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David McParland
dmcparland@prophecyhealth.com
877-773-4473 ext. 700
 

David McParland
dmcparland@prophecyhealth.com
877-773-4473 ext. 700
 

“From 2000 to 2009, the number of hospitalized patients with a C. difficile discharge diagnosis more than doubled, form approximately 139,000 to 336,000, and the number with a primary diagnosis more than tripled from 33,000 to 111,000, the CDC report said.” [1]

http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/page-2/QUA-277406/Most-C-Diff-Infections-Start-in-Healthcare-Facilities

A recently released CDC report sheds some light on this disturbing trend. According to the report C. difficile is linked to 14,000 deaths in the U.S. each year and EACH hospital-onset case is estimated to cost anywhere from $5,042 to $7,179 in excess medical expenses. The nationwide costs for these infections estimated at $897 million to $1.3 billion. [2]

While the deaths and excess medical costs associated with C. difficile are major issues that need to be dealt with, there is another reason hospitals need to be aware of this trend. Beginning in 2013 the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will start their payment for reporting program for infections. With this program it is expected that higher infection rates will result in a reduction of reimbursements. Additionally, CMS may add C. difficile to the list of healthcare-acquired conditions for which it will not pay for additional care required. [3]  This would leave hospitals holding the bag for the additional costs associated with this pesky bug.

The good news is the CDC issued a report outlining 6 points to help reduce these infections.

1. Don’t over treat.
2. Facilities should inform subsequent providers whenever they transfer or discharge a patient with C. difficile.
3. Test patients for C. difficile when they have diarrhea while on antibiotics.
4. Immediately place infected patients into isolation.
5. Providers should wear gloves and gowns when treating patients with the infection.
6.  Clean room surfaces with bleach or another spore killing disinfectant. [4]

 http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/page-5/QUA-277406/Most-C-Diff-Infections-Start-in-Healthcare-Facilities

David McParland
dmcparland@prophecyhealth.com
877-773-4473 ext. 700
 

[1] http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/page-2/QUA-277406/Most-C-Diff-Infections-Start-in-Healthcare-Facilities
[2] http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/page-2/QUA-277406/Most-C-Diff-Infections-Start-in-Healthcare-Facilities
[3] http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/page-3/QUA-277406/Most-C-Diff-Infections-Start-in-Healthcare-Facilities
[4] http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/page-5/QUA-277406/Most-C-Diff-Infections-Start-in-Healthcare-Facilities

In September 2011, HealthLeaders Media released an Impact Analysis on Value-Based Purchasing report that really illustrates just how large of a piece the HCAHP scores will play in VBP. (Download the full HealthLeaders report here.)

Almost 180 healthcare leaders participated in this survey. When asked “which particular measure do you expect the most difficulty in reaching improvement or performance initiatives?” 50% of those responding identified HCAHPs as the VBP measure that would provide them with the most difficulty. Heart failure came in a distant second with 16% of respondents.

Not only do HCAHPs play a major part in VBP reimbursement, it would seem that for the majority of hospitals HCAHPs are also the most challenging measure when looking at VBP.

  “VBP is a zero-sum game—out of necessity there will be winners and losers.”
James F. Doyle, Senior Vice President and CFO, Elmhurst (IL) Memorial Healthcare [2]

With Medicare reimbursements soon to be driven by how well a hospital compares to other hospitals, it is inevitable that there will be hospitals that end up with the short end of this stick.  Whenever a ranking system is utilized there will be a full spectrum – on one end, those with the higher scores – and the other end, those with the lower scores.  Unfortunately, in regards to VBP this means some hospitals would receive full reimbursements, while others would receive only partial reimbursements.

In light of these coming changes, the focus should not be “is our hospital going to be one of those VBP winners?” but rather ”what are we doing and what else can we do to obtain the VBP ranking we need for financial security?”.  

 David McParland

dmcparland@prophecyhealth.com   

877-773-4473 ext. 700

In this article five healthcare CEOs discuss what “top performance” is and how their organizations are working towards that goal.  The CEOs were asked about “top performance” in five areas within healthcare: clinical quality, finance, patient satisfaction, employee/ physician morale, and leadership.

While reading this article, what resonated with me was how the Prophecy Assessments would assist with “top performance” on each of the five areas discussed.

Clinical Quality

Clinical quality starts with quality staff.  Making sure your clinicians have the necessary clinical knowledge to provide safe and effective patient care is paramount to hospitals.  But, what about those clinicians who could use some clinical remediation?

