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St. Joseph Hospital

Back from the Brink

A few years ago, St. Joseph Hospital was “on the brink of extinction.” The hospital suffered from excessive length of stays, high turnaround times, low patient satisfaction, declining volume and, not surprisingly, a poor reputation. With leadership from BEA, the St. Joseph Hospital medical and administrative staff members engineered a complete reversal of the hospital’s fortune.

Under the direction of Dr. Frank Lee, Vice President of Medical Affairs for Exigence and Chairman of the St. Joseph ER, the on-site staff from BEA undertook a massive consultation and assessment project aimed at increasing revenues and efficiency in the ER. The team began the process by breaking down every course of action and interaction into individual steps, and timed each. BEA then identified and removed bottlenecks and inefficiencies until each process and procedure was flawlessly efficient.

New personnel were hired and trained, and new processes and programs were being implemented with positive results. However, this momentum was nearly halted when St. Joseph Hospital was included on the original closing list for New York State hospitals in The Final Report of the Commission on Health Care Facilities in the 21st Century (i.e., the Berger Commission Report). The closing recommendation compounded problems for the hospital: administrative and medical staff members resigned and the hospital received negative media attention.

Unfazed, BEA believed that St. Joseph Hospital was of tremendous value to the community and was moving in the right direction to become a respected, profitable healthcare provider. BEA worked with hospital administrators, elected officials, union officials and community leaders to ensure that the “real” St. Joseph Hospital story was told and resources were allocated to support its mission.

Today, St. Joseph Hospital boasts a new, state-of-the-art $10 million Emergency Department, excellent performance and quality benchmarks, and improved reputation in the community. The average length of stay for all patients (admitted and discharged) is less than three hours, well below the hospital’s peer group average. Average patient satisfaction score has improved to an impressive 3.9/4.0, up from 3.5/4.0 just a few years ago.

The BEA leadership team continues to work with hospital administration, medical staff, ancillary departments, nursing staff and the support staff to creatively improve patient safety and satisfaction. As a result of the ER redesign and the implementation of improved processes and work flow, volume is up over 35 percent at St. Joseph Hospital and revenues continue to increase. St. Joseph Hospital was removed from the Berger Commission recommended closure list in 2008.