Fire Starter

Parkview Health

Fort Wayne, IN

Parkview Health, an eight-hospital healthcare system in northeastern Indiana, is Studer Group's June 2009 Fire Starter of the Month and the Professional Research Consultants (PRC) President's Award recipient for 2009.

The PRC President's Award is presented annually to one organization or individual that has made an extraordinary contribution to healthcare over the past year.

Parkview has made extraordinary contributions to the health of the communities it serves since 1878. As the region's only not-for-profit healthcare system, Parkview reinvests dollars into the community for a better quality of life in many different ways:

We prepare our clinical teams to provide the safest and highest quality of compassionate care.
We partner with community organizations to encourage healthier lifestyles among the citizens of northeast Indiana.
We use new technology for better clinical outcomes.
We plan for greater access to healthcare for the entire region by building state-of-the art hospitals, clinics, treatment centers and outpatient services facilities. The Parkview Health system includes:

a tertiary care hospital with a Level II Adult and Pediatric Trauma Center
A behavioral health facility
Four community hospitals serving LaGrange, Noble, Whitley and Huntington counties in Indiana
A community hospital on the north side of Fort Wayne. Also on campus are an orthopaedic hospital, comprehensive cancer center, women's and children's hospital, outpatient services center and physician's offices.

Currently under construction on the Parkview North campus is the $500 million Parkview Regional Medical Center, with specialty centers focused on cancer, heart, orthopaedics, neurology and women and children. The new Parkview Regional Medical Center will also feature outpatient surgery and diagnostic services and physicians offices. Completion is expected by December of 2011.

The Studer Group Fire Starter of the Month award and PRC President's award is a testament to the determination of Parkview's nearly 7,000 co-workers to provide patients and families with excellent service and outstanding care.

Parkview was chosen as the 2009 recipient of the President's Award for gains in patient perception of care and the manner in which the health system went about achieving those gains. Parkview was also recognized for involving co-workers in the transition, developing initiatives centered around excellence and facing the challenges head-on.

"Parkview truly exceeded my expectations in 2008," said Joe M. Inguanzo, PhD, president & CEO, Professional Research Consultants. "In 29 years I haven't seen another organization make these types of gains in a year. Their commitment to excellence is evident."

Parkview attributes improvements in patient perception of care to the passion of co-workers and leaders who care deeply about providing the best care for our patients. Assimilation of the Studer Group nine principles of service excellence, the Studer "Must Haves^SM" and a new standards of behavior helped co-workers and leaders find a double-time cadence of continual improvement and a sharpened focus on strategic goals and patient satisfaction.

Studer Group initiatives were first introduced to leaders through quarterly meetings – the Parkview Leadership Development Institute (LDI) – beginning in May 2007, less than a year after President and CEO Mike Packnett joined the organization in June 2006. Prior to joining Parkview Health, Packnett served eight years as President and CEO at Mercy Health System of Oklahoma in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He had been with the parent organization, Sisters of Mercy Health of St. Louis, Missouri, since 1993. From 1995-1999, Packnett served as President and CEO of their health system in northwest Arkansas.

Packnett first met Quint Studer in 1999. "At the time, we had been researching ways to improve patient satisfaction, and I thought we had set a pretty high bar for performance," Packnett said. However, after understanding how far advanced Quint was in his thinking, we knew he would be an invaluable resource for us. Over the last 10 years, the Studer Group has been very instrumental in helping me both in Oklahoma and now at Parkview, to develop a culture of excellence. Their tools and coaching have helped us significantly accelerate our performance and dramatically shorten the cultural transformation period."

Parkview measures success in four areas: Safety/Quality, Service Excellence, Resources (Human and Financial) and growth. Performance evaluations and incentive bonuses at all levels of the organization are now tied to those four measures of success and to standards of behavior.

In addition, Parkview has stepped up as a community business leader, taking on the responsibilities that go along with being the region's largest employer.

"Success is not just about patient perception of care scores," said Rick Henvey, senior vice president, Service Excellence. "The real question is, how many people's lives can we touch in positive ways? Parkview's success – and our approach to service excellence – hinges on the creation of a culture of clinical, service and operational excellence. "Working as servant leaders, we can all be better individuals on the job, at home and in the community."

