|
January 26, 2006 - Jersey Shore Hospital held it’s annual public meeting on Thursday, January 26th in the Hospital Cafeteria. Each year the hospital conducts this important meeting to summarize the past fiscal year and update the community of future plans.
Lou Ditzel, President & CEO, opened the evening reviewing notable accomplishments for the year. Topping the list was Hospital Utilization. The hospital experienced an outpatient volume increase of 12%, with Emergency Room visits reaching 12,000, a seven percent increase from the previous year. Other notable accomplishments include the recruitment of Orthopedic Surgeon, Alan Sherman, the implementation of the National Balanced Scorecard, opening Tiadaghton Health Services in it’s new location on High Street in Lock Haven and gaining approval for the upcoming Facility Replacement project. Also included were the patient safety initiatives, grants awarded to centralize the Pharmacy program and the conclusion of the year with a positive operating margin.
Senior Vice President, Mark O’Neill, reviewed the year-end financial reports. The average daily census and patient length of stay showed a slight decrease, however, total acute care discharges rose for 2005 as well as ER and outpatient services performed.
Betsy Crossley, Vice President of Nursing, spoke about the goals of JSH to maintain the highest standards in Patient Safety. The noted safety goals for 2006 include: patient identification, communication among caregivers, medication safety, reduction of hospital-care associated infections, medication reconciliation and reduction in the risk of patient falls. Mrs. Crossley noted that the hospital performs with outstanding marks in these areas and ranks in the top ten percent of the nation for patient safety out of the hospitals reporting, however the goal is to continuously improve.
Crossley also spoke on the topic of Disaster Preparedness. Jersey Shore Hospital currently utilizes disaster preparedness throughout the Hospital, Community and Region. JSH recently added a portable decontamination tent, personal protective equipment for hospital staff and preparedness training for the decon team.
To conclude the evening, Mr. Ditzel noted the areas of focus for JSH in 2006. The new facility project topped the list with the capital campaign set to begin in March. Groundbreaking is targeted for spring of this year. Patient Safety and further disaster preparedness, performance improvement for rural hospitals and networking with the Susquehanna Valley Rural Health Partnership (SVRHP) on pharmacy and achieving the electronic medical record were also cited as goals for the year.
For more information regarding the information at the Annual Public Meeting, please contact the Office of the President & CEO at (570) 398-3101.
|
