Vol. 1, No. 2 February 2006 Change: Plan on it! As we plan a new facility, one thing is certain: Change. We won’t simply be moving to a new building. We will be changing many of the things we do, from the way we work together to the way we serve our clients. If you’re old enough to remember, think about life in 1975, when life was simpler…or was it? We didn’t have personal computers, laptops, COWS or cell phones like we do today. We drove cars with spark plugs and distributor caps, not computer chips. We listened to 8-track players. So what happened to them? Change! We don’t yet know what the future holds. No one—not the board of directors, not senior leadership, not administrative staff—can say exactly what is going to happen in the coming months ahead. Often, it feels as if we’re building an airplane while we’re flying it. Picture that! In order to stay healthy as individuals and as members of the RMH team, we must think now about how to manage ourselves through the inevitable changes ahead. The Center for Learning and Development, a part of Human Resources, is a resource during this time. We hope to equip leaders with information and skills that will help them walk with their staffs through the coming changes. We must think now about how to manage ourselves through the inevitable changes ahead. We will never come this way again. It’s up to each of us to make this time of change a positive and exciting one. --Wayne Woodson, Director, Center for Learning & Development Save the date . . . June 20 is the date to save on your calendar for the official ground-breaking ceremony for the new hospital and health campus. You may have noticed trees coming down and dirt being moved at the site already. That is preliminary work to clear away buildings and debris left on the site. But the “real” groundbreaking will take place June 20. All staff, physicians, volunteers and friends of RMH are invited to be part of the celebration. Watch for details in forthcoming publications! Did you know . . . • • As an individual, take time to re-energize yourself. Celebrate small successes in your work area. Ask questions! Seek developmental opportunities so you can grow professionally. • Send questions to [email protected] Two signs—one facing Port Republic Road and one facing Reservoir Street—were erected on the new site Feb. 1. If you don’t have time to drive by the site, you can see photos of the signs on EPICnet and RMHOnline. All employees have access to current and back issues of this newsletter, as well as the DH Bulletin and other information about the new hospital and health campus, at the Destination Health page on EPICnet. Just click on the Destination Health icon in the left-hand column of the home page. Nurses and other clinical providers gave ESa (architects) feedback on the first round of working documents showing stacking and adjacencies (what department goes where). They were part of 15 “user groups” that met the week of January 23 to let the architects know how patient care will flow in the new facility. Operational Planning Update Centralized scheduling means more efficiency This article is the second in a series of reports on how we anticipate changing the way we work as we prepare to move into a new facility. For a full description of these “operational model reports,” see the January 2006 issue of Inside Scoop on EPICnet. One phone call. To one number. That is all it will take for any patient, any time, to schedule and pre-register for most services at RMH, reports Craig Warner about planned process changes. Warner, director of Health Information and Patient Financial Management, is leading a team looking at how we can streamline the processes we use to move patients through the RMH system. The first part step, says Warner, is the frontend patient process. The goal: efficiency and accuracy through centralized scheduling. “Everybody knows how frustrating it is to answer the same question more than once when registering for a procedure,” he points out. Moving registration and scheduling to one central area will eliminate that kind of redundancy, as well as create other efficiencies, Warner says. And that will make the entire hospital experience better for the patient. RMH departments that currently have their own scheduling processes include Radiology, Heart and Vascular Services, Rehab Services, OR, Women’s Health Focus, Center for Sleep Medicine, Center for Behavioral Health and the Lab (for some procedures). Sometimes a patient needs to phone more than one department to schedule various procedures. Each department asks the same basic questions— name, address, birth date, etc. And rarely do the appointments line up to simplify the patient’s visits to the hospital. With centralized scheduling, a patient will make one phone call to schedule appointments and to answer all pre-registration questions. The scheduler will then mail an appointment confirmation, a map, instructions for parking and other necessary information. During the call RMH staff will also verify insurance coverage by clarifying the reason for the procedure or test, and, in some cases, process the patient’s co-pay. This will provide significant time savings for the patient and cost savings for RMH, says Warner. How can centralized schedulers be in touch with specific department needs? “We will definitely not do this in a vacuum,” says Warner. Centralized scheduling is a partnership between the schedulers and the departments for whom they schedule. The schedulers will be in daily contact with the departments to process emergencies, addon procedures and late notifications, or events such as equipment malfunctions. What will happen to my job? Scheduling of ancillary tests and procedures will change at RMH; therefore the way department schedulers do their jobs now will change. The new centralized scheduling will take advantage of the specialized knowledge that employees who currently do scheduling have, and apply it hospital-wide. RMH will provide support and training for people whose job responsibilities change. When will this happen? The earliest this change could take place is spring 2007. Centralized scheduling will be rolled out first to outpatient ancillary services such as Radiology and Heart and Vascular Services. Some more complex services, such as OR, will happen much later, if at all. The Next Step: Beyond the “Front End” Patient processing includes more than registration and scheduling. Warner’s team will consider issues such as: • Patient Arrival–Will patients stop at a central check-in spot upon arrival or proceed directly to the department? What kind of active and passive way finding tools will we use? • Co-pay collections–One advantage to a central scheduling/pre-registration process is that it provides the opportunity to know, in advance, the co-pays, co-insurances or deductibles patients will owe at the time of service. What processes and procedures can RMH put in place to collect those amounts due? • Patient Transportation–How will we move patients around the hospital? Does a nurse or other clinician always have to accompany the patient? Would a dedicated “dispatch” system work? Could equipment and supplies be incorporated into this system? Warner says the opportunity to improve patient access to services is exciting, and the front-end process is the first chance for RMH to make a positive impression on the community it serves.