Cone Hospital review [October, 1988]

              THE • MOSES • H • CONE
®
MEMORIAL* HOSPITAL
October, 1988
Elect to
Protect
Medicare
The lack of adequate funding of the Medicare Program
has become a national crisis,
and is beginning to have a
very serious impact here at
Moses Cone Hospital. It is
affecting our financial performance today and forcing us
to charge other patients
more money to make up for
this shortfall. The greatest
fear is that, in the future, it
will have a negative impact
on patient care as well.
During the late 70s and
early 80s, Medicare was in
trouble. Payments were
growing at a skyrocketing
rate and there was not
enough money in the fund
to pay for the costs being
incurred. The Prospective
Pricing System (PPS) was implemented to create incentives for hospitals to provide
more efficient care. This
system told hospitals in advance what they would
receive for payment for a
particular illness. Hospitals
would then provide that care
in an efficient manner so the
payment would cover the
cost. Hospitals met their end
of the bargain, but the
government has not met its
obligation. Now the inadequate funding threatens
hospital's ability to continue
providing high-quality care
for Medicare beneficiaries
and all patients.
The numbers confirm this
fear:
• In the past five years,
$32 billion has beer,
slashed from projected
Medicare spending.
• During these years,
Medicare price increases have covered
only one half of the increases in the cost of
goods and services
hospitals must buy.
• Medicare accounts for
about 9% of the federal
outlays but constituted
36% of the cuts in the
FY 1988 budget.
To give an example of what
this means for Moses Cone
Hospital, when the Prospective Payment System was implemented in 1983, we received about 85 cents for
every $1.00 in charges. On
October 1, 1988, we will be
receiving just 67 cents for
each $1.00 in charges.
The effects on other patients are even more devastating. In 1988, we raised
rates 3.3% This increase was
due solely to what Medicare
was not paying. Had Medicare been paying its fair
share, we would not have increased rates at all. We have
just announced a rate increase for the coming year.
Once again, a sizeable portion of this increase is due to
Medicare's inadequate payment.
REVIEW
Moses Cone Hospital
1200 North Elm Street
Greensboro, North Carolina 27401-1020
Address Correetion Requested
Non Profit Org
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Permit No  195
Greensboro. N.C.
Melody Schell, Editor
As a part of a nationwide
campaign sponsored by the
American Hospital Association, we will be initiating a
number of activities aimed at
focusing the attention of our
Senators and Congressmen
on this issue. These activities
include:
• Providing every patient
and visitor with a brochure on Medicare and
encouraging them to
write these elected
officials.
• Explaining to businesses, who pay most
health care costs
through health insurance, the impact
Medicare shortfalls
are having on them
through cost shifting.
• We will bespeaking to
civic clubs and senior
citizen organizations
about Medicare.
• We wi 11 be tal ki ng with
reporters and editorial
writers to focus their
attention on this
problem.
• We will be communicating with doctors to enlist their help.
• We will be placing a
special videotape with
E. G. Marshall as narrator on the closed circuit patient education
channel. It helps patients and their families
understand the severity of the shortfall.
Your help is needed as
well. You can discuss this
issue with your friends,
neighbors and family. You
can write our three elected
federal officials. Basic information, along with their
names and addresses, is
available at any of the
visitor/information desks. If
you need more detailed information, beyond the
brochure and information
provided in this article, contact the Marketing Department at 379-4199.
An Inside Look At
Management
Council
Senior Management at Moses
Cone Hospital is a group that affects us all, yet many employees
have limited understanding of who
they are, what they do or how to
communicate with them.
The official name of
our senior management group is Management Council. They meet
collectively every Wednesday morning at 10 to talk
about the issues facing
Moses Cone Hospital.
The current Management
Council consists of 18 members. It was recently expanded to include new
representatives from Greensboro Hospital. These positions were added to reflect
the growth of the Hospital in
terms of added services and
added employees.
According to Mr. Dennis
Barry, President of Moses
Cone Hospital, "Management Council is nothing
more or less than the collective senior management
group who individually hold
a great deal of responsibility
for all areas of the Hospital
from patient care to human
resources or management
systems.
"The group is not a
decision-making group as
much as a communicating
group," Mr. Barry continued.
"When we meet at our weekly meetings, members bring
ideas or problems, and we
openly discuss solutions."
Management Council
establishes programs and
provides direction and
guidance for the future of
Moses Cone Hospital. Some
recent examples of their
planning for the future include the conversion of
Greensboro Hospital to a
women's and infants'
specialty hospital, the plans
for a nursing home on the
Hospital campus, and the
pursuit of on-site day care for
Moses Cone Hospital
employees.
Where do the ideas come
from that are carrying Moses
Cone Hospital into the
future? Many suggestions
come from this Management
Council group or from our
Board of Trustees or Medical
Board. But suggestions also
come from the employees.
"There are many opportunities for employees to
make suggestions for improvements in their work
areas. Our management
team is open to all ideas. It's
hot who comes up with an
idea that counts but how the
idea works," Mr. Barry
explained.
Three formal avenues of
communications have been
developed between management and employees. The
ESP program encourages
employee suggestions in
their work areas. Secondly,
members of Management
Council attend the Employee
Council meetings on a
monthly basis. And Mr. Barry
and David McCombs, Executive Vice President, hold an
Employee Roundtable every
six weeks. The Roundtable is
a time for employees to
openly discuss their employment experience at Moses
Cone Hospital with top
management and explore
ways of improving that
experience.
Management Council
members come from a
variety of backgrounds.
Some bring specific skills
and expertise in their areas
of management, such as
marketing, computers, or
personnel. Other Management Council members
come from a clinical
background.
"I started as a student
pharmacist in a hospital. Paul
Summerell began as an
orderly, and both Gene Tranbarger and LaVonne Beach
were staff nurses. All of our
Patient Care Triad people
have come from clinical experience areas either at this
Hospital or at another," Mr.
Barry said.
"A good opportunity for
promotion exists within
Moses Cone Hospital. Jim
Brexler, Martha Bagwell and
LaVonne Beach are all recent
examples of that. Moses
Cone is experiencing growth
which offers new opportunity for many people here,"
Mr. Barry concluded.
Moses Cone Hospital page 1