS

Staff Qualifications form update —POCT, CATTS and Annual Unit/Department Position competency fields are now reported as an "expire date or not applicable" field (similar to the BLS, ACLS and Respiratory Fit Testing)

Key points to staff qualifications update—new date fields have been automatically populated with a Dec. 1 date (you may change these dates to coincide with your unit requirements as needed). CATTS field will be updated to reflect 2010 data; reports for new fields were updated as of March 31; staff qualification reports should now reflect new data

MUHA PTO Transfer Request for 2011 Yes Campaign
In support of 2011 YES Campaign, MUHA will afford eligible employees the opportunity to transfer PTO hours to support the campaign. This request is separate and independent of any other YES Campaign pledges. Employees may transfer the cash value of PTO hours. MUHA will write a check for the total cash value of PTO hours transferred Transferred hours will not be considered gross income. Employees will not pay normal taxes on the value of leave transferred.

MUHA has been advised by tax counsel that PTO hours transferred cannot be claimed as a tax deductible gift and eligible employees must have a remaining balance of 120 PTO hours

Employees may request to transfer a minimum of eight hours/maximum of 40 hours of accrued PTO to support the campaign.
MUHA PTO Transfer Request will be available via My Record on or around April 10.

Benefit of the Month—April
Fitness at Work—MUSC Employee Fitness Series; Wellness Wednesday Booths, National Start! Walking Day (April 20); Earth Day Celebration (April 21); Bike to Work Day (April 21); Fitness Fair (April 27) and Fitness Fun Facts posted on broadcast messages.

Classification of Diseases—ICD-10 Revision Implementation
Christine Lewis, Health Information Services and Medical Records, explained changes with the international classification of diseases (ICD-9) procedure code sets. Beginning in fall 2013, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services will implement a new version of procedure code sets with ICD-10 (diagnoses) and ICD-10-PCS (inpatient procedures). MUSC and all payors must comply with this change by Oct. 1, 2013. Migrating accurately to this new coding system will affect the medical center's revenue. The new ICD-10 system provides room for expansion and upgrades the institution to international standards. To prepare for this migration, all MUSC systems must be synched. An implementation team was formed to guide this complex process. In January 2012, the hospital will change its version 4010 to version 5010 billing specs to reflect the ICD-10 change. The team is evaluating its coding processes, work via audits and analysis as well as preparing an educational plan to train and communicate changes.

Nurse Manager Council
Natalie Ankney, R.N., chair of Nurse Manager Council, introduced details about the council and how clinical staff can submit an agenda item and present to the council. Last fall, the group focused on improvements making it more efficient, productive and approachable. They added a new steering council to help streamline proposed topics and presentations. Presenters may complete and submit a Nurse Manager Council topic request form by the end of the month and prior to the steering council's monthly meeting (1st Wednesday). For information, visit their website via the MUHA intranet.

Quality—Providing quality patient care in a safe environment
Pat Gaylor, R.N., quality and safety specialist, spoke about this year's Culture of Safety Survey.
This survey serves to support a leadership standard set by the Joint Commission that leaders create and maintain a culture of safety and quality throughout the organization. As of April 4, 26 percent MUSC employees completed the survey with the top three areas for completion being Environmental Services (100 percent), Dietetics (82 percent) and Facilities (61 percent). Gaylor encourages all employees to complete the survey. Individual employee survey responses are confidential. The survey is open until April 15.

Announcements
April is National Donate Life Month; On April 22, the MUSC Transplant Center will host a blood, bone and marrow and South Carolina organ donor registry drive at the portico from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. For information, call Sara Stello at 792-4658.

The next meeting is April 19.