Getting an influx of patients over a short span of time can be a logistical challenge for even the most organized facilities, but what happens when dozens of patients are admitted over the course of a morning? Mercy Health - West Hospital had just that challenge when patients were moved from two hospitals being consolidated into the newly opened facility. DOTmed HealthCare Business News spoke with Mike Stephens, president of Mercy Health’s West Market, to learn how they managed the transition so smoothly.

HCBN: Two of the Mercy Health facilities merged in November. How did you go about preparing staff and the surrounding community for that change?
Mike Stephens: The first part of making people ready for that shift and be ready to give up the only employer many may have known for their entire career, was to build a level of excitement. One thing we did was to hold a celebration where we invited staff to reminisce about accomplishments and positive memories and then place a “memory stone” into a large vase to signify that memory. That vase is on display at the new hospital. So that acknowledged that even though there was excitement about the future, for some there would be grieving for the past, but they were able to take those positive memories along.

We began recruiting for our two new service lines eight or nine months before the anticipated opening. As we hired, we began orienting them to our vision of the new hospital. Then they spent the time leading up to our opening at one of our sister facilities so that they were comfortable with how we wanted to run the department and comfortable with each other as a team.

In parallel, we had a physical move to plan — 1,500 employees plus medical staff, plus volunteers. We had to inventory all the medical equipment and furnishings and artwork. We started that process about a year before the move date. It culminated during the last few months, where we had to identify the process of gradually dismantling different departments.

We also had to plan for moving the patients from the existing hospitals to the new hospital. The move started at about 6 a.m. on November 10, the day Mercy Health West opened. We emptied Mount Airy first — we had a fleet of ambulances along with a sending, transport and receiving team to make sure that each patient was cared for every step of the way. We finished by lunch and then moved all the patients from Western Hills. By mid-afternoon every patient was moved into the new hospital. That was probably the most dramatic part — seeing that move take place and seeing a constant stream of ambulances leaving every six minutes until it was done.

HCBN: Mercy Health West worked with GE Healthcare to streamline the merger — what developed from that relationship?
MS: It was really helpful for pulling together the cultures of the two hospitals and particularly the medical staff. We pulled together leaders into a room and they were able to pull together the way we trained employees.

HCBN: In what ways has staff improved the patient experience?
MS: One of the ways is through behavior expectations created out of the GE facilitated workshop. When you walk in, you’re greeted by staff and a group of volunteers. Our commitment is that no one gets directions — patients and visitors are escorted to where they’re going.

So we have a practice called managing up — where the staff or volunteers use that time to talk about the various features of the hospital. If for example, we’re walking them to the operating room because a family member is getting knee surgery, we might tell them about how we’re ranked in the top five for the state for that procedure. If we’re walking them to a patient room, we might tell them about how there’s no cut off for time for patient visitation.

HCBN: What goals are you most proud of reaching and which goals are you still striving to reach?
MS: We have a new standard that’s tracking dispatch to cath lab. We want that to be less than 90 minutes — well beyond what the American Heart Association sees as achievable in most communities. We’re beating that over 80% of the time. It’s an amazing testament to the teamwork.

For us, our board set some goals around financial performance and quality outcomes and patient experience scores. So last month, we’re at a level that we’re exceeding every goal in those categories. And it wasn’t projected that we’d hit many of these goals until our second year of operation.

Click here to view the hospital spotlight pictorial of Mercy Health - West Hospital.