The Box Butte General Hospital (BBGH) met Monday evening with the full board updated by staff on the hospital’s 2016 Strategic Plan. Administrative team members presenting were Chief Quality Officer Mary Mockerman, Chief Nursing Officer Carolyn Jones, Chief Ancillary Officer Scott Alwin, and Controller Bridget Miller. Ms. Mockerman was standing in for CEO Dan Griess, who was out of town attending a conference.
The Plan has six Initiatives: 1) Maintain Financial Viability; 2) Recruit, Retain and Invest in Employees; 3) Recruit, Retain and Invest in Medical Staff; 4) Impact Positive Outcomes through Application of Best Practices; 5) Buildings and Equipment; and 6) Information Technology. Each Initiative has goals, with each goal containing implementation strategies to reach that goal.
Ms. Miller presented Initiative #1: Maintain Financial Viability. There are seven goals in Initiative #1: 1) Ensure Chargemaster is always up-to-date; 2) Improve up-front and back-end collections; 3) Monitor Department Operating Results; 4) Explore New Service Lines; 5)Evaluate Existing Service Lines for Viability & Mission; 6) Champion the Box Butte Health Foundation’s Rehab and Wellness Center Capital Campaign; and 7) Continuously Satisfy USDA Loan Covenants.
Ms. Mockerman presented Initiative #2: Recruit, Retain & Invest in Employees. The Initiative has three goals: 1) Update Job Descriptions/Performance Evaluations/Competency Assessments; 2) Implement Employee Engagement Survey; and 3) Boost Employee Morale.
Mr. Alwin was the presenter for Initiative #3: Recruit, Retain and Invest in Medical Staff, which contains six goals: 1) Recruitment; 2) Handoffs-Communication; 3) Succession Planning; 4) Competency; 5) Emergency Department Coverage; and 6) Provider Recognition.
Initiative #4: Impact Positive Outcomes through Application of Best Practices was presented by both Ms. Mockerman and Ms. Jones, as it contained detailed implementation strategies for each of the six goals. The six goals are: 1) Hardwire Just Culture Philosophy; 2) Integration of TeamSTEPPS, Patient Experience and LEAN; 3) Provide and Exceptional Patient Experience; 4) Compliance with National Patient Safety Goals and Prevention of Hospital Acquired Conditions; 5) Provide Optimal Care and Achieve Excellent Patient Outcomes through Adherence to Best Practices; and 6) Safe Medication Delivery.
Ms. Mockerman was the presenter for Initiative #5: Enhance Buildings and Equipment. The Initiative’s two goals are: 1) Areas of Completion – Master Facility Plan and 2) Continued Plans for Completion.
She also presented the final Initiative #6: Advance the Application of Information Technology, which has three goals: 1) Develop Master Technology Plan; 2) Develop Electronic Health Record for Meaningful Use; and 3) Implement Cyber Security Plan.
The board also conducted the following business.
The Trustees congratulated BBGH Cashier Clerk Mary Ohrtman on being named the Employee of the Year for 2015. They also praised Paula Hopkins, RN, for obtaining her Chemo National Certification and Kim Galyen, RN, CEN, for passing her Pediatric Emergency Nursing certification, and Cassandra Williams, who just completed her APRN-C in Family Medicine. New employees introduced to the board included Natalie Miller, Medical Scribe; Paul Hopwood, RN; Gabrielle Conley, Admissions/ER Ward Clerk; and Billie Jo Brown, RN.
The board unanimously approved the consent calendar and then heard the monthly Quality Management & Safety report from Ms. Mockerman. The Nebraska Coalition for Patient Safety report focused on a incident at a different hospital involving a 26-year-old female who had an incorrect procedure done due to several causal (meaning contributing) factors, including failure to clarify a handwritten order; resistance to use of electronic order entry; electronic order entry not supporting acronym needed for the correct test, as well as others. She also went through five Joint Commission Standards and their relationship to the causal factors.
Chief of Staff Dr. Timothy Narjes reported that medical staff are seeing more respiratory infections lately, as well as seeing an increase of influenza. He said it is too soon to tell if this is an indication of flu increasing substantially, but stressed the vaccine that was distributed this year seems to be having a positive effect on the incidence of influenza this year.
Ms. Jones went into detail on HCAHPS Scores and why those scores are important for the hospital in identifying areas where improvements can be made. A couple of Trustees had questions on the methodology used by Press Ganey to obtain the scores, wanting more clarity on the matter. Ms. Jones also gave examples of ED Wait Times when compared to two other area hospitals, which showed BBGH ED wait times in several categories were better in comparison. Trustee Tom Furman, DVM, asked how old the Centers of Medicaid/Medicare data on their hospital comparison website was, and how the hospital gathered its information for reporting purposes. Discussion was held on how the hospital could provide more timely reports to the Trustees.
After unanimously approving all credentialing requests, the board entered executive session at 8:25 pm to discuss litigation and risk management matters. They reopened in open session at 8:50 pm, and unanimously declined the proposed settlement. The Trustees adjourned at 8:52pm. The next regular board meeting is Monday, March 28 at 7:00pm in the Sandhills Room. As always the public is invited to attend.
Box Butte General Hospital is an equal opportunity provider and employer.