For more information please contact Sara Guastello, Manager of Designation and Resource Development, Planetree, at 203-732-7171 or sguastello@planetree.org

 

Overview of Designation Program

The Patient-Centered Hospital Designation Program was created by Planetree to recognize hospitals around the world that have embraced and implemented patient-centered care in a comprehensive manner. The program is based on Planetree’s decades of experience in working with patients, families, and hospitals.

In a patient-centered approach to healthcare, providers partner with patients and their family members to identify and satisfy the full range of patient needs and preferences. In addition to improving the patient experience, patient-centered organizations also focus on supporting the professional and personal aspirations of their staff members, who can more effectively care for patients if they are cared for themselves.

Based on the feedback of thousands of patients and hospital staff members since 1978, Planetree identified core elements that are essential to practicing patient-centered care. Planetree summarized these elements in a book, “Putting Patients First: Designing and Practicing Patient-Centered Care,” which was named the 2004 Book of the Year by the American College of Healthcare Executives. To download chapter 1 of the book, click here.

The Patient-Centered Hospital Designation Program is based on the core patient-centered care elements identified and practiced by pioneering Planetree affiliate hospitals, as well additional elements related to organizational structures and measurement. For each core element, specific criteria were identified that hospitals must meet in order to demonstrate that they have implemented that aspect of a patient-centered approach to care. The criteria are designed to provide a level of consistency in what it means to be a patient-centered hospital while still continuing to promote individuality and innovation in the delivery of care. The criteria are designed to be applicable to all acute care hospitals, irrespective of size, location, or affiliation with Planetree.

Designation Process

The designation program provides a practical, operational framework for evaluating the organizational systems and processes necessary to sustain a patient-centered culture. In order to achieve designation, a hospital must undergo a rigorous, yet collaborative, process to verify that it has successfully implemented programs that meet the spirit and intent of the designation criteria.

An applicant hospital initially conducts a self-assessment and then submits documentation to Planetree. After reviewing the documentation, if the hospital appears to meet the criteria, Planetree schedules a site visit to verify the hospital’s implementation. During the site visit, a review team tours the facility, meets with hospital leadership and the patient and family advisory council, and conducts detailed focus groups and interviews with patients and staff.

Following the site visit, the hospital receives a status report and recommendations related to opportunities to further enhance patient-centered care. A designation committee of national healthcare experts makes the final determination on designation. Designated hospitals are nationally recognized by The Joint Commission, which has approved the designation program as one of the awards that it will recognize on its Quality Check website by featuring the designation in the special quality awards section of each designated hospital’s profile.

More Information for Providers

Organizations interested in applying for designation should contact Sara Guastello, Manager of Designation and Resource Development, at sguastello@planetree.org or (203) 732-7171.

More Information for Patients

If you have the opportunity to choose a hospital for your care, you may wish to consult the Planetree membership directory, which includes more than 125 healthcare organizations that are working together to implement and innovate in patient-centered care. The Patient-Centered Hospital Designation Program also provides a method for patients to prospectively evaluate a hospital’s patient-centered practices. Click here for a list of designated hospitals. In addition, please click here to access a list of questions to ask your hospital about patient-centered care.

To supplement the information consumers may gather at the Hospital Compare Website, Planetree has made available a list of questions to ask about hospital operations and policies, including approaches to visitation, sharing of one’s medical chart, ability to tailor one’s meal choices and times, and availability of complementary therapies. The complete list of “Questions to Ask Your Hospital About Patient-Centered Care” is available HERE.

Designated Hospital Profiles

 

