Question

CASE STUDY

                  At a recent meeting of the board of directors of General City Hospital, the CEO gave his annual “state of the hospital” presentation. Each year the CEO would pro- vide the directors with an in-depth report of the accomplishments, challenges, and key metrics that would give the governing body the information they needed to understand the current state of the hospital. Before the CEO began his report, he warned the directors that this year’s report would be very different from past years. He went on to explain that the nature of healthcare was changing rapidly, and new realities required new information and a different view of what was happening at the hospital. Specifically due to health- care reform, and pressure from insurance companies, government agencies, and consumer groups, General City Hospital needed to change its culture to be even more focused on quality-of-care outcomes, patient satisfaction, and employee satisfaction. As such, he outlined the following: With regard to accomplishments, he highlighted a number of items, including the completion of construction projects, the attainment of contracts with payers, and the successful implementation of a new electronic medical record. But he showcased the fact that at the end of the fourth quarter, there was a year-over-year improvement in patient satisfaction scores of nearly 10 percent. With regard to challenges, he noted concern and focused improvement efforts around collections from insurance companies and needed information technology enhancements. However, the challenge that was of most concern was the unfilled vacancies of three physician assistants and four physical therapists that were impact ing the hospital’s ability to provide timely care to its patients. Regarding key metrics, he reviewed hospital admissions, length of stay, and out- patient rates—all of which he explained were critical indicators for the directors to acknowledge. Yet the focus of his metrics report was on the following: (1) Employee turnover rate for the year (2) The level of employee satisfaction (3) The number of employees who success- fully completed cultural competence training (4) The decline in hospital-acquired infection rates (5) Coupled with the patient satisfaction scores, initiatives under way for areas that required improvement. The board members were very appreciative of the CEO’s report, congratulating him on the importance and value of the information presented. “

Questions

1. Why was the CEO’s “state of the hospital” report so unique?

2. Describe the HR elements of the CEO’s report and why these elements are so important in today’s healthcare environment.