Health care organization shares the wealth with benchmarking days’
Site visits from other institutions yield two-way learning process
Being a nationally recognized health care system certainly has its benefits, the most obvious being "front-of-mind" awareness and a favorable perception among potential patients.
But Baptist Health Care Corp. of Pensacola, FL, recipient of numerous awards and honors for excellence both in health care and as an employer, has parlayed its reputation into a new profit center as well as a new source of benchmarking — both for fellow health care organizations across the country and for its own benefit, as well.
The vehicle for these new opportunities is the Baptist Health Care Leadership Institute (www.baptistleadershipinstitute.com), established in late 1999.
"It really came out of requests from health care colleagues across the country," notes Pam Bilbrey, MS, MBA, senior vice president of corporate development for Baptist Health Care.
Bilbrey has responsibility for Baptist University, Baptist Health Care’s extensive leadership development program, and also holds executive-level responsibility for the Baptist Health Care Leadership Institute, as well as serving on its faculty.
"We had really done some major cultural change, we received a lot of recognition nationally, and word got out among our colleagues. They asked if they could come spend time with us or interview our leaders on the phone," she explains.
What drew these other institutions to Baptist? Here is just a sampling of the awards it has received:
- It received the USA Today Quality Cup for extraordinary results in employee and patient satisfaction.
- It was recognized by the Herman Group as an "Employer of Choice."
- It ranks in the top 1% in patient satisfaction as measured by Press Ganey Associates.
- As a result of an independent employee satisfaction survey, Sperduto and Associates said that "Baptist Health Care has the highest employee morale we have ever seen, in any industry."
- Baptist recently was ranked #15 by Fortune Magazine in its "100 Best Companies to Work for in America" listing, by far the highest-ranking health care employer.
Only way to respond
Baptist’s leaders were flattered by all the attention and happy to help their colleagues, "but it became overwhelming," Bilbrey recalls. "People would come here to benchmark, and then they’d say, This is great, can we send more people?’ The institute was established as a way to manage this demand, and it grew from there."
And grown it has. To date, 1,200 health care groups from 47 states have come to Baptist, sending a total of more than 5,700 professionals. The institute’s services include:
- benchmarking sessions;
- seminars and special events;
- consulting services;
- best practice resources;
- speaking engagements;
- audit tools.
The institute has become a new profit center for Baptist, says Bilbrey, noting that it became necessary to charge for the services because of the time its staff had to spend meeting requests from the other institutions.
Benchmarking at the core
Benchmarking, and more specifically the "benchmarking days" that Baptist offered to other hospitals, were the foundation of the institute in its early days and ultimately led to the additional services. "After the success of the benchmarking days, we created the seminars, then after that, people asked us to consult with them," she says.
On a typical benchmarking day, one health care organization will visit, sending a leadership team of anywhere from six to 15 or 16 people.
"Before they arrive, we ask them to fill out an organizational profile on who they are," Bilbrey notes. (See an excerpt)
The profile includes basic statistics, such as the size of the facility, number of emergency department visits, services offered, and so on. Other information requested includes patient, employee, and physician satisfaction scores, turnover rate, and nursing shortages. "Then they share with us their top three or four challenges," she says.
With the information in hand, the institute staff seek to create a day that addresses the concerns noted by the participating institution. "For example, if their concerns lie primarily in the area of patient satisfaction, we would be more heavily weighted in that area, or if they have specific clinical areas on which they want more information, we’ll focus on that, but we always include a more rounded agenda," she explains.
The morning begins with a welcome and introduction to Baptist Health Care’s organization and culture by the president of Baptist Hospital. "Then, typically, we’ll move into the area of employee satisfaction, making the case that you need a high level of employee satisfaction before you can reach a high level of patient satisfaction," Bilbrey says. "Then we move into patient satisfaction."
These two areas are always covered, regardless of the specific needs expressed in the profile. Afterward, the more specific areas are covered.
"One of the techniques we use is scripting," she notes. "So, if they are interested in the business office, we will go into detail on how to develop scripts, what they are, and how they work."
Developing leadership, accountability
Other areas covered include leadership development and accountability. "We discuss why you need to develop leadership accountability, why it is so critical, and how you hold leaders accountable to drive results," Bilbrey says.
All benchmark days also include a tour of the facility, which again reflects the visiting institution’s areas of interest. The day starts to wind down at about 3 p.m. The fee for the day generally runs around $5,000, she says. "That’s because of the massive number of people and staff we have to take off-line," she explains. "In addition, we provide lunch and lots of materials." The fee also covers follow-up calls and questions.
One of the neatest things about these benchmarking days, Bilbrey says, is that each visiting organization is asked to bring a 30-minute discussion of one of its best practices.
"Depending on what it is, we invite the appropriate people from our staff to listen to the presentation," she says, which results in two-way benchmarking. "Everybody loves to tell about their successes."
After a recent presentation in Las Vegas, Bilbrey was approached by an institute graduate — in another example of the student becoming the teacher.
"She had brought home information about our daily huddle’ [through which staff are updated about system events on a daily basis], which she thought was a great idea and which her facility implemented. However, they took it a step further; they also found a way to use the tool with their physicians. Each day, they post the daily’ up on a wall in front of the sink in the OR, so whenever a doc scrubs, he sees it. I brought this back to our teams, and I think we will use it here," she explains.
What’s ahead for the Baptist Health Care Leadership Institute? For one thing, garnering participants from the three states that have not yet had any facilities attend benchmarking days.
"It’s kind of a contest," Bilbrey explains. "For example, we haven’t gotten Rhode Island yet, but we may have someone from there soon. We’re trying to get all 50 states; it’s a fun thing to track.
Need More Information?For more information, contact:
• Baptist Health Care, 1000 W. Moreno Pensacola, FL 32501. Web site: www.ebaptisthealthcare.org. For more on benchmarking, contact Becky Siegel at (850) 469-7084. E-mail: [email protected].
Being a nationally recognized health care system certainly has its benefits, the most obvious being front-of-mind awareness and a favorable perception among potential patients.You have reached your article limit for the month. Subscribe now to access this article plus other member-only content.
- Award-winning Medical Content
- Latest Advances & Development in Medicine
- Unbiased Content