Centre de réadaptation Estrie (CRE)   The first Canadian institution to adopt the Planetree model, the Centre de réadaptation Estrie (CRE) is based in Sherbrooke, Quebec (Canada). At the CRE, we are dedicated to improving the well-being of individuals with motor, hearing, visual, language or speech impairments. We use all our knowledge, know-how and people-oriented skills to offer care and rehabilitation services in a specialized environment that respects people in their physical, psychological, social and spiritual dimensions. We mostly offer outpatient care, with the exception of a 12-bed rehabilitation unit. To achieve these objectives, our organization is constantly seeking ways to improve the quality of services, interpersonal relations and the general atmosphere throughout the establishment. For example, at the outset of our Planetree journey, we immediately identified a series of attitudes and behaviors to be promoted with a view to humanizing our approach. This, in turn, led to the development of quality improvement tools, notably satisfaction questionnaires for users and personnel, key competency profiles, as well as hiring and induction processes for new employees. In 2008, we were awarded first prize for the Quebec-based “Best Employer’s Challenge” in the 200-500 employees category. This wonderful achievement helps prove to healthcare professionals that it is still possible to feel empowered, fulfilled and happy when working within the healthcare network. Spirit of Innovation The CRE is known as a dynamic, innovative and proactive organization. Our users are welcomed in a warm environment that is suitable to the awakening of their senses. Private and corporate financial assistance has helped us create friendly meetings spaces in each of the program units. Our waiting rooms are cozy and comfortable. Paintings by the staff or loaned by a group of regional watercolorists decorate our public spaces. Furthermore, as art is a part of the rehabilitation process, we invite all patients from the rehabilitation unit to choose a painting upon their arrival and keep it in their room throughout their stay in the unit. Spirituality Program Awarded a Spirit of Planetree Award in 2006, our Spirituality Program is centered on three major components: ● A room designed for patients and employees who wish to take time to meditate, pray, or simply reflect about their life; the Inukshuk room, named after the stone constructions that guide the Inuit through unfamiliar territory, is a sensory environment instilled with subdued lighting, soft music and relaxing aromas ● An intervention tool, which calls upon the person’s spiritual dimension ● Workshops for the CRE staff who can take the opportunity to reflect upon their own spiritual dimension Rehabilitation Dogs We have developed a unique approach in which dogs become rehabilitation tools. We give trainings and conferences worldwide, showing different ways in which the use of a dog may facilitate the achievement of therapeutic goals in physical and occupational therapy. An Ecosystemic Model In Québec, the CRE was one of the first rehabilitation facilities for physical impairments to implement the ecosystemic model, which takes into account the interactions between the person and family, friends, peers, etc. Involving families in all aspects of the patient’s care is a major issue in the rehabilitation process and, therefore, our work with families, loved ones and the community is accomplished with a view to fostering and stimulating social participation. All our programs allow families to be present during therapy and to be provided with certain instructions. Families and friends are invited to participate in the assessments of needs and intervention planning. We also develop contacts with community organizations that regroup current and former users, their spouses and family members. Our mission is based on the social integration of handicapped persons. Consequently, our professionals intervene in all areas of life: home, school, work, recreation, and social. They raise awareness, educate, and offer training and support to a wide range of associations and schools, to various work, community and social environments. The quality of life of each individual is at the heart of the conduct, choices and actions of every CRE employee. Quality and Performance Measuring patient satisfaction and clinical performance is of great concern. Inter-institutional case studies make it possible to quickly improve clinical processes and bring winning practices to light. These analyses, along with the reports from user satisfaction questionnaires, help us assess the clinical results of our interventions and make improvements according to priorities identified by our users and partners. Turning Hope Into Reality, Together / Ensemble, faire de l’espoir une réalité ! Over the past years, a growing number of healthcare establishments have been observing the CRE journey with Planetree. Its many successes have led to the creation of a Quebec-based Planetree network, adapted to our specific context and cultural environment. It regroups organizations that are working together and supporting each other in developing a philosophy of people-centered health care, services and management. The mission of the new organization, which was created in the fall of 2008, is to become the standard bearer for the humanization of healthcare services and management throughout Quebec and French-speaking countries.   Delnor Hospital Delnor Hospital is a leader in providing comprehensive, cutting edge medicine within a culture that fosters some of the highest patient, physician and employee satisfaction in the nation.   The hospital’s 400-plus member Medical Staff features physicians representing more than 70 specialties and sub-specialists, and Delnor’s nursing staff recently was the first non-academic medical center in the state of Illinois to earn Magnet Nursing Re-designation, the American Nurses Association’s highest honor for nursing excellence.  Currently Delnor ranks among the top ten percent of hospitals nationwide for patient satisfaction, according to an independent national market research firm.  