Health care organization shares the wealth with `benchmarking days'; site visits from other institutions yield two-way learning process - Baptist Health Care Corp

HealthCare Benchmarks and Quality Improvement, March, 2003

Being a nationally recognized health care system certainly has its benefits, the most obvious being "front-of-mind" awareness and a favorable perception among potential patients.

But Baptist Health Care Corp. of Pensacola, FL, recipient of numerous awards and honors for excellence both in health care and as an employer, has parlayed its reputation into a new profit center as well as a new source of benchmarking--both for fellow health care organizations across the country and for its own benefit, as well.

The vehicle for these new opportunities is the Baptist Health Care Leadership Institute (www.baptistleadershipinstitute.com), established in late 1999.

"It really came out of requests from health care colleagues across the country," notes Pam Bilbrey, MS, MBA, senior vice president of corporate development for Baptist Health Care.

Bilbrey has responsibility for Baptist University, Baptist Health Care's extensive leadership development program, and also holds executive-level responsibility for the Baptist Health Care Leadership Institute, as well as serving on its faculty.

"We had really done some major cultural change, we received a lot of recognition nationally, and word got out among our colleagues. They asked if they could come spend time with us or interview our leaders on the phone," she explains.

What drew these other institutions to Baptist? Here is just a sampling of the awards it has received:

* It received the USA Today Quality Cup for extraordinary results in employee and patient satisfaction.

* It was recognized by the Herman Group as an "Employer of Choice."

* It ranks in the top 1% in patient satisfaction as measured by Press Ganey Associates.

* As a result of an independent employee satisfaction survey, Sperduto and Associates said that "Baptist Health Care has the highest employee morale we have ever seen, in any industry."

* Baptist recently was ranked #15 by Fortune Magazine in its "100 Best Companies to Work for in America" listing, by far the highest-ranking health care employer.

Only way to respond

Baptist's leaders were flattered by all the attention and happy to help their colleagues, "but it became overwhelming," Bilbrey recalls. "People would come here to benchmark, and then they'd say, `This is great, can we send more people?' The institute was established as a way to manage this demand, and it grew from there."

And grown it has. To date, 1,200 health care groups from 47 states have come to Baptist, sending a total of more than 5,700 professionals. The institute's services include:

* benchmarking sessions;

* seminars and special events;

* consulting services;

* best practice resources;

* speaking engagements;

* audit tools.

The institute has become a new profit center for Baptist, says Bilbrey, noting that it became necessary to charge for the services because of the time its staff had to spend meeting requests from the other institutions.

Benchmarking at the core

Benchmarking, and more specifically the "benchmarking days" that Baptist offered to other hospitals, were the foundation of the institute in its early days and ultimately led to the additional services. "After the success of the benchmarking days, we created the seminars, then after that, people asked us to consult with them," she says.

On a typical benchmarking day, one health care organization will visit, sending a leadership team of anywhere from six to 15 or 16 people.

"Before they arrive, we ask them to fill out an organizational profile on who they are," Bilbrey notes. (See an excerpt, p. 27.)

The profile includes basic statistics, such as the size of the facility, number of emergency department visits, services offered, and so on. Other information requested includes patient, employee, and physician satisfaction scores, turnover rate, and nursing shortages. "Then they share with us their top three or four challenges," she says.

With the information in hand, the institute staff seek to create a day that addresses the concerns noted by the participating institution. "For example, if their concerns lie primarily in the area of patient satisfaction, we would be more heavily weighted in that area, or if they have specific clinical areas on which they want more information, we'll focus on that, but we always include a more rounded agenda," she explains.

The morning begins with a welcome and introduction to Baptist Health Care's organization and culture by the president of Baptist Hospital. "Then, typically, we'll move into the area of employee satisfaction, making the case that you need a high level of employee satisfaction before you can reach a high level of patient satisfaction," Bilbrey says. "Then we move into patient satisfaction."

These two areas are always Covered, regardless of the specific needs expressed in the profile. Afterward, the more specific areas are covered.

"One of the techniques we use is scripting," she notes. "So, if they are interested in the business office, we will go into detail on how to develop scripts, what they are, and how they work."