Redesigning Care

I have been reflecting a lot lately about our vision statement (click here) that was written by our Board of Directors after their retreat in late 2010. They were concerned about GBMC’s ongoing ability to bring health, healing, and hope to our community in the face of changes in the U.S. healthcare system and the exorbitant costs of that system. So, they wrote a 4-paragraph game plan that we have been executing since then. The core directive in that vision statement was to continually redesign care to drive greater value for those we serve.
 
On a macro level, GBMC has gone from being hospital-centric to creating a system of care through the eyes of the patient. We converted our primary care offices into patient-centered medical homes and added more of them. We added specialist physicians to our practices and made them more accessible to our patients and to our primary care physicians for consultation. We built Gilchrist to deliver elder care services through the end of life in the home and in many of our facilities. Palliative care and integrative care for symptom management have become strong components in our system.

GBMC added the concept of accountability for the health of those that it serves. No longer is it only about visits. Once a patient decides to get his or her care from one of our patient-centered medical homes, we are now accountable for his or her health outcomes. To do this, we had to build the analytic capability to reflect on how individuals and disease-specific populations were doing. We purchased Epic, our electronic health record to help us do this. Care managers now work with physician-led office teams to maximize the health of those they serve and reduce unnecessary visits. We now know precisely how many diabetics we are serving and can identify patients who are not properly managing their disease. With this capability, we can focus specifically on those patients who need extra help from their providers.

It would take me days to list all of the practical examples of redesigned care in our system. Our SAFE and Domestic Violence programs have totally redesigned the care for a sexually or physically abused individual who comes to our emergency department. We now have peer counselors in our Emergency Department who work with patients struggling with substance use. Our Orthopaedics practice recently added walk-in services to more efficiently handle injuries. Our Intensive Care Units now have in-house critical care physicians available 24 hours per day. Patients who require a rabies immunization are able to quickly receive their second dose at Family Care Associates rather than having to return to the ED. I know that this is only a short list of the examples of care redesign that we have done…we will complete many more as we move towards our vision!

Gilchrist Named a Great Place to Work…Again!
Gilchrist was certified for the second year in a row, by independent analysts, as a Great Place to Work®. Gilchrist earned this distinction based on ratings provided by employees in anonymous surveys. The certification process considered 436 employee surveys from across Gilchrist’s locations. Cathy Hamel, President of Gilchrist and Vice President of Continuing Care at GBMC, feels that being re-named as a “Great Place to Work” is a confirmation of the culture at Gilchrist: one where employees find meaning in what they do and share a strong sense of pride about their work. I applaud all Gilchrist employees and thank them for their hard work. Congratulations, everyone!

Let’s Not Forget…
This coming weekend is the “unofficial” start to the summer season. While many of us might be heading to the beaches or to the pool, let’s not forget that Monday is Memorial Day, a special day to honor those who have given their lives during military service to our country. We all have friends or family members whose lives of service included the ultimate sacrifice. So, on this Memorial Day holiday, let’s make time to honor our veterans for their commitment to safeguard our security and be mindful of our heroes — living and dead. Let this be a moment to recognize our nation’s champions with appreciation and respect.