Claiborne County
Hospital Gets National Recognition
By W. Lee Brame
Published:
Claiborne
Progress
Wednesday, April 30, 2008 9:38 AM CDT
Correspondent
Perhaps only doctors and hospital administrators have ever heard of it, but
the nationally known Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers
and Systems (HCAHPS) selected Claiborne County Hospital as one of the top 10
hospitals in terms of customer satisfaction. Claiborne County Hospital
received an over all customer satisfaction score of 94 and tied for 7th
place on the survey along with four other hospitals. The national average
score was 67. The HCAHPS survey, published in April's Modern Healthcare
magazine noted that the survey focused on customer satisfaction and that
customer satisfaction is "just one variable" in hospital evaluation. For
example, Claiborne County hospital would not even be rated on scales that
focused on transplant surgery or other services that are not performed here.
Two other pieces of good news came out of the Claiborne Hospital Board
meeting on Tuesday night, April 22.
Chief Financial Officer Hal Jones presented a financial report that
indicated that various scheduling and administrative cost savings changes
started earlier in the year are showing positive results. While the
year-to-date balance sheet is still m the red, the hospital made a profit in
March despite lower than expected patient admissions. Emergency Services,
Nursing Home operations, and Home Health operations all operated at a slight
profit for the month. The positive balance sheet resulted from a large
number of small improvements. This is the second month that the hospital's
finances have improved.
Many will also be cheered to learn that the board approved a recommendation
by Mercy Health Partners (who merged with Baptist Health Systems) to lure
Daniel Colon as the new Hospital Administrator. Colon will be moving from
California and has served in various hospital administrative positions
during his career. He is expected to arrive in May. The board also discussed
various internal control procedures to ensure that Colon gets off to a good
start as the new administrator.
In other business, the board approved physician recruitment measures for
another "local" physician. Born in Claiborne County, Dr. John Robertson. a
graduate of St. George's University School of Medicine, is due to start his
residency at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. this summer. Upon
completion of his residency in 2011, Dr. Robertson hopes to join Dr. Day's
practice in Harrogate and practice locally.
The board also voted to establish a policy that prevents the hospital from
offering discounts to a broad spectrum of community leaders that includes
hospital board members. The board unanimously agreed that offering discounts
to community members who could pay was a disservice to community members of
limited financial means.
The board also approved a suggestion that the hospital administrator
investigate an on-line training and certification program designed to
improve hospital board management skills and background. Due to the
financial and technical challenges facing most hospitals today, several
states have instituted training and certification programs for hospital
board members.
