New Era in Healthcare
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2012 Annual Report The Dawn of a New Era in Healthcare “ We have created a new Lowell General Hospital – an organization that is united and committed to delivering on the new promise we have made to our community – the promise to deliver Complete connected care.” Normand E. Deschene, President and Chief Executive Officer, Lowell General Hospital and Circle Health LGH_Annual2012_0203.indd 2 5/7/13 3:03 PM 4 Message from the President and CEO 5 Message from the Medical Staff President 6-7 Our people make the difference 8-9 Dedicated to exemplary service 10-11 Recognized for superior quality 12-13 Growing to meet the healthcare demand 14-15 Supporting the health of our community 16-17 Generosity with a purpose 18 The new Lowell General Hospital 19 Introducing Circle Health 20-31 Thank you to our donors 32-35 Our physicians 36-37 Financial performance 38-39 Forward-looking community leadership LGH_Annual2012_0203.indd 3 5/7/13 3:03 PM “During a time of incredible transformation and growth at Lowell General Hospital, our employees remained intently focused on our mission to put Patients First in Everything We Do. Their dedication, compassion and pride in what they do each and every day continue to make our hospital a great place to work and a trusted regional healthcare provider.” Peter J. Zarrilla, Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer 6 LGH_Annual2012_0607.indd 2 5/10/13 11:06 AM Our people make the difference To meet our mission to Put Patients First in Everything We Do, we must have a highly engaged team of employees willing to go above and beyond to meet the needs of our patients and their families. At Lowell General Hospital, our work environment and Lowell General Hospital culture are important to our success, and we continue to work earned both regional hard to strengthen and enhance this culture. is work has never been more important than during the past year of such signi cant and national recognition change and integration at our organization. as an employer of Looking back at 2012, one of the most powerful accomplishments choice in 2012 for Lowell General Hospital was the way we were able to bring people together – both before and after the merger of Lowell e Boston Business PLA General and Saints Medical Center was nalized. All employees T C came into this new organization – the new Lowell General Journal named Lowell S E E General Hospital one of S Hospital – together. For the rst time in the history of Lowell, B there are nearly 3,500 employees and close to 700 a liated the Best Places to Work in Massachusetts in its tenth T 2012 physicians who are now working together to provide Complete O K W R connected care to our community. annual regional awards O program. Lowell General We rmly believed that consistent and transparent two-way Hospital ranked 13th of communication was vital to the health of our organization and 25 companies honored in to our culture. With that in mind, the hospital facilitated several the large business category. is is the third employee meetings to bring sta together with the hospital’s consecutive year Lowell General has earned senior leadership team in order to answer questions and address the honor, which recognizes the hospital’s concerns throughout the integration process. We also launched achievements in creating a positive work new communication tools and publications designed to provide environment that attracts and retains employees important information and to promote conversations and sharing through a combination of employee satisfaction, throughout the hospital’s teams and departments. working conditions and company culture. Strong leadership is vital to our people pillar. Last year, we Lowell General launched the Management Essentials training series, which Hospital placed 64th provides Lowell General Hospital leaders with consistent practices in Modern Healthcare’s and tools to ensure they are able to e ectively lead and support 2012 Best Places to sta in the important work they do each and every day. Work in Healthcare awards. e Great strides were made in 2012 to integrate systems that support magazine’s annual our employees. We aligned our payroll systems and brought all Best Places to Work in Healthcare program employees onto the same bene ts plans. From the beginning, we recognizes employers for creating workplaces felt it was extremely important that all employees have access to the in healthcare that enable employees to perform same bene ts, whether it was medical and dental plans, retirement at their optimum level to provide patients and plans or the employee pharmacy. customers with the best possible patient care Our team’s exibility, collaboration and commitment to continual and services. is was Lowell General Hospital’s improvement are great sources of pride for our organization. People second year being honored in the prestigious truly make the di erence at Lowell General Hospital and together recognition program, which had applications we make incredible things happen every day. from healthcare companies and organizations throughout the nation. 