The Wright Stuff: Your efforts paid off

A message to WVU Medicine-Ruby Memorial Hospital employees, mid-level providers, and residents held accountable for the 2015 PI Plan

If you took a few moments to look over the year-in-review presentation that I shared a few weeks back, I’m sure you’ll agree that 2015 was a banner year. We’re caring for more patients than ever before, recruiting top employees and physicians, building new facilities, and performing community outreach. We’re doing all of this – and more – to make a difference in the lives of our patients and their families.

And we are making a real difference – our outcomes and quality have never been better. In 2015, we attained our highest-ever ranking – No. 18 – in the annual University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC) Quality Leadership Awards. That was a major accomplishment.

Our 2015 Performance Improvement (PI) Plan drove many of the efforts that helped us achieve this national recognition. Here are some of our PI Plan successes:

• We were among the top academic medical centers in the country to show the greatest improvement in their mortality rate. We were rated No. 4.
• We improved how we care for people facing a life-limiting illness or injury. More than 100 patients elected hospice care, a service now provided on 7 Northeast and 9 West. These patients received compassionate care, pain management, and emotional and spiritual support tailored to their needs.
• We reduced the number of inpatients who acquired a Clostridium difficile (C. diff) infection. We’ve gone from 160 infections in 2013 to 97 in 2014 to 73 in 2015. We’re effectively addressing this issue thanks to your efforts to reduce antibiotic use and improve the appropriateness of testing.
• We increased in the number of outpatients who received preventive care, including flu vaccines, and colon cancer and breast cancer screenings.
• We addressed capacity challenges by reducing diversions and increasing transfers. A diversion occurs when an ambulance is turned away because the Emergency Department at Ruby Memorial is at maximum capacity. Transfers refer to our ability to accommodate patients from other facilities. In 2015, we only diverted an ambulance on five occasions. And we increased transfers by 1,470, compared to 2014. There were only 64 transfers that were not accommodated.

Each of you helped us achieve these and other goals that were part of the 2015 PI Plan.

Your efforts paid off in the amount of $608. That’s the PI Plan bonus that eligible WVU Medicine-Ruby Memorial Hospital employees, mid-level providers, and residents will receive. Employees and mid-level providers will receive their bonus on Friday, Feb. 5. Residents will receive their bonus on a future date.

This is the largest PI Plan bonus this organization has ever paid. The bonus payments total more than $3.5 million. We believe it’s important to invest in our most important resource – and that’s you!

Each of the 2015 PI Plan’s four pylons – People, Quality and Safety, Service, Growth and Efficiency – was worth a maximum of $250, with the exact amount based on the success of the goals associated with each pylon. Read a detailed update on the plan, including the bonus amounts awarded for each pylon.

Bonus eligibility

All full-time and part-time benefit-eligible, non-management WVUH employees who work in departments that were held accountable for the 2015 PI Plan are eligible to receive the entire bonus. Residents and mid-level providers who are on the UHA payroll are also eligible. View the details on eligibility requirements.

2016 PI Plan

Next year’s bonus will, once again, be tied to the success of the PI Plan. Eligibility criteria will remain the same. Bonus payments are contingent upon WVU Medicine-Ruby Memorial Hospital exceeding a year-to-date budgeted operating margin.

The 2016 PI Plan – themed “Making a Difference – is ambitious, but I am confident that, together, we can contribute to the success of its goals and continue to strengthen the organization.

Complete 2016 PI Plan details will soon be posted on CONNECT. View the one-page summary.

We are all doing important work that may not be listed as a specific goal on the plan. However, we each need to think about how we can contribute to the success of these objectives

Together, we can make a difference!