Hospital Highlights 4/21/11

First Quarter Hospital Report

The first quarter of 2011 has passed, and we have some great results to report to residents in Whitman County Public Hospital District 3. I have arranged these under our five Key Result Areas that we focus on. We call these our Pillars of Excellence.

People: We held a special dinner for the doctors at their Medical Staff meeting in March. One of our commissioners and his spouse, Martin and Linda Marler, served as waiter and waitress.

Linda Ledgerwood, HR director, and Audie Guidi, Dietary Manager retired after many years of service. We welcomed their replacements, Chad Holt and Ruth Heisler respectively.

A staff satisfaction survey revealed that 96 percent of our staff are proud to work and WHMC and 95 percent would recommend WHMC as a good place to work.

Service: We scored higher than 98 percent of all hospitals in the nation on our patient satisfaction surveys for the quarter. Special kudos go to our physicians who scored higher than 99 percent of doctors in the USA.

Quality/Safety: The state conducted their first unannounced survey the last week of March. State inspectors reviewed every piece of our hospital operations to make sure we meet Medicare/Medicaid standards and Washington law.

They found four minor discrepancies that need correction. When they were last here for a preannounced inspection in 2009, there were 24 issues. Most Washington hospitals have dozens of discrepancies.

Finance: The hospital operated in the black with revenues of $5.9 million and expenses of $5.5 million for the quarter. Much of the positive return was due to cost-cutting efforts of the staff and an increase in privately insured patients. A concerning trend is that bad debt and charity are on the rise. Overall patient days were slightly above projections for the quarter; the number of rehabilitation patients and deliveries were up sharply. Surgeries were down a little.

Growth: We expanded ultrasound services from three days per week to five . We are also working to expand MRI coverage from 3 to 5 days in the near future. There are teams of individuals evaluating several other services for possible implementation; the board of commissioners has established a Strategic Planning committee to oversee this effort.

David E. Womack, CEO, Whitman Hospital & Medical Center