Hospital system builds strategic wellness plan
Health promotion is pivotal to future growth
Many health care systems recognize that wellness and prevention must be a critical component of their delivery systems in the 21st century. But the Nazareth, KY-based southeast region of Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI) felt the issue was sufficiently important to create a specific strategic plan to formally outline the steps that would help it integrate those services into its continuum of care.
CHI also retained the services of a wellness consulting firm, The Benfield Group in St. Louis, to work with its management over an eight-month period "to determine how best to align [wellness and prevention] to the internal strategy of the broader organization," explains Benfield principal Chuck Reynolds, MS.
While allowing each system member to pursue individual strategies, the entire system will be guided by these key principals outlined in the plan:
· providing new wellness pilot programs first to system employees and then adapting those programs to outside corporations and the community at large;
· interfacing with local corporations and associations to jointly provide wellness and prevention services for the community;
· implementing a cultural shift in the hospitals themselves, from an acute-care model to wellness and prevention.
Benfield consultants met with the leadership of all six hospitals in the system. "We focused on each individual affiliate to determine their strategic priorities with regard to wellness and prevention, and to devise strategies and tactics to get at these priorities," Reynolds explains.
But why did CHI believe the development of such a plan was necessary? "There's kind of a watershed situation in health care that's moving constantly upstream toward wellness and prevention," explains Bob Cook, vice president of research, planning, and development for CHI's southeast region. "We've sat on the banks of the river and pulled people out long enough; we have to figure out why they fall in in the first place. There's a growing understanding that it's something we can do - we don't have to sit on the sidelines and assume the responsibility of fixing people. We can assume responsibility much earlier in the process."
Commonality and individualityThe plan combined both individual needs of specific hospitals and common systemwide goals, Reynolds explains. "There's a lot to be gained by building a platform of information so that we can avoid duplication of efforts to identify and deploy best practices, and to study outcomes," he notes. "We've made sure they have the beginnings of a learning process."
For example, the plan is designed to enable the hospitals to interface more effectively with local businesses, but for some facilities, that is much more important than it is for others. "For some [hospitals] that are very rural, they're not yet ready for it; it's not really a concern for them," says Reynolds.
Despite their differences, there was a common thread running through system members. "There was one recommendation that was pervasive: Every single hospital recommended a redoubling of efforts to implement quality health promotion programs for their own employees," says Reynolds.
"Strategically, we think that our employees are a mirror of our communities. We are sometimes the largest employer in the community we serve, and as such, we are a reflection of the composition and demography of that community," adds Cook. "We put a very high premium on what we can do `at home' - with our own employees - in terms of incentives, training, and education in prevention and wellness. Plus, starting there provides a wonderful laboratory for [potential programs for] the larger community."
That "larger community" includes corporations with whom Cook hopes to form strategic wellness alliances. "We would like to partner with other resources and capabilities in the communities that have a vested interest in and a vision and mission that complements or extends our own or theirs." This could include organizations such as the YMCA or local corporations with whom CHI can partner to provide community wellness and prevention services.
In fact, in every one of its communities, CHI already has a "Healthy Communities" initiative under way involving business, health care, local governments, and the media. "As we go forward [with the strategic plan], what we learn will inform and help expand this program," Cook explains.
Workplace injuries, illnesses declineThere was a 5% decrease in the number of injuries and illnesses and a 3% increase in hours worked in 1996 compared with 1995, according to a survey by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), U.S. Department of Labor in Washington, DC. The survey is conducted annually.
According to the survey, a total of 6.2 million injuries and illnesses were reported in private industry workplaces during 1996, resulting in a rate of 7.4 cases per 100 equivalent full-time workers. Here are some of the other key survey findings:
· Of the 6.2 million nonfatal injuries and illnesses in 1996, nearly 5.8 million were injuries that resulted in either lost work time, medical treatment other than first-aid, loss of consciousness, restriction of work or motion, or transfer to another job.
· There were about 439,000 newly reported cases of occupational illnesses in private industry in 1996. Disorders associated with repeated trauma, such as carpal tunnel syndrome and noise-induced hearing loss, accounted for 4% of the 6.2 million workplace injuries and illnesses. They were, however, the dominant types of illnesses reported, although the number of repeated trauma cases reported in 1996 (218,000) was 9% lower than the corresponding 1995 figure (308,000) and 15% lower than the record 1994 figure of 332,000.
The Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses is a Federal/State program in which employer reports are collected from about 165,000 private industry establishments and processed by state agencies cooperating with the BLS. A free copy of the entire survey may be obtained by visiting the BLS Web site at: http://stats.bls.gov/oshhome.html.
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