Our Patients have Voted: GBMA is Delivering Better Care

It has now been five years since the GBMC HealthCare Board conducted its visioning retreat. http://ahealthydialogue.blogspot.com/2010/10/saving-celebrating-and-planning.html I remember the conversation among those in attendance. Everyone had great things to say about GBMC and its physicians, nurses and staff. But everyone had at least one story where our service to a patient missed the mark.  Frequently the stories were about waits and delays or about poor communication.

Last Wednesday, during our monthly leadership meeting, I had the opportunity to see just how far we have come in our Aim of Better Care for everyone’s loved ones. Danielle Da Silva, Ambulatory Service Line Administrator for Greater Baltimore Medical Associates, was showing the group how GBMA was doing on its better care goals. Danielle showed that our employed physician practices had an overall patient engagement score of 93.4 which is at the 89th percentile nationally and at the 91st percentile in our region!

This outstanding improvement in service has not happened by chance.  It is due to the hard work of our practice managers, lead physicians and all of the members of their teams.  They have extended hours of operation, improved at using the patient portal, improved patient flow within the office and improved  their communication skills across the board.  I am so proud of all of them and grateful for all of their hard work.

I must particularly call out a group of “unsung heroes”…our medical assistants.  These are the people who work alongside our physicians in the office, getting the patients ready for the visit, taking their vital signs, making sure that they have had their immunizations, etc. In this quarter, the medical assistant overall score was 94.7 which at the 85th national percentile!

As I studied the data, our scores have gone up in every area of the survey! Our GBMA colleagues are truly making the care better every day and helping us get closer to our vision. Please give them a pat on the back when you see them and thank them for all that they are doing for our patients.

National Medical Staff Services Professionals Awareness Week
This week is “National Medical Staff Services Awareness Week,” and I would like to acknowledge and thank all of our medical staff services professionals (MSPs) for playing an important role to our healthcare organization and its physician members, and their contribution and dedication in preserving quality patient care.

MSPs are experts in provider credentialing and privileging, medical staff organization, accreditation and regulatory compliance, and provider relations in our diverse healthcare industry. They credential and monitor ongoing competence of the physicians and other practitioners who provide patient care services in hospitals, managed care organizations, and other healthcare settings.  MSPs are a vital part of our healthcare team and are dedicated to making certain that all patients receive care from practitioners who are properly educated, licensed, and trained in their specialty.

Please join me in thanking our MSPs for their hard work and for their important role in caring for our patients.