The Prophecy Assessments not only indentify clinicians that have the clinical knowledge needed, but also assist in creating customized remediation plans based upon a nurse’s unique learning style and personality.  This will help to ensure your entire clinical workforce will provide that excellent care your organization strives for.

Finance

Prophecy will directly improve the bottom line, by reducing turnover costs for hospitals.  Once you start to hire only the nurses that are identified as “top performers” not only will clinical quality improve, but so will retention.

Let’s take a look at a hypothetical example.  If a hospital has 200 nurses and 14% turnover (national average), each year that hospital would lose 28 nurses.  If we use some industry standards for turnover costs each of those nurses will cost that hospital between $22k and $64k per nurse. (OJIN, 2007)  To make the math easy we will assume the turnover costs for each nurse is $30k.  Twenty-eight nurses at $30k per nurse will cost that organization $840k every year.

One of the clients that has already adopted Prophecy was able to reduce their nurse turnover to just 5% last year.  Let’s take another look at the scenario from the previous example, but change the turnover rate to reflect using Prophecy to pre-screen your clinicians.  With 200 nurses in your workforce, but just a 5% turnover rate you would lose 10 nurses each year.  With turnover costs at $30k per nurse a hospital this turnover would only cost a hospital $300k.  That would free up over half a million dollars normally being spent on turnover costs.  Imagine where a chunk of money like that could be used in your hospital!

Patient satisfaction

“Patient Satisfaction is the ‘other side of the coin’ for quality. Doing the right things clinically is a start, but if we don’t do it the right way or with a caring attitude, then we’ve not served the patient well.”
Ted Townsend, president and CEO of St. Luke’s Hospital in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.[1]

Not only will the Prophecy Assessments ensure that your clinicians can provide quality care by gauging their clinical knowledge.  Prophecy will also identify if a caregiver has the particular set of “soft skills” needed to interact with patients (and employees) in a positive manner that would improve patient satisfaction.  By identifying and only bringing aboard those nurses with the necessary “soft skills”, you can rest assured that the interactions the patients have with that staff will result in a positive experience.

Employee and physician morale

One CEO noted that he believes employees are attracted to hospitals that have great reputations for high clinical quality.[2]  While using Prophecy to improve your clinical workforce and clinical outcomes clinical reputation may result in attracting more “top performers” to apply.  Once they have applied, you will still need to ensure the ability to identify those “top performing” applicants.  Prophecy’s Job and Employer Engagement section allows you to easily identify those clinicians that are engaged to the nursing field, and also to your hospital.  Nurses that are more engaged in what they are doing tend to be happier employees.  While not always the case, a happier employee is more likely, when interacting with patients, to leave a good impression of the hospital with that patient.

Leadership

Are great leaders born that way or developed? Both! There are three main pieces that contribute to leadership success:

1)    Skills & Experience,

2)    Attitudes & Motivation

3)    Personality & Learning Style

Prophecy captures this information through our Behavioral assessment, and can pinpoint which nurses already have those raw talents correlated to successful leadership. From decision-making to problem solving, this report assists with training and motivation, to develop those existing talents and grow the future leaders of your organization.

With the recent changes to healthcare, “top performance” is becoming more and more important for hospitals to identify and develop within their ranks.  If you would like to learn more about how the Prophecy Assessment will assist with your “top performance” initiatives feel free to reach out to a Prophecy representative today.

David McParland

dmcparland@prophecyhealth.com

877-773-4473, ext. 700

Where do you go to get the latest information on what is happening in healthcare?

As you probably know, there are many online resources for staying abreast of the latest healthcare news, with some sites providing more useful information than others do. Recently, I discovered Kaiser Health News. It’s proving to be an invaluable resource for keeping up with the newest developments in healthcare. I highly recommend that you take a minute and check it out, too.

Please share with me what your favorite sites are. Where do you go online to stay current with healthcare news?

David McParland
877-773-4473 ext. 700
dmcparland@prophecyhealth.com

Predicting how an applicant will perform on the job is the “Holy Grail” of the hiring process.  As you may know, job performance is made up of many factors such as skill sets, personality, and past experience to name a few.  So when trying to predict the job performance of an applicant, why would you only want to look at one factor when making a hiring decision?  Traditional pre-employment screening only focuses on a single aspect of job performance (i.e. clinical knowledge or personality), but with the holistic approach Prophecy takes to predicting job performance, you now have a tool available that will provide a comprehensive prediction of an applicant’s job performance.

David McParland
877-773-4473 ext. 700
dmcparland@prophecyhealth.com

“Hospital employees recognize and report only one out of seven errors, accidents and other events… federal investigators say in a new report.

