State of the Hospital-Danville Regional Medical Center: Well...?

Monday, February 19, 2007

Well...?

So, are we accredited or aren’t we?
Can’t tell from the letter I got from Mr. D.
Was anybody in on the closed summary meetings who knows for sure?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...: Can Sentinel Event share the letter?; February 19, 2007 at 10:00:00 AM EST
Anonymous said...: B R E A K I N G N E W S

The hospital was not accredited, I repeat the hospital was NOT accredited.; February 22, 2007 at 7:37:00 PM EST
Anonymous said...: While the statements in Mr. Doloresco's letter are presumably accurate, and would be what any CEO of good conscience would say, Failure to pass JCAHO accreditation would indeed hurt Lifepoint. DRMC is the largest Lifepoint facility and Lifepoint is an investor owned company.

Insurance companies will not pay for services rendered at a facility which does not carry JCAHO accreditation. This would be a huge financial kick in the teeth for DRMC and Lifepoint from financial and quality of care standpoints. If your goal is to hurt Lifepoint, that would certainly garner attention.

However, realize this is a double-edged sword with a giant ripple effect on the community. Think about this in the event of a JCAHO survey failure:

1. Your insurance would be no good at the facility. You and everyone you know who needed to go to the hospital would have to pay the whole bill (no managed care discount) because insurance companies would refuse to authorize treatment at a non-accredited facility.

2. Since your insurance will no longer pay for services, you and yours would have to seek hospital services elsewhere. Martinsville, South Boston, or North Carolina. Right now, you have a choice of not using DRMC. If they fail the JCAHO survey, the choice is gone. By the way, Lifepoint also owns the Martinsville hospital.

3. The survey is a reflection of the quality, monitoring, and management of care and their outcomes. Failing the survey would hurt the hospital, but it would be a direct reflection of how the people who live in Danville and work at DRMC take care of their neighbors. The social stigma of being affiliated with that would be awful.

4. If the hospital fails, and money is cut off, services and employees would go and go quickly. Can Danville handle a significant layoff of what is now the city's second largest employer?

I am sure there are other considerations, but these are just a few that come to mind.

While I doubt Mr. Doloresco's personal commitment to the community and DRMC (he is new to the town), his words are true. This being said, I would make a couple of observations and address Mr. Doloresco in this blog.

It is interesting that DRMC has appeared to have a revolving door in the CEO position, and that Lifepoint execs have made more than one trip to Danville to apologize for things they should have done differently.

Good heads have rolled at their expense and they should be aware that in a town such as Danville, any loss of employment stirs feelings of anger and resentment within the community.

There are intelligent people in Lifepoint. I beilieve a cause-and-effect and cost/benefit ananlysis would be in order before corporate and hospital administrative mouths utter future promises.

Many in the community love and trust DRMC with their lives. Those you do not need worry about Mr. Doloresco.

Obviously, however, there is still plenty of unrest in the community regarding our hospital. Elbow grease, not flowery, Art-ful, rah-rah speeches, is what you need to commit.

Push a mop, register a patient, drive the shuttle bus. It is what you do....and continue to do, that will make the change. Your words are nice, but your actions have said so much more, and many believe the two contradict each other.

True, you are the CEO and have primary responsibilities. Unfortunately, those around you fail to see you handling those well either. If they did, would you have been called before the city council the same way as one of your predecessors?

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. What are you and Lifepoint doing different?

The ball is in your court.; February 23, 2007 at 10:51:00 AM EST

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Letter to Employees, February 7, 2007

Dear DRMC Associates, Physicians and Volunteers: Thank you for all your efforts to provide healthcare to the citizens of the Dan River Region. Providing healthcare, saving lives, and improving the quality of the lives of our friends, family and neighbors is a high calling, and you are answering that call each and every day. Delivering on the high expectations of those we serve is a tremendous responsibility, shared by everyone – physicians, nurses, technical and support staff, volunteers, managers and administration. It’s no secret that to be successful in meeting this responsibility, we must work together. We have seen in our Emergency Department the good things that can happen when staff, physicians and management work together effectively. The reduction in wait times and fewer patients leaving without treatment are ample proof. You should all be proud of this accomplishment. It is our hope that all of us on the hospital team, and indeed the entire community, can come together around Danville Regional and make it a source of genuine pride and positive economic activity for this area. Coming together is way overdue. When Mr. Bill Carpenter, CEO of LifePoint and three other corporate officers were in our hospital in January, they openly apologized for mistakes made at the onset of the hospital sale. Knowing what they know at this point in time, they would have definitely done things differently. LifePoint has committed the support and resources needed to make DRMC a hospital of which we all can be proud. In addition, we, as leaders in different areas of the hospital, commit our time and energy to that same goal. The important thing to remember is that on one person or small group can make this hospital successful. It will take the support and commitment of every single one of us who are connected to DRMC in any way. We need your help to make this happen. Going forward won’t be easy. Any organization of this size and complexity has issues. But it is time to move on, and move ahead. Constructive suggestions are always OK, and in fact welcomed, because there is almost always more than one “right way” to accomplish goals. Bitter, destructive criticism isn’t OK. There’s a reason they call it “holding grudges,” because the only person who feels bad is the one holding them. It’s time for us to let these go. Good things can happen if we channel our energies on positive activities. Never has this been more important than now. During 2006 and 2007 $26 million is being invested to create some good things – the build out of the 5th and 6th floors, the new radiation/oncology equipment, addition of PACS and a new state of the art CT machine. These improvements, coupled with your caring approach, will provide better, more complete care for our patients, close to home. Recent patient satisfaction scores have improved, and will continue to improve as long as we focus our efforts on providing the best care for our patients and support for each other. We also fully recognize the importance of improving staff and physician satisfaction, and the positive impact this will have on the patients we serve. We also have a big challenge that will require everyone’s best – our Joint Commission accreditation review, which will occur sometime in the next couple of months. When you think about it, it is not a stretch to say that the lifeblood of this community is dependent upon Danville Regional maintaining Joint Commission accreditation. Joint Commission accreditation is a key to the continued success of one of the largest employers in the region, and the place where the majority of our citizens come to receive healthcare. An accredited hospital makes the community more attractive for residents who already are here, and also for those people and their employers who are looking for a good place to live, work, play and invest. It also directly impacts the livelihood of all associates and physicians. We need to place a tremendous amount of importance and urgency around preparing for Joint Commission, because accreditation is vital to all of us. While some might think loss of accreditation hurts LifePoint, the real losers are those of us who live and work in this community. We must join together to protect one of our most valuable community assets. Our region’s economic recovery depends on it. So we go back to our original points: we are fortunate to be in a position to serve others, which is a tremendous responsibility we accept every day. All of us want to make this a better place to work, and a better place for our neighbors to receive treatment. We are committed to supporting you and know that together we will make DRMC the very best it can be. We appreciate each of you. Sincerely, Dr. Betty Jo Foster Chairman, DRMC Advisory Board Arthur M. Doloresco President/ CEO Richard A. Smith, M.D. Chief of Staff

State of the Hospital-Danville Regional Medical Center

Monday, February 19, 2007

Well...?

3 comments:

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Letter to Employees, February 7, 2007