"Its up to Lifepoint to sell themselves to their customers, not the customers' responsibility to fix whats wrong."
Amen.
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2007
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June
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- "Reidsville a cure for Danville patients?"
- Competition is good
- More LPNT news
- So...how many hours are you going to lose?
- Final Citizens Commission report to be delivered J...
- News from Nashville.....
- Another great day at DRMC...
- Joint Commission: Requirements for Improvement
- "Hospital Ranks Low in Study"
- "Commission readies hospital report"
- And the good news just keeps rolling in...
- "Citizens Commission working on final report"
- "Another changing of the guard"
- "Hospital CEO Resigns"
- Consultant's Report to Commission available online
- 'High level of discord'
- "Hospital stands alone"
- "Status of hospital remains the same"
- "Consultant bothered by problems"
- Exactly...
- "An open meeting"
- "Mayor: Hospital meeting will be open to board"
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- Reminder...
- A good start
- A post worth repeating...
- To the Chamber of Commerce Members
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June
(27)
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
10 comments:
Many of the physicians are tired of waiting for LifePoint to improve things. The physicians have their quarterly medical staff meeting on Wednesday evening, June 6. It could prove interesting. . .stay tuned!!
And thats exactly what I was driving at when the post that included "Its up to Lifepoint to sell themselves to their customers, not the customers' responsibility to fix whats wrong."
was written.
The doctors, nurses, and staff, with enough fortitude can correct some of the internal problems. It might mean going elsewhere to treat patients, which is not neccessarily a good thing. But let them lose enough money, and like any other corporation, they will wise up and start doing the things needed to compete. Better working conditions, better pay, more services etc. The old adage "supply and demand" will come into play. When demand for your services (ie admissions) drop and your workforce is inadequate, you start doing what is necessary to correct the problems. Like has been said many times on this blog, Lifepoint is accustomed to buying hospitals where patients and staff had no other choice but to swallow whatever lifepoint did.
Warren Buffet: "You can't do good business with bad people."
Unfortunately, Lifepoint execs are not good people -- evidence: ongoing, unrepentent flat-out lying to the community, and endangering of patients. Also note their similar records at other locations.
We Danville folks, best we can, are voting with our feet. Lifepoint stockholders . . . ?
Someone said "But let them lose enough money, and like any other corporation, they will wise up and start doing the things needed to compete. Better working conditions, better pay, more services etc."
While I think you and I understand this as a way to increase revenue in the long run I'm not sure Lifepoint does. After all, why are they going to pour more money into a company that's already losing money? (And better working conditions, competitive pay for the region, and more services would cost them money)
Yes, but losing money is all they understand. They will either fix it or sell...we win either way.
I would like to warn you all the physicians as a whole may not have your better interests as a motivating factor. Many are upset with their own issues. many of the items they complain about are standard practices throughout the country. If you wonder where we are still lacking in compliance with joint commission standards they are items in which the physicians refuse to cooperate. Standards which are found throughout the united states that work to ensure patient safety. Standards by the way that other hospitals have had no difficulty initiating and did so years ago. Yet we have to put up with a medical staff who do not support patient safety initiatives because their schedules may become interupted. We have many good talented physicians but we also have several who are above following proven standards of practice.
That last anonymous post about physicians is hogwash. There is a dedicated group of doctors who have stayed here through the difficulties of the past two years. There are MANY better paying jobs with MANY hospitals that are much more doctor friendly and communities that offer more than Danville does. They remain out of a sense of loyalty to the community they have chosen to call home. The hospital attempted to make them a scapegoat for the JCAHO failures but that dog just won't hunt. The "medical staff" problems were administrative, not clinical.
Sign me, an offended doctor
Many of the physicians are excellent. Many are not. You state you are one of the quality bunch; I and others appreciate that. But objectively there are many who are abusive to staff, offer substandard care; refuse to put forth needed change. just because you have MD after your name does not mean you are a great practitioner. There are good and bad just like in every barrel of apples. Unfortunately for this hospital and this community the bad are often times the ones who influence the masses.
Agree with the above poster. The few physicians that consider themselves as quality care givers certainly have not had any influence over their peers nor have they been able to impact the state of affairs that has existed for the past couple of years.
I really don't know how you think we will win either way. If the patients and physicians leave it will take a very long time for things to turn around. What about all of the employees that will no longer have a job? Do you even care about them? Not every one is a nurse and can go down the road.
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