Capella Health

Franklin, TN – It’s about the relentless pursuit of perfection.

It means adding value to every action, every movement, every investment of time or energy or dollars

It’s called Lean Healthcare, and it’s an initiative that’s being embraced by Capella Healthcare as well as other innovative healthcare organizations. The ultimate goal? Improving care and standardizing processes while enhancing satisfaction for patients. The fringe benefit? Happier staff members too.

Capella began its Lean initiative in January in Muskogee, Oklahoma with a pilot project at the largest of its 13 facilities – 275-bed Muskogee Regional Medical Center.

“Since Muskogee started the initiative in their Emergency Department (ED), they have experienced several positive results, including improved patient satisfaction,” said Mike Wiechart, Capella’s Chief Operating Officer. “They’ve been able to reduce the patient’s overall length of stay in the ED by 10-15% while increasing the amount of time that physicians and clinicians spend with the patients

Misty Campbell, RN, is the Director of Emergency Services at MRMC where they treat almost 28,000 patients a year. “We love it. Our caregivers are getting to spend more time with our patients since it has improved our processes. And patient satisfaction has gone up.”

They began the pilot on just one side of the ED. “When we ran the trial ‘pod,’ the patients who were in those rooms would tell those in the waiting room to ‘ask for the back hall.’ They liked it more because they had their nurse and physician right in front of them. Patients were spending more time with clinicians and less time in the ER overall so they had a perception of more personal care.”

According to hospital CEO Kevin Fowler, the delivery of care was complicated by an outdated facility. The physical facility had a wall at the nurses’ station that put caregivers out of sight and put extra – unnecessary – steps between patients’ rooms and the nursing station. Because of the Lean Healthcare pilot project, the department is scheduled for renovation by year’s end, with the wall being removed, the nursing station opened up, and supplies placed at the patients’ bedsides. Patient rooms have been grouped together to create pods and nurses are stationed right outside

What does the staff think about this? “Nurses actually volunteered to take the wall down with a sledge hammer,” Campbell said.

“It’s important to know that you don’t always have to remodel or change things, but we are because it makes sense. We wanted to put everything the patient could need with the patient, closer to the bedside. It saves time for our patients and steps for our nurses.

In addition to happier patients, Campbell also believes employee satisfaction has increased as the staff has been empowered to make changes. “We’ve gone from multiple vacancies to having none. It’s the first time since I’ve been here that we have no open positions.”

What’s Next?
Capella is launching the Lean initiative at two other facilities later this year, including River Park Hospital in McMinnville, TN, and Saint Mary’s Regional Medical Center in Russellville, AR.

“Capella already has twelve staff members between its hospitals and corporate office who have graduate-level certification in Lean Healthcare, including ED physicians and nurse managers,” Wiechart said. “Following these pilots, we’ll be rolling the initiative out to all of our facilities, starting in the Emergency Departments, within the next several months.

“Everybody thinks of Lean Healthcare first as a cost reduction initiative, but for Capella it is a growth strategy, designed to increase patient satisfaction. We are focusing first on our Emergency Departments because they are the front doors of our hospitals since 60-65% of our patients come to us through the ED. It is the most meaningful way to have a significant impact on overall satisfaction and community perception, and it makes sense we focus there first. By piloting the initiative first at one of our most complex facilities, we’re benefitting all of our facilities by sharing their lessons learned and best practices.

“At Muskogee, the process has been expanded to the inpatient medical unit and the staff has created several specific multidisciplinary work teams to address other opportunities that have identified. And that’s exactly what this process is designed to do: empower the staff, and in particular the caregivers, to better manage the numerous steps involved in providing the very best care and patient experience possible. As we enhance the patient’s overall experience, improve quality of care, and make it easier for our staff to provide care, more people will choose to come to us for care.”

“The overarching goals with any healthcare initiative must be improved patient care and satisfaction. By investing in resources that help our staff meet the needs of our patients by providing efficient, quality care in a timely fashion, we are positioning ourselves to succeed in the new era of healthcare reform.”

About Capella Healthcare
Muskogee Regional Medical Center is part of the Capella Healthcare family of hospitals. Capella Healthcare partners with communities to build strong local healthcare systems that are known for quality patient care. Based in Franklin, Tennessee, Capella owns and/or operates 13 general acute-care hospitals in seven states.  With the philosophy that all health care is local, Capella collaborates with each hospital’s medical staff, board and community leadership to take care to the next level.  The company has access to significant leadership and financial resources, reinvesting 100% of net cash flow back into its family of hospitals to strengthen and expand services and facilities. For more information, visit the website at CapellaHealthcare.com

SIDE BAR:
Earlier this year, the Oklahoma State Health Department upgraded Muskogee Regional Medical Center to a Level Three Trauma Center. A trauma center is a hospital equipped to provide comprehensive emergency medical services to patients suffering traumatic injuries. A Level Three rating means MRMC emergency physicians and nurses are specifically trained in the care of trauma injuries. In addition, MRMC was upgraded to a Level Two in cardiology care, providing 24-hour cardiology coverage, specialized services and equipment needed to diagnose and treat heart patients.