Employee News

First acquisition puts IASIS into Nevada market

Midnight. February 1, 2004. A time you would expect it to be very quiet in a hospital, but a lot was happening at Lake Mead Hospital Medical Center at the official moment when IASIS Healthcare took over ownership.

A dozen of the company’s leaders, including Chairman, President and CEO David White and COO Sandra McRee, as well as Lake Mead’s management team, showed up at the hospital to greet the night shift, and welcome hospital employees to IASIS. Three “rolling receptions” and one meet-and-greet reception were held over the first two days, with the group delivering food and welcome gifts to the hospital’s employees.

IASIS Chairman, President
and CEO David White, below left, welcomes staff members shortly after IASIS officially took ownership of the Lake Mead Hospital.

“I’ve worked here for eleven years, through four owners, and no one has done anything quite like this before,” said Mary Lambrecht, laboratory employee. “It was a great feeling to be welcomed like that.”

“I don’t think they’ve ever seen so many suits up on the floor at one time,” joked David White at an employee meeting the next day. “We wanted to welcome the staff without disrupting the delivery of healthcare. We wanted these employees to know how pleased we are that Lake Mead is now part of our company and that they are part of the family.”

A Strategic Acquisition
This is the first hospital acquisition for IASIS since the formation of the company in 1999. With the addition of Lake Mead, IASIS now operates 15 hospitals. This is also the company’s first hospital in Nevada.

“Part of the reason we selected Lake Mead Hospital is that it is located in a dynamic, expanding community,” said White. “It’s consistent with our strategy of operating in high-growth communities where our hospitals can also grow and thrive.”

Last year, the U.S. Census Bureau ranked North Las Vegas as the second-fastest growing large city in the nation. Approximately 1,000 new residents move to the city each month, according to the Mayor’s office.

Great Potential
IASIS will invest over $13 million into Lake Mead Hospital over the next couple of years, to expand services and upgrade the hospital and its equipment. A new Cardiac Catheterization Lab will be added, the ambulatory surgery area will be renovated and expanded, OB services will expand, and new medical equipment will be placed at the hospital, including a new in-house MRI, CT Scan, Ultrasound machines, and new surgical instrumentation and equipment.

“Lake Mead is a good hospital with good physicians and good employees, and it has an opportunity to provide even more healthcare services to the area. We’re going to add the resources it needs, through a substantial capital investment, to help this hospital reach its full potential,” said Sandra McRee.

First Baby
It didn’t take long for IASIS to welcome its first new patient. At 12:50 a.m., Baby Girl Kylee entered the world in a Lake Mead Hospital delivery room. She weighed 6 pounds, 10 ounces and was 18 inches long. To celebrate her birth, IASIS is providing Kylee with a U.S. Savings Bond.

Making the Doctor Feel Better

Physician satisfaction makes a difference

Most hospital customer service programs focus on taking good care of patients. In IASIS hospitals, that’s a daily mission. But there are other “customers” in our facilities, too, including physicians who choose to practice in our hospitals and who trust us to care for their patients.

According to the Studer Group, a leader in improving customer service in hospitals, four key elements drive physician satisfaction:

1
Quality: Doctors want to know their patients are receiving quality care and service.
2
Efficiency: Doctors expect to get quick turnarounds on tests and expect nurses to be prepared when they call to discuss patients.
3
Input: Doctors appreciate an opportunity to share ideas about how hospitals can do better and expect to be communicated with when changes are made.
4
Appreciation: Doctors, like anyone else, value recognition and thanks for good work.

At Park Place Medical Center, the Physician Relations STAR team has 11 members who work year-round to let doctors know that they are dedicated to improving their work environment.

“We’re competing with nearby hospitals for physicians, so we want our doctors to know we care about them, we care what they think, and we want them to like working at Park Place,” says Deena Brevell, director of medical staff services and leader of Park Place’s Physician Relations STAR team.

Each month, the team singles out a group of doctors to recognize.

•	At Easter, they delivered baskets of candy to OB/GYNs with a note that said, “You are Eggstra Special!”
•	In August, they recognized female physicians by sending roses and chocolates.
•	Anesthesiologists were honored with a delivery of brownies and a hospital banner that read “Our Anesthesiologists Never Sleep.”

The team also seeks out doctors on the hospital’s floors to ask how their days are going and what the hospital can do to improve.

“Just letting the physicians know we’re interested makes a difference,” Brevell said. “Many of them tell us they are pleased to have a place to go if they want an issue addressed.”

It’s All Connected

Research shows a strong positive relationship between patient satisfaction and physician satisfaction. According to Press Ganey, a leader in healthcare satisfaction measurement, as patient satisfaction increases at a hospital, doctors who practice at that hospital become more satisfied. “This finding suggests that when quality pervades an organization, it’s visible in many forms,” the research reported.

3 Ways to Show Appreciation

1 Write personal thank you notes to doctors throughout the year, noting how much you appreciate their work at the hospital. Be specific.
2 Start a Physician-of-the-Month award. At Pioneer Valley Hospital, five physicians of the month are recognized on a showcase board with photos and bios of each doctor.
3 Celebrate physician birthdays by signing and sending a group card or even baking a cake to share.

Odessa Focuses On Nursing Shortage

These days, as we face a serious shortage of nurses, many hospitals are giving scholarships to students who want to enter the nursing profession. But in Texas, Odessa Regional Medical Center is taking another approach—by helping to fund a teacher.

The hospital recently made a donation to Odessa College to help pay for an additional instructor in the nursing education program. That donation means the school can accept 10 more students into clinicals in the spring semester.

“We have more applicants than we can take, but this kind of donation helps us out,” said Carmen Edwards, Odessa College’s dean of nursing education.

During clinicals, students care for patients under the supervision of a medical professional. More students in clinicals means more students can graduate and fill the demand for nurses at hospitals nationwide.

By the year 2020, the nation will be short 800,000 nurses, according to the Bureau of Health Professions. At the same time, the demand for healthcare is expected to increase as Baby Boomers age and people live longer.

“Both the community and hospital will see a return on this,” said Ann Weaver, Odessa Regional’s chief nursing officer. “It’s a way to ensure that well-trained nurses are available for our hospital and for others.”

Four of a Kind!

The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Odessa Regional Medical Center has been known as the “Quad Squad” since Jan. 9, when quadruplets were born at the hospital. Frederick, Zane, Gavin and Abigail were born about 13 weeks premature, at just over 2 pounds each. The four babies include one set of identical twins and one set of fraternal twins. The quad’s proud parents, Juli and Keith, underwent in-vitro fertilization treatments before getting pregnant. Chances of having quadruplets without in-vitro fertilization are 1 in 700,000, but improve to 1 in 20 with the treatments, according to experts.