Hospital board approves new family physician

Monday, September 10, 2012

McCOOK, Nebraska--During the Aug. 22, Community Hospital's Board of Directors regular monthly meeting, directors approved the medical staff privileges for a new family medicine physician, were updated on Phase 2B of the building project, received a report on the fourth quarter of the balanced scorecard and were updated on the 2011 Community Benefits report.

New Family Medicine Physician

Active medical staff privileges were approved for Brett Lindau, DO, by the Board of Directors. Dr. Lindau will see patients at McCook Clinic beginning this month. He grew up in Axtell, Nebraska, graduating from the University of Nebraska at Kearney. Dr. Lindau completed his family medicine residency in Greeley, Colorado in June. He is certified with the American Board of Family Medicine. He and his wife, Marissa have one son, Malachi. Marissa, was raised in McCook and is the daughter of David and Jan Smith.

Phase 2B Report

Workers are finishing up the demolition phase of the former surgery area. Construction and remodeling of this space, called Phase 2B, should be completed in early 2013. As the crews begin framing, the public will notice a number of transition steps which include changes to the emergency department's reception desk, waiting area, public bathrooms and new chapel area. The first priority will be to construct new bathrooms to be available for patients during the construction.

Phase 2B will add an additional draw room to the laboratory, a relocated office for the laboratory director, new public bathrooms, respiratory therapy department, sleep services, physician and CRNA sleeping areas, expanded and remodeled radiology department and six chemo chairs added in an expanded and dedicated chemo area.

Balanced Scorecard

Board members also received the fourth quarter report ending June 30, 2012, of the hospital's balanced scorecard.

"The balanced scorecard is a report which tracks progress toward our strategic goals in four distinct areas, which we call seeds, of our successful organization," Ulrich said. "The four areas include People, Service, Quality and Finance, which are depicted in the four arms of the medical cross of our logo. To ensure future growth and success in our organization, all four of our seeds must be in balance, and so the balanced scorecard strategically tracks our progress," he said. The highlights and progress toward those goals were shared with the board.

Ulrich explained that of the 16 measures which are tracked on the balanced scorecard, nine measures were up and two were down for the fourth quarter of our fiscal year 2012. Five measures remained unchanged. The fourth quarter balanced scorecard closed fiscal year 2012 with a total score of 5.06, compared to the total score of 2.90 for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2011.

"Our scorecard results dramatically improved in 2012," Ulrich said. "We still have a number of areas we are working on to improve, but overall, our score is up." Highlights of the balanced scorecard include employee satisfaction, where we met our goal for the quarter, overall quality of care, where we met our goal, and evidence-based practice, which is another measure of quality, where we also met our goal," he explained.

On the financial side, Ulrich explained that the hospital exceeded goals in three of the four measures. He highlighted that the operating margin was in excess of goal.

"Overall, we had an excellent fiscal year," he said, "not only on the financial side, but also in the areas of quality and satisfaction of our employees--our number one asset."

Community Benefits

Report

The board received education on the Community Benefits report. Each year, Community Hospital provides benefits to the community and area to help improve the overall health status of the communities it serves. In 2011, Community Hospital provided $2.2 million of benefits to the area. This includes $811,490 in cost for charity care, $66,069 in cash and in-kind donations, $84,908 in community benefits services and $141,775 in subsidized health services. The report, which is submitted to the Nebraska Hospital Association, shows that Community Hospital supported 141 programs reaching 39,431 people in this area. This includes healthcare screenings, educational seminars, FROG classes, resources for support groups, donations for community service groups, schools and other activities, in addition to traditional charity care.

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