Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Not just because so much care goes in to the preparation and the gathering of family but because it is the one holiday that all Americans celebrate. It is a day that our forefathers created to make us purposefully stop and think about all the things that we have to be thankful for and especially for what people gave up to start this most amazing country.
I have been following the posts on Facebook of my friends who have taken a pledge of giving thanks for something each day. Some of them are serious, some of them are funny, some are memories of loved ones lost and some are thankful for the bounty they have been given. So, I thought it would be fun to start a thankful list on the blog. It could be big or small but I would ask that you try and relate it to something or someone you are thankful for at Children's Specialized.
For me, I have so much to be thankful for. Children's Specialized allowed me to jump onto this amazing wave that you had going. Seven years ago when I got here, you were a couple years into a strategic plan that envisioned growing outpatient services and building a new hospital at the same time implementing values that would help us through good times and bad. As I look back seven years later, we have done much of what was in that plan. We have had great people join our ranks; over 300 new people have come to CSH in the last seven years. We have said goodbye to some friends and welcomed some back. The days are filled with both a lot of hope for the future and a lot of work to be done. I am thankful that I was selected to come into the CSH family and allowed me to be part of the amazing work that we do.
And you?
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Friday, November 5, 2010
Sharing the Changes of Healthcare
There are times when the healthcare industry is in an uproar and I may only share information with you sporadically. Partly because maybe I am trying to not make you worry or maybe it is because I assume if I am hearing these things, you are hearing them too. This year we did not make the Best Places to work from Modern Healthcare. From the comments on the Modern Healthcare Survey, it is clear that we need to do a better job of communicating what is going on in our hospital industry. So here it goes - Here are some of major changes that have happened in the 2010 in the hospital industry that have affected many hospital employees and people who receive care.
RWJ Rahway in July of this year reduced management’s salary by 10% across the board and all other employees by 5%. They took back a week of vacation from all management employees and have stopped the hospitals contribution to the 403B plan.
RWJ Hamilton and St. Peter's Hospital in New Brunswick were forced to lay off 200 employees each or not fill positions that were currently open due to their decreased census. St. Barnabas announced the sale of all of their long term care services, impacting 600 employees.
Many hospitals throughout the state have frozen wages and have stopped any contribution to their 403 B plans.
State employees had to agree to seven furlough days, (meaning they can’t work, nor will they get paid for that day) In addition, a new law requires an increase in their health benefits contribution.
Beginning January1, Medicare will reduce its payments to NJ acute care hospitals by $1 BILLION a year, each year, for the next 10 years.
Economists say that the recession is over, but the financial growth may never reach the levels of before September 2008.
The State of the NJ is facing a $12 BILLION loss in 2011. The Governor has committed that he will not raise taxes and this loss is after his difficult reductions made in last year’s budget.
So why do I tell you all of this? There will be more hard times ahead for the State of NJ and for all of the healthcare industry. Besides continuing to deliver high quality care and make wise management decisions, we must continue to distinguish ourselves with our positive culture, delivery of high quality care and your commitment to our children and their families. It is being able to live our values each and every day, even though there may be chaos and tumult going on all around us. As much as we can, this Senior Leadership team is going to work hard to mitigate the pressures of the outside world but we are going to need to make changes in order to do that.
In 2010 we began an effort to systematically review every thing we do - every process, every contract, every thing to ask our selves are we doing this in the most efficient way for our families and our staff? There have been great things that have come out of that review, and we have uncovered many opportunities to make more improvements. That work will be part of what we do each and every day - not a one time project. It is much like the changes we have made in reference to quality improvement. This process is not to make “more” money for the organization but knowing that our reimbursement is going to be flat or reduced, we need to make sure we have money to continue to meet increased salaries, health insurance and reward employees for your superior work.
So what does this all mean for you? It means that the work that we have done to date, improving the quality of care we give, including our families in helping solve problems, being focused on becoming the most efficient organization we can be, all are a strong foundation for the challenges that we will face. I am absolutely confident that we will come out the other side of these challenges an even stronger organization, more resolute on doing all that we need to for our kids.
What I need from you are your thoughts on how best to engage all of you in this constant change that is going on. I truly want you focused on continuing to do great work but I know you need a context to understand why we are doing the things we are doing. Please give me your suggestions on how best to connect with you and make sure we are doing the best job possible to align all of our goals with the realities that we are facing.
RWJ Rahway in July of this year reduced management’s salary by 10% across the board and all other employees by 5%. They took back a week of vacation from all management employees and have stopped the hospitals contribution to the 403B plan.
RWJ Hamilton and St. Peter's Hospital in New Brunswick were forced to lay off 200 employees each or not fill positions that were currently open due to their decreased census. St. Barnabas announced the sale of all of their long term care services, impacting 600 employees.
Many hospitals throughout the state have frozen wages and have stopped any contribution to their 403 B plans.
State employees had to agree to seven furlough days, (meaning they can’t work, nor will they get paid for that day) In addition, a new law requires an increase in their health benefits contribution.
Beginning January1, Medicare will reduce its payments to NJ acute care hospitals by $1 BILLION a year, each year, for the next 10 years.
Economists say that the recession is over, but the financial growth may never reach the levels of before September 2008.
The State of the NJ is facing a $12 BILLION loss in 2011. The Governor has committed that he will not raise taxes and this loss is after his difficult reductions made in last year’s budget.
So why do I tell you all of this? There will be more hard times ahead for the State of NJ and for all of the healthcare industry. Besides continuing to deliver high quality care and make wise management decisions, we must continue to distinguish ourselves with our positive culture, delivery of high quality care and your commitment to our children and their families. It is being able to live our values each and every day, even though there may be chaos and tumult going on all around us. As much as we can, this Senior Leadership team is going to work hard to mitigate the pressures of the outside world but we are going to need to make changes in order to do that.
In 2010 we began an effort to systematically review every thing we do - every process, every contract, every thing to ask our selves are we doing this in the most efficient way for our families and our staff? There have been great things that have come out of that review, and we have uncovered many opportunities to make more improvements. That work will be part of what we do each and every day - not a one time project. It is much like the changes we have made in reference to quality improvement. This process is not to make “more” money for the organization but knowing that our reimbursement is going to be flat or reduced, we need to make sure we have money to continue to meet increased salaries, health insurance and reward employees for your superior work.
So what does this all mean for you? It means that the work that we have done to date, improving the quality of care we give, including our families in helping solve problems, being focused on becoming the most efficient organization we can be, all are a strong foundation for the challenges that we will face. I am absolutely confident that we will come out the other side of these challenges an even stronger organization, more resolute on doing all that we need to for our kids.
What I need from you are your thoughts on how best to engage all of you in this constant change that is going on. I truly want you focused on continuing to do great work but I know you need a context to understand why we are doing the things we are doing. Please give me your suggestions on how best to connect with you and make sure we are doing the best job possible to align all of our goals with the realities that we are facing.
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