Yet even after hospitals investigate preventable injuries and infections that have been reported, they rarely change their practices to prevent repetition of the ‘adverse events,’ according to the study, from Daniel R. Levinson, inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services.”

Report Finds Most Errors at Hospitals Go Unreported by Robert Pear, New York Times, January 6, 2012

It’s worrisome that only one out of seven errors and accidents are recognized and reported and that many hospitals rarely change their practices to reduce these mistakes. Additionally, in order to receive payment, Medicare requires hospitals to: 1) track medical errors and adverse patient events, 2) analyze their causes, and 3) then improve care. What can be done about this important issue?

According to the 1999 National Academy of Sciences report on patient safety, experts at that time said many hospital employees were afraid to admit mistakes.  This is not the case anymore.  In the new Department of Health and Human Services report,

  “Mr. Levinson said the problem is that hospital employees do not recognize  ‘what constitutes patient harm’  or do not realize that particular events harmed patients and should be reported.”

Report Finds Most Errors at Hospitals Go Unreported by Robert Pear, New York Times, January 6, 2012

The underlying issue here is not that hospital employees are being deceitful and hiding their mistakes. The underlying issue is that hospital employees are lacking the foundational clinical skills necessary to identify and avoid these errors.  As we shared in a previous post, last year Prophecy HealthCare introduced additional clinical assessments specifically designed to help reduce medication errors.  Not only do these exams identify the caregivers with the necessary skills to perform the critical functions requiring math, they also assist in remediation initiatives to address medication errors.

If medication errors are a pain point of yours, feel free to contact us  to discuss how Prophecy may be the solution you are looking for.

David McParland
877-773-4473 ext. 700
dmcparland@prophecyhealth.com

“I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” the last speech given by Martin Luther King,  was shared in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 3, 1968. The next day King was assassinated. Here’s an excerpt:

Something is happening in Memphis; something is happening in our world. And you know, if I were standing at the beginning of time, with the possibility of taking a kind of general and panoramic view of the whole of human history up to now, and the Almighty said to me, “Martin Luther King, which age would you like to live in?” I would take my mental flight by Egypt…Greece…Roman Empire…the Renaissance…I would come on up even to 1863, and watch a vacillating President by the name of Abraham Lincoln finally come to the conclusion that he had to sign the Emancipation Proclamation. But I wouldn’t stop there…Strangely enough, I would turn to the Almighty, and say, “If you allow me to live just a few years in the second half of the 20th century, I will be happy.”

from ”I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” by Martin Luther King, Jr.

“I Have a Dream”, perhaps King’s most well known speech,  was delivered in Washington, DC,  August 28, 1963 on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. King was there participating in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The March and “I Have a Dream” were instrumental in the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Here’s a portion of his inspirational words:

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today!

from “I Have a Dream” by Martin Luther King, Jr.
[Audio and Full Text of "I Have a Dream"]

In observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the Biddle Consulting Group office will be closed on Monday, January 16.

As hospitals begin to look at their job applicants in a more “holistic” manner, they realize that these applicants are really much more than the mere sum of their abilities. They are, in fact, a combination of skill, ability, knowledge, desire, attitude, personality, and much more. The key to selecting the right ones is to be able to tap into the applicant and gain a “holistic” view of who they are and how hiring them may potentially affect the organization.

While many aspects make up an applicant’s job performance, it is impossible to measure all of them. Thankfully, employers are able to peer into three main aspects in order to develop a profile of who the person is behind the applicant. These three main aspects, which should determine whether an applicant makes the cut when applying for a job with your organization, are:

1. Can Do – Do they possess the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary for success?
2. Will Do – Will they be inclined to utilize that knowledge, skill and ability?
3. Fit – Will they not only fit into your organization’s culture, but could they even add to it?

In our continuing efforts to provide a more holistic assessment package – that is, one that looks at the “whole person” rather than just at a single aspect or dimension — we have created the Prophecy suite of assessments to offer an extra dimension to pre-hire testing for your clinical positions.

In addressing the “Can Do”, “Will Do” and “Fit” issue presented earlier, this is how it works out:

In the final analysis, organizations should realize that they are not hiring one part of a person; they are getting the whole package. Therefore, it would be advisable to look at the whole person, evaluating each aspect, so you make the best hiring decision.

Is your organization evaluating the whole person during the hiring process? Would you be interested in learning how Prophecy could help you to make the most of your hiring process? We would be very happy to review these options with you so that you can make the most informed decision about your hiring process.

Please feel free to call or email us at your convenience if you would care to discuss this or any other matter pertaining to Prophecy!

David McParland
877-773-4473 ext. 700
dmcparland@prophecyhealth.com