By Libby Cluett
lcluett@mineralwellsindex.com

Favorable ratings highlighted a recent hospital quality survey conducted at Palo Pinto General Hospital.

At last week’s board meeting, trustees learned of the hospital’s scores on its Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Plans, a survey required by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Goals of the initiative “are to improve the care provided by the nation’s hospitals and to provide quality information to consumers and others,” according to the CMS Web site.

Hospital performance is evaluated from a series of questions asking patients about:

• Nurse communication.

• Physician communication.

• Cleanliness and quiet conditions of the hospital environment.

• Responsiveness of the hospital staff.

• Pain management.

• Communication regarding medications.

• Recommendation rating of the hospital given by the patient.

The survey, which was conducted over the past four quarters, has been in the trial phase for PPGH and hospitals throughout the nation.

CMS will post hospital survey data on the Internet. This not only encourages hospitals to improve or maintain quality operations, it also gives consumers the opportunity to see how their local hospitals compare to others in the state and nation.

In addition to sharing the data, eventually CMS will use scores to determine pay to hospitals based on their performance.

PPGH contracted with the CMS-approved independent firm JL Morgan & Associates Inc. to conduct their HCAHP survey. CEO Harris Brooks called the process complicated and said it included phone interviews with standardized questions.

Director of Quality, Risk and Medical Staff Services Brenda Patton told board members that the benefit of outsourcing the consumer/patient survey through a company that specializes in this type of work, “is that there is no bias and they have Spanish-speaking [representatives].”

So, how did PPGH fair in the trial run?

In all four quarters – over the past year – patients consistently reported favorably, rating the major categories between 3.70 to 4.00, with 4.00 as the highest or best score. Additionally, PPGH received a 4.00 in the category on communication regarding medicine.

“I am very pleased with the results and I look forward to seeing how we compare to neighboring hospitals,” said Brooks.

Patton explained that the firm doing the survey chose patients randomly, using a sample size of 261 patients. Additionally, they only talked directly to the patient or, in the case of children, a parent. They asked the same CMS-defined questions being asked of other hospital patients nationwide.

CMS will eventually post the data for all to see at www.cms.hhs.gov/HospitalQualityInits.

In other business, board members heard information on the May 10 election, in which three seats are up, occupied by Mike Hopkins, Kathy Boswell and Richard Dennis.

PPGH will officially approve and order for the election at their next meeting once all the precinct polling sites are set.

Filing will take place now until March 10. Anyone interested in filing or finding out more information may contact Executive Administrative Assistant Sandra Midkiff at (940) 328-6403.

PPGH board members also:

• Approved hiring new hospitalist, My Myers, from Bayside Community Hospital in Anahuac, Texas, which is between Houston and Beaumont. According to Brooks, she is a board-certified family practitioner.

“We are very excited to have her, She has spent a couple of weeks doing a working interview and she was very well received, everyone seems to love her,” he said.

• Approved credentialing of Kenneth Ford, MD-pathology, John Jones, MD-Emergency Medicine, Randall Sloan, DO-Emergency Medicine, Edgar Lockett, MD-Anesthesiology, Robyn Young, MD-Oncology, John Lockyer, DPM-Podiatry, William Warren, DPM-Podiatry and Allied Health Professional’s Kimberly Malley.

• Received the November and December financial reports from Secretary-Treasurer Kathy Boswell. She called this a “profitable period,” stating that the hospital has 55 days of cash on hand, up from 25 days of cash on hand one year ago.

She added that having increased days of cash on hand meant PPGH did not have to take a line of credit as it had planned. According to Brooks, the hospital has secured a line of credit with a bank over the last three years for the period between the beginning of the fiscal year (Oct. 1) and the end of the calendar year. He said that this period comes after what is typically a slow summer period and before tax payments start coming in.

“One of my internal goals was increasing days cash on hand so we are independent,” said Brooks, who will mark his first complete year as CEO soon.