HCHC board approves funds for healthcare coaching program

BY BRYCE KELLY

Mt. Pleasant News

After several months of discussion and planning, the Henry County Health Center?s (HCHC) Board of Trustees has agreed to enter into a major partnership with Studer Group, a healthcare coaching organization, to hopefully expand and implement what HCHC CEO Robb Gardner calls a ?culture of quality healthcare? at the health center.

With a fee of $75,000, which the health center would pay in quarterly installments over time, the board?s decision to enter into an agreement with Studer Group was not met without discussion and research. In the most recent months, Gardner and the board have been adamantly researching the program and feel its potential benefits to the health center as a whole greatly outweigh the price.

?I know it?s a big fee, but in the research we have found that other (critical access) hospitals like us that have used the Studer principles have had tremendous success, so I think it?s a risk worth taking,? Gardner explained to the board on Tuesday.

As part of the program, Studer Group continually works with healthcare organizations in the United States and around the world to help them achieve and maintain positive improvements in clinical outcomes and financial results. Studer also provides individualized coaching and assistance software to assess the needs of specific departments within an organization and implement plans to help work through various stumbling blocks.

In addition, to provide more quality assurance, it will be possible for HCHC to terminate their contract with Studer Group should the program not meet the goals and expectations of the health center. Should HCHC decide to terminate their contract, they would be reimbursed a percentage of the funds they had already paid.

?I was apprehensive about this, I?ll be honest,? said board member Ron Clouse. ?But if we have a way to get out of it should it not live up to what it should, that makes me feel much more comfortable.?

The partnership itself would not likely begin until March of 2016.

And while the board was deciding major purchases, the board also moved to approve the purchasing of new equipment for the health center?s radiology department. Recently, radiology department heads have discovered some of their radiology software for saving and storing radiology-related images is in need of an upgrade, which is budgeted to cost about $133,000.

Besides talk of upcoming purchases, the board also moved to elect Travis Johnson, HCHC?s Community Health Director, as the new health center compliance officer. It was also discussed at the meeting that a new Chief of Nursing (CNO) will need to be hired as Jodi Geerts, HCHC?s current CNO, will leave the position in January.

In other news, the board conducted the following business:

? Approved the nominating committee for 2016

? Reviewed HCHC?s liability insurance

? Reviewed the health center?s financials for fiscal year 2016, paying particular attention to ways in which the health center can continue to lower its readmission rates, while still generating a healthy revenue flow

The next HCHC Board of Trustees meeting will be held on Tuesday, Jan. 19, at noon, inside the HCHC Board Room.