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Strategic Initiatives and Process for Public Participation
In keeping with the formal organizational values of Relationships and Community-Based Services and our belief in openness, inclusiveness, and transparency, NMC strives to provide multiple opportunities for public input in the hospital’s current services and our plans for the future. The goal is to foster discussion with community members in various formats relating to the health of the community, needs in the community, hospital services, and opportunities for improvement within our hospital and our local health care system.
Collaboratively Assessing and Addressing Community Needs & Priorities:
The hospital has been a long-standing collaborative partner in two formal community assessment and reporting projects (in addition to the work done in 2004 and 2006 through the Act 53 process). The Franklin Grand Isle United Way’s “Who We Are, How We Live, What We Need – Guide for Community Leaders” is a foundational document in planning efforts. Data and insight from that document is typically shared with the NMC Board, Leadership, and Medical Staff leaders during the hospital’s annual planning process – either directly during years of updates or indirectly as reference material associated with other presentations. NMC has also been an active participant in the development of the Franklin Grand Isle Community Partnership’s “Bridges to Community Well Being -- Regional Report Card.” The priorities, outcomes, and indicators from this document are similarly incorporated into planning considerations at NMC. Both of these community-based initiatives are developed by using a blend of statistically-valid quantitative community data, input from providers and community leaders, and qualitative/anecdotal data and input from the community at large. For 2009, the community is collaborating in an effort to merge these two documents – further reducing duplication of effort and providing a single publication to summarize the community’s needs and the actions being taken to address those needs. NMC has an active role in that effort. Naturally, as appropriate and feasible, the hospital is an active participant in, and supporter of, community-based collaborative efforts to address many of the issues identified in these reports.
Achieving Openness, Inclusiveness, and Meaningful Public Participation:
NMC uses a variety of strategies to formally and informally engage the community in our own strategic planning efforts, decision making, and efforts to improve the health of our community:
· A statistically-valid community perceptions survey, typically administered every three years in keeping with the NMC strategic planning process, to ascertain what the community knows about their local hospital-based healthcare resources, how they feel about those resources, what could be improved, and what is needed;
· A variety of other survey processes for both patients, members of the general public, and community leaders (historically including written surveys, telephone surveys, focus groups, personal interviews, etc);
· Community presentations, events, and discussions on hospital plans and activities, community needs and priorities, and health care topics;
· Personal contact facilitated through direct community involvement by hospital Staff, Board, and Medical Staff as volunteer members of local Boards, initiatives, and organizations;
· Personal contact facilitated through the geographic distribution of NMC Board Members and hospital staff.
NMC also gathers valuable public input through participation in community planning events by representatives of the NMC staff. These public meetings are typically focused on planning what the community can do in areas outside the direct provision of healthcare (such as crime and public safety, Vermont’s energy future, etc). NMC participates as both a major employer and a healthcare provider, maintaining an active ear for opportunities in terms of “what can the hospital do” that may be supportive of the community’s efforts. These ideas are then funneled into the hospital’s short-term and long-term planning, creating a multi-directional planning channel that directly links the hospital to the community’s own efforts.
NMC engages the community through our role in a wide variety of community partnerships and initiatives. We take great pride in the community involvement by our staff as individuals as well as the formal involvement of NMC as an organization. The following is a sampling of the broader groups in which NMC participates within our community as an organization:
· The Franklin Grand Isle Community Partnership;
· The Franklin Grand Isle United Way (as a partner and supporter, not as a member agency);
· The Center For Health & Wellness;
· The Champlain Valley Area Health Education Center;
· EMS District 1;
· The Franklin Grand Isle Work Force Investment Board;
· The Franklin County Industrial Development Corporation;
· The Franklin County Regional Chamber of Commerce;
· The Grand Isle County Chamber of Commerce.
In addition, NMC also engages the community in our efforts by welcoming their active participation in the hospital, through:
· Service as an NMC Volunteer (106 active volunteers in FY08, contributing 19,179 hours).
· Service as an NMC Auxilian (338 members in FY08);
· Service as an NMC Incorporator (121 members in FY08);
· Service as an NMC Staff Member (581 employees in FY08);
· Service as an NMC Physician (78 Active/Associate staff in FY08).
· Service as an NMC Board Member (12 members in FY08).
NMC’s Strategic Plan – Priorities & Updates:
NMC’s Board, Medical Executive Committee, and Leadership Team work together – drawing in expertise and facilitation from QHR -- to develop the hospital’s strategic plan. A comprehensive rewrite is conducted every three years, with yearly updates in the intervening years. Consideration is given to community needs and perceptions; demographics and other aspects of the local environmental assessment; political/regulatory pressures, marketshare, utilization, and financial performance; and a variety of additional factors.
NMC organizes its planning around four fundamental areas of concentration recognized as key to the long-term viability of the organization:
- Clinical Quality;
- Workforce Excellence;
- Service Excellence; and
- Financial Vitality.
NMC’s Board and Leadership have established a dashboard of measures which monitor NMC’s status in each area, providing empirical guidance to the strategic priority projects which flow from them. These strategic priority projects currently include:
- Clinical Documentation System;
- Evidence-based Standard of Care;
- Staff Recruitment & Retention:
- M/S & ICU Combination;
- Healthy U Employee Wellness Program;
- Physician Recruitment & Retention;
- Service Culture;
- Enhanced Community Communications;
- Georgia Satellite;
- Campus Building Plan;
- Service Line Analysis;
- Improved Throughput;
- Endowment Development;
- Stimulus Funding.
Significant effort is now underway as the hospital works to address those priorities, with highlights including:
· Access to Primary Care: The community’s need for additional primary care providers, particularly among the Medicare, Medicaid, and uninsured populations, has been documented in the community needs assessment process. In 2008, NMC worked with NOTCH (Northern Tiers Centers For Health, based in Richford, VT) who operate the Federally Qualified Rural Health Centers, to formally expand their scope to allow for a St. Albans-based office. That office opened in July of 2008, has already outgrown their space, and is renovating a larger space across town. In a continued effort to meet the community need, a need reiterated by the results of a 2009 survey of current physicians, NMC is actively recruiting additional primary care physicians.
· Georgia Campus: Increased convenience of services, reduction of the impact of rural isolation, increased access to non-emergent care, and the need to increase awareness of available services in the southern portion of our service area are factors identified in various planning documents that contributed to the plans for a “Georgia Campus.” In May of 2009, NOH & NMC opened Northwestern Walk-In Clinic in the Georgia Medical Group Building. Initial community response has been very positive to the Walk-In Service. Digital mammography, x-ray, and performance rehab services are also available at the Georgia site. The services at this site will be further refined as their first year progresses.
· Employee Health: With more than 500 employees of our own, healthcare costs represent a significant expense to the hospital. In an effort to achieve true long-term savings in healthcare costs while enjoying immediate improvement in morale, NMC is investing in prevention with our new “Healthy U” employee health program. This research-based proactive approach features incentives for health risk appraisals, preventative screenings, healthy activities, health education, and refraining from tobacco use. Response has been phenomenal – with participation levels nearing Year-3 projections mid-way through Year-1, including a remarkable 85% participation in the health risk appraisal component.
For additional information on hospital strategic planning, capital plans, and/or depreciation schedules, please contact NMC’s Director of Planning & Community Services (see below).
Planning & Community Relations Contact Information:
For more information on strategic planning and public participation, please contact:
Jonathan Billings
Director of Planning & Community Services
NMC, 133 Fairfield Street, St. Albans, VT 05478
(802) 524-1044 * (802) 524-1291 fax * jbillings@nmcinc.org
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