Fire Starter

Beaver Dam Community Hospitals, Inc.

Beaver Dam, Wisconsin

In 2007, Beaver Dam Community Hospitals (BDCH) launched an organization-wide initiative to revitalize its relationship with its patients, their families and the community it serves. It started with new hospital leadership and a strategic plan to learn more about what the community expects from its local hospital.

We invested hours of time and worked with outside consultants, community leaders and local residents to better understand the needs and expectations of our community, our patients and their families. We learned a lot in this discovery process, and were able to identify our strengths and areas of improvement. We took all this feedback very seriously, and developed a long-term strategic plan and a comprehensive quality and service initiative to show our patients and our families that we are an experienced, committed team of people who want to provide the highest-quality health care to every patient, every day. As a result of what we learned, we developed a strategic branding initiative, which we've come to know as Excellence. Delivered., to demonstrate our commitment to patient-centered care that exceeds our patient's expectations.

With the help of the Studer Group, we also introduced a new service philosophy, called Delivering Organizational Excellence, which takes our Excellence. Delivered. initiative beyond words and into action. The Studer philosophy has helped shape BDCH into a better place for employees to work, physicians to practice medicine and patients to receive care. We have embraced the five pillars – service, quality, finance, people and growth – that define the Studer philosophy, and have seen our efforts in these areas come to life. Excellence. Delivered., combined with the Studer philosophy, has proven to be a compass for Beaver Dam Community Hospital's progress and growth. Here are some examples of our success in each of the five pillar areas:

SERVICE

Medical director Dr. Richard Tovar and department director Ms. Jamie Hendrix represented Beaver Dam Community Hospital's Emergency Department at the 2008 What's Right in Health Care conference, where they were selected to present the overwhelmingly positive results in patient satisfaction ratings that the hospital has earned since adopting the Studer philosophy. The BDCH Emergency Department team set goals, made commitments and created process changes that have resulted in patient satisfaction ratings in the 97th percentile as of May 2008. Mr. Quint Studer introduced Dr. Tovar and Jamie at the conference, commending their emergency strategies and dramatic positive results. He also noted that BDCH, which joined the Studer Group in 2007, was the "newest" Studer Group partner ever selected to present at the annual conference.
Patient satisfaction percentile rank scores have gradually increased over the past year of Studer philosophy initiatives. As of August 2008 Inpatient satisfaction ranked at 97%, Ambulatory Surgery at 97% and Emergency Services at 91% compared to all other Press Ganey hospitals.
BDCH has implemented an active physician recruiting initiative. This initiative was kicked off with a comprehensive physician survey. Across the board, BDCH scores were significantly above the national average, based on the national database of 42,000 surveyed physicians. Working to keep physician satisfaction high will in turn help BDCH provide the highest level of medical care to our patients and their families.
BDCH is committed to its community, providing various health education and outreach programs at little or no cost to participants. In fiscal 2007 BDCH spent almost $265,000 helping educate the community in healthy living. Some of the most successful community programs offered at BDCH include: Breast health programs and services, diabetic education programs, and our twice-monthly "Health Break" radio programming.

QUALITY

BDCH was awarded Joint Commission Accreditation with a Gold Seal of Approval as a hospital that maintains the highest level of operations and service on a day-to-day basis.
As of August 2008, three of our main service lines – Inpatient, Ambulatory Surgery and Emergency Department – are all in the 90th percentile rank or above in patient's perception of the care received at BDCH.
Due to its dedication to quality and performance, Hillside Home Care was recognized nationally to the 2007 HomeCare Elite, a recognition given to the most successful Medicare-certified home health care providers in the United States.

FINANCE

In April of 2007, our outstanding accounts receivable were at 50 days from date of discharge. The national benchmark is 53 days in All Hospital Median Information by Ingenix. As of July 2008, our outstanding accounts receivable were at 41 days. The improved cash flow enabled BDCH to begin the implementation of Paragon, our new clinical and financial system. Beaver Dam Community Hospitals, Inc., utilized a number of Studer tools to help achieve this reduction in accounts receivable.

PEOPLE

BDCH continues to surpass national averages for employee and physician satisfaction. According to our most recent Employee Pulse Survey, general satisfaction with BDCH was 5.63, compared to a national average of 4.52. In addition, 75% of hospital staff indicated they were satisfied as employees of BDCH, compared to a national average of just 36%.
BDCH employees also feel respected, heard and valued by hospital management, rating the hospital at 3.58 in this category, which was in increase from 3.28 on the previous survey. Our employees also increased the rating for how the hospital's physicians treat the staff, from 3.62 to 3.83.
We implemented and maintain a physician-hospital compact, which defines our belief that collaboration between the Board of Directors, medical staff and administrative team is vital to the success and growth of BDCH.
Based on feedback from employees in past surveys, BDCH made significant improvements to the benefit packages for employees, in the areas of short and long-term disability coverage, vision coverage and dental coverage, and also began an employer matching contribution for our 403(b) plan.
Employee turnover at BDCH is just 15%, compared to the industry average of 17 to 21%.

GROWTH

In 2008 BDCH opened two retail health clinics. BDCH FastCare provides convenient and economical health care services to the general public for many basic health conditions.
Our inpatient market share grew from 54% in 2005 to 57% in 2007 in our zip code.
Based on feedback from a quantitative market research study, preference for our emergency services increased from 41% in 2006 to 47% in 2008.
The number of employees working at BDCH grew 14.3% in the past 5 years.
The Beaver Dam Dialysis Center, offers dialysis services to area residents. The number of patients has doubled since the fall of 2005 to serving an average of 35 patients Monday through Saturday of each week. As a result of this significant increase, the Beaver Dam Dialysis Center expanded it's location to offer 11 dialysis stations, enhanced privacy, and more space in the treatment area.
In September of 2007, the Pain Management Clinic at BDCH expanded it's services and now offers individuals a comprehensive approach to diagnosing and treating their pain.

At the end of the day, a health care continuum is about people. At Beaver Dam Community Hospitals, Inc., we make every effort to go above and beyond the expectations of our patients, their families and our community. Our focus has been, and continues to be, on working as a collaborative team of health care providers, directors, stakeholders and administrators to continually improve our services and programs, and to be the health care provider of choice in our community. With the support of the Studer philosophy, we are making good on our promise to provide the high-quality, compassionate health care. As our Excellence. Delivered. strategic branding program emphasizes, "You have our word on it."

Beaver Dam Community Hospitals, Inc. Executive Team including, Kim Miller, President-CEO; K. Scott Abrams, Vice President-CFO; Joe Bonnett, Vice-President; Amy Nyberg, Vice President of Strategic Planning, Marketing and Development; and Pat Tuckwell, Executive Vice President; would like to thank each and every one of our employees, stakeholders, physicians and board members for their hard work and commitment to delivering excellence to our patients and our communities. Thank you.