How Nashville General Hospital plans to move forward in 2023 and Beyond | Opinion
The Tennessean | Joseph Webb, Guest Columnist
By using evidence based model IHI Triple Aim, Nashville General Hospital is positioned for growth in the coming years.
Originally posted in The Tennessean | Joseph Webb
The last four years haven’t been easy on anyone especially a public hospital. A global pandemic began in 2020 followed by historic flash floods in 2021. But after reflecting over these last couple of years on the hard work and dedication of our healthcare medical providers and workforce, two words come to mind:
Resilience and Motivation
The Nashville General Hospital (NGH) team demonstrated tremendous resiliency while remaining highly motivated to deliver on NGH’s mission of improving the health and wellness of Nashville by providing equitable access to coordinated, patient-centered care.
NGH has developed a robust strategic plan for the next three years: Building on our strengths and seeking out opportunities.
NGH focuses on utilizing evidence-based models to achieve our strategic goal: the IHI Triple Aim™. The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) Triple Aim is the simultaneous pursuit of improving the patient experience of care, improving the health of populations, and reducing the per capita cost of health care. The Triple Aim is the framework against which we measure achieving exceptional patient experience, reducing our per capita cost, and improving the health of the communities we serve. And our fourth dimension in the framework is caring for the caregiver.
As the team works toward the Triple Aim, four strategic pillars serve as the guideposts of Nashville General Hospital’s path forward: People, Service, Quality, and Stewardship.
People
The shortage of talented healthcare professionals, especially nurses, was prevalent during the pandemic. According to the 2020 NSI National Healthcare Retention & RN Staffing Report, the average hospital turnover rate in 2021 was 25.9%. Thankfully, Nashville General Hospital achieved a voluntary nursing turnover rate of less than 19%. We will continue to attract and retain a highly engaged workforce by recruiting with a focus on Value Based Culture (fit).
Furthermore, NGH will invest in the continued development of staff and leaders, enhance employee education by expanding training opportunities and encourage staff to implement best practices. By adhering to NGH’s mission, vision, and values, we will continue to provide a safe and rewarding workplace that supports high employee satisfaction.
Service
The HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) survey is the first national, standardized, publicly reported survey of patients' perspectives of hospital care. While many hospitals have collected information on patient satisfaction for their internal use, until HCAHPS, there was no national standard for collecting and publicly reporting information about patient experience of care that allowed valid comparisons to be made across hospitals locally, regionally and nationally. NGH aims to increase survey responses to 77% of all customers and receive an overall score of 9 or 10 on a 10-point scale.
Quality
Nashville General Hospital will promote a culture of service that focuses on patient safety, ensures evidence-based practices, and pursues continuous improvement to achieve quality outcomes. We continue to achieve and maintain Hospital Acquired Infection (HAI) rates at or better than the national benchmark, reduce preventable All-Cause Readmissions to a rate of 9% or better, improve Sepsis Care (SEP 1) bundle compliance to at or better than 57%, and achieve the next level of High Reliability Organization (HRO) maturity.
Stewardship
Nashville General Hospital will improve the hospital’s financial performance by increasing self-generated revenues and reducing expenses. This will be done by expanding clinical services, locations, and access points to increase the commercial patient population as a percentage of all NGH patients, reducing reliance on contract labor by developing our clinical recruitment strategy, and reducing supply and pharmacy costs as a percentage of adjusted patient stay.
Yes, Nashville General Hospital and its staff are resilient and motivated.
By valuing our employees and healthcare providers, providing exceptional customer service, delivering high-quality healthcare outcomes, and improving our financial performance, Nashville General Hospital is positioned for growth in the coming years.
