Adventist La Grange Memorial Hospital: Solid Structure - Health Executive - Red Coat Publishing - Inside Healthcare

If you think healthcare has lost its grip on quality and accountability, you haven’t been to an Adventist Health System hospital. After 142 years in the industry, this not-for-profit faith-based organization has managed to perpetuate those values throughout each of its 36 hospitals, and its success becomes clear when looking at Illinois-based Adventist La Grange Memorial Hospital.

Rick Wright, President and CEO

A study through Johns Hopkins University found faith-based organizations have some of the highest quality outcomes, particularly for infection rates. This study has been expanded by Hopkins to include all Adventist Health System hospitals, and Adventist La Grange’s scores were among the best.

“Quality is the fabric and foundation our system,” said Rick Wright, president and CEO of Adventist La Grange. “Our hospital’s quality scores are among the top in the company, and our company tends to have some of the highest quality scores in the nation.”

To maintain that high level of quality across the company, Adventist Health System holds a conference twice a year to which it invites CEOs, CNOs, CMOs, quality directors, and other quality planning stakeholders to discuss their opportunities, share victories, and learn through each other about quality improvement. “This corporate integration serves as the foundation for our success,” said Wright. The 2008 conference will be held in Orlando at the end of April.

In addition, like many organizations, Adventist Health System holds its employees accountable for quality outcomes, and those scores are measurable parts of each CEO’s annual review. “Part of my performance review at the end of the year includes how Adventist La Grange does on its quality score,” said Wright. “We support quality across the organization and down through each hospital. CEOs have a high level of participation; we put our money where our mouths are.”

Ease of access
Adventist La Grange is one of five hospitals located in Adventist Health’s Midwest region. A regional analysis concluded that Adventist La Grange needed a serious facelift and upgrade to its patient rooms, and in 2006, the hospital opened its new patient care center.

As a not-for-profit organization, Adventist invests roughly $.85 of each $1.00 it earns back into its facilities. When looking at how to improve Adventist La Grange, $80 million was allocated to construct a center with 223 private rooms to replace a well-worn, 50-year-old semi-private-room campus. According to Wright, patient satisfaction scores rose dramatically after opening the center.

“Within our region, our patient satisfaction scores, specifically on how likely patients were to return to our hospital if needed, and our physician satisfaction scores were the highest,” said Wright. “There are two factors that play into these scores. First, we have nice new patient floors. Second, we have strong physician and employee loyalty.”

Adventist La Grange is located on the street that divides the towns of La Grange and Western Springs. In 2007, BusinessWeek.com touted Western Springs as one of the best places to raise children. Additionally, the hospital’s proximity to Chicago means many of the children raised in the area don’t have to go far to receive a prestigious medical education, and many return home to practice.

Because the area is laid out like a traditional, gridlocked Chicago suburb, there is little room for growth. But according to Wright, Adventist La Grange’s future growth won’t be based on a growing population; it will be based on what will make the hospital a more attractive place for patients and physicians.

“We want our hospital to be the easiest hospital for our community to use,” he said. “The best thing we can do to serve our community is reduce the barriers and make this an easier place for physicians to practice and patients to come.”

Tied together
In September, as part of a nationwide rollout by Adventist Health System, Adventist La Grange went live with Cerner’s electronic medical record. Although the program was expensive and time-consuming to install, the benefit to all who use it is the most important piece of the process. Any practitioner in the entire Adventist system can log onto the system and access patient information from any computer. Patients that go to any Adventist hospital in the country can also rest assured, knowing their visit will be added to their medical record.

“It’s an issue of loyalty, convenience, and access for people that have or would like to expand an affiliation anywhere within Adventist Health System,” said Wright. “We’re also tying into more physician offices with an improved reporting mechanism.”

Adventist La Grange is still transitioning between paper and electronic communication, and Wright jokes that he sometimes feels his paper seems to have increased. However, he and his team understand it’s only a temporary struggle. As they look to the future, they have their eyes on sending lab and radiology reports directly to physician’s e-mail, regardless of whether the physician is hospital based or working remotely.

“We are beginning slowly, creating interfaces for each EMR product that might be in a physician’s office so that the patient record can also tie into the physician’s office,” said Wright. “It will be one more way we can ensure ease of access for our patients and physicians.”

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