Henvey envisions every one of Parkview's 7,000 employees as a "Senior Vice President of Service Excellence."

Since our partnership with the Studer Group began, Parkview has made remarkable progress on our journey to excellence:

Safety/Quality

Parkview Hospital, Fort Wayne, Ind., received the HealthGrades 2008 Distinguished Hospital Award for Patient Safety™ for clinical staff efforts to improve patient safety and quality of care from 2004 through 2006. The award acknowledges outstanding clinical data based on patient outcomes. Parkview Hospital was listed among the top five percent of all hospitals in the United States in providing a safe experience for patients. During the time period cited, Parkview initiated six quality improvement initiatives as part of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's 100,000 lives campaign:

Deploy rapid response teams
Deliver reliable, evidence-based care for acute myocardial infarction
Prevent adverse drug events
Prevent central line infections
Prevent surgical site infections
Prevent ventilator-associated pneumonia

Parkview's barcode medication scanning success rate is greater than 96 percent of medications given on inpatient nursing units systemwide.
In 2007, Parkview achieved at least 90 percent compliance on 14 of 24 core quality measures. In 2008, Parkview achieved at least 90 percent compliance on 18 of the 24 measures.

Service Excellence

In 2006, only three percent of areas systemwide ranked at or above the 90th percentile for patient perception of care scores as determined by PRC patient surveys. Only 15 percent of areas ranked at or above the 75th percentile. In the first quarter of 2009, 21 percent of areas ranked at or above the 90th percentile and 48 percent of areas ranked at or above the 75th percentile.

Human and Financial Resources

Parkview set a 2008 goal of decreasing controllable expenses per adjusted discharge by .5 percent. Actual results saw a decrease of .8 percent. This goal was achieved even with an increase in charity care and bad debt from $87.3 million in 2007 to $106.1 million in 2008.
Innovation in the Information Systems department saved Parkview Health millions of dollars when instead of purchasing robotic devices for use in remote monitoring of ICU patients, an IS Specialist built several of the robots from existing equipment.
Co-workers are conducting peer interviews to ensure good hires. New co-workers are interviewed by their leaders after 90 days to assess the success of the hire and realign expectations if necessary.
New standards of behavior introduced in 2007 are embraced by Parkview's 7,000 employees and are now a part of co-worker and leader performance evaluations.
Leaders are encouraged to regularly write thank-you notes to employees for achievements and to "manage up" their employees to other leaders.

Growth
- Parkview is increasing access to healthcare and improving the health of communities in northeast Indiana through these important initiatives:
  - New construction:
    - The $500 million Parkview Regional Medical Center
    - A new Parkview Whitley Hospital
  - Opened in 2008:
    - Parkview LaGrange Hospital
    - Parkview Noble Hospital Endoscopy Center
    - Parkview Comprehensive Cancer Center
    - Outpatient Services Center
    - Parkview Women's & Children's hospital
  - Parkview expanded its primary care physicians group and formed the Parkview Physician's Group through the acquisition of First Care Family Physicians and new partnerships with Fort Wayne Cardiovascular Surgeons, Northeast Indiana Colon Rectal Surgeons, Northeast OB/Gyn, Hospitalist physicians at Parkview Hospital, Psychiatric physicians at Parkview Behavioral Health, obstetrics and orthopaedics specialty physicians employed by the community hospitals.
  - Economic development efforts that strengthen communities and help ensure growth and a future for the community and for Parkview:
    - A matching challenge that resulted in financial gifts totaling $150,000 to a regional food bank, assisting communities hard-hit by the economic recession.
    - Investments in new construction
    - A financial partnership with The City of Fort Wayne and owners of a downtown revitalization project known as Harrison Square. Parkview has committed $300,000 per year for at least the next 10 years as signature partner. A new ballpark, the key feature of the project, is now known as Parkview Field. The project strengthens the heart of our community to promote job growth and retention, and new business opportunities.