7 LGH_Annual2012_0607.indd 3 5/7/13 3:08 PM “Our nurses have ownership of their nursing practices and continuously use new knowledge to make improvements that benefit our patients.” Amy Hoey, Senior Vice President of Patient Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer 8 LGH_Annual2012_0809.indd 2 5/13/13 9:40 AM Dedicated to exemplary service Exceeding our patients’ expectations no matter where they are Empowered to provide the in our system is the heart of our promise to deliver Complete connected care to our community. Every interaction with our highest standard of nursing care patients, families and caregivers is part of the hospital experience As a Magnet® designated organization, Lowell General Hospital and we take great pride in exceeding the expectations of everyone. takes great pride in delivering the highest quality care to our We have worked to ensure our team members are committed to patients. The philosophy of the Patient Care Services Department making each step a healing and compassionate one – from our supports the pursuit of lifelong learning, nursing research and nurses on the units to the support services staff ensuring a evidence-based practice. Each year, a comprehensive needs comfortable stay. assessment is completed and educational programs are developed and implemented to meet the needs of our nurses. Integral to In 2012, we provided over 500 hours of service-focused this course is the strategic planning and shared decision making educational training to our employees that included definitions and process used to help establish the priorities for the educational behavior expectations associated with each dimension of Complete opportunities for the nurses at all levels of the organization. connected care. This training is now included in our new employee orientation. To support our leaders in modeling the best possible Our Best Practices Education sessions provide the nursing staff service, we presented “Leading with the Lowell General Hospital with the latest updates on pertinent information related to Experience of Complete connected care”, a required session for all current practice, changes in practice, required reporting and supervisors, managers and directors throughout the organization. patient safety goals. It provides an opportunity for staff nurses to meet with nursing leadership, discuss changes, their inception We also began the process of unifying our REACT/Service and the impact these changes will have on patients. The most Recovery program across all campuses. Through the REACT recent Best Practice Sessions provided education on our new process – Recognize, Empathize, Apologize, Compensate and promise to the community of Complete connected care as well Trend – our staff have the power to take action when we may as nursing practice updates and regulatory changes. not have delivered on our promise. This robust and customizable REACT process results in a positive lasting impression, the kind The nursing staff integrates evidence-based practice and nursing that has our patients telling stories about how much we care. research to improve clinical outcomes and create action plans for patient satisfaction, employee satisfaction and quality indicators Another step in our integration process last year involved our to improve their practice. Nursing’s Professional Practice Model Patient Family Advisory Council (PFAC). Our newly combined provides an infrastructure that supports professional growth and PFAC is a volunteer group of 20 community members who work development for nurses at all levels of the organization. with staff to collaborate and offer recommendations to improve the Lowell General Hospital Experience. Measuring our service performance is important and gives us another way to hear the important voice of our patients. We continue to measure patient satisfaction, leveraging Press Ganey and HCAHPS surveys to gain insight into our patients’ perspectives. The level and quality of service we deliver is not only critical to our mission – it is the right thing to do for our patients. 9 LGH_Annual2012_0809.indd 3 5/10/13 11:08 AM “While 2012 represented a great deal of transformation, our commitment to high quality and safe care remained constant. Whether it was closely monitoring core measures and readmissions for pneumonia and heart failure, or a keen focus on patient safety infection prevention measures, our multidisciplinary team’s efforts had powerful results for our patients.” Arthur M. Lauretano, MD, Medical Staff President 10 LGH_Annual2012_1011.indd 2 5/10/13 11:09 AM Recognized for superior quality Delivering high quality, safe care is a critical pillar for Lowell General Hospital. During 2012, a diverse array of activities and collaboration occurred across the organization to ensure we provided the highest quality care possible. We closely monitored core measures and readmissions for pneumonia and heart failure, and our e orts continue to demonstrate positive outcomes for our patients.