As an employer, Delnor has made the list of Companies that Care for five years in a row, and in 2007 was listed the fourth Best Place To Work in Illinois by the Pennsylvania-based Best Companies group.  This June Delnor unveiled its largest hospital addition since 1991.  The two-story 100,000 square foot bed tower, which was built after painstaking research of the best current philosophies of patient care and clinical outcomes, ensures that every inpatient will have a private room and access to state-of-the-art operating space designed to provide open-heart surgery in the near future.  In 2005, Delnor officially became a Planetree affiliate hospital, and began the journey toward designation in earnest.    Fauquier Hospital     Fauquier Hospital is an 86-bed not-for-profit facility serving a rural/suburban Virginia community with a full array of diagnostic and treatment capabilities in a patient-friendly environment that has been redefined by the Planetree philosophy. The patient perspective is the driving force for Fauquier where routine human interactions are seen as opportunities to convey care, concern and compassion.  As one example among many, when one patient shared how maddening it was to have to provide the same information every time she came for a chemotherapy treatment, the hospital immediately responded with a streamlined process that reduced the frustrating repetition.  The patient was impressed that her complaint directly changed patient care for the better. Effective communication is a priority at Fauquier. A patient concierge talks with every inpatient to discover and address any concerns they may have.  All employees participate in workshops that reinforce the importance of simple behaviors like eye contact, escorting rather than pointing, making introductions, and providing a consistent flow of pertinent information to patients.  Though medication errors at Fauquier are low, the frequency of patients’ being unable to confidently identify all of their medications was seen as a potential health risk. In response, the hospital developed a new automated system that not only tracks medications prescribed internally, but also electronically gathers patients’ external medication records instantaneously.  What results is a comprehensive list of current prescriptions against which new medications can be checked for potential interactions.  This prescription information can also be electronically accessed by the patient’s regular physician to ensure a continuum of care.  This emphasis on meeting patients’ educational needs is an organizational priority. Our on-site Health Resource Center provides access to consumer literature on a variety of health and wellness topics. Open access for patients to their medical records empowers patients with information while promoting an environment of openness.  Unrestricted visiting hours and overnight accommodations for family members have inspired a shift in how patients’ loved ones are viewed.  No longer seen as “visitors,” today at Fauquier Hospital, they are considered critical partners in the patient’s care whose presence and involvement are actively encouraged. Knowing that family members will often provide care for the patient upon discharge, Fauquier treats the hospitalization as an opportunity to educate both the patient and their family.  A Care Partner Program provides an opportunity for a loved one to actively contribute to the patient’s care through communication, education, and emotional and spiritual support. Patients who come to the hospital expecting bland, unappealing meals are surprised to discover that, not only does the food look and taste fresh and appetizing, but there is also a variety of tempting choices.  Room service delivery to patient rooms means that patients can order what they want when they want it.  While a hospital will never feel like home, Fauquier has taken great care to create a comfortable, calming, and healing physical environment.  All patient rooms are private and feature Internet connections, ensuring their ability to stay connected.  The hospital’s color palette, furnishings, lighting, solariums and art all work together to create an ambiance of warmth and healing that feels far from institutional.  In accordance with the Planetree philosophy, Fauquier Hospital’s caregivers are committed to being attentive to not only patients’ and families’ physical and emotional needs, but their spiritual needs as well.  A welcoming, non-denominational chapel provides unlimited opportunities for reflection and prayer, and regularly scheduled meditation sessions and prayer services build a sense of community.  This holistic approach has also resulted in a variety of programs intended to soothe the mind and feed the soul, like our pet therapy program. The hospital recently opened a wellness center that reinforces that Fauquier serves its community, not only in sickness, but also in health.  Equipped with a variety of high-end exercise equipment, two large exercise studios, two soothing massage rooms, and a healthy snacks café, the center offers an individualized and medically-based exercise program that uses exercise and education to facilitate good health in a sunny, spa-like environment. This focus on patient-centered initiatives means one thing for Fauquier Hospital’s patients – better care. How do we know? The hospital continues to consistently out-perform state and national averages on key quality measures.   Griffin Hospital Located in Southern Connecticut, Griffin Hospital is a 160-bed acute-care hospital serving a growing six town region.  Griffin Hospital’s mission is to provide personalized, humanistic, consumer-driven health care in a healing environment; to empower individuals to be actively involved in decisions affecting their care and well-being through access to information and education; and to provide leadership to improve the health of the community it serves.   Fundamental to Griffin's philosophy is empowering people to become active participants in decisions affecting their care and well being.  Griffin is committed to listening to patients and the public, developing and offering services, programs and care which respond to their needs and preferences. Griffin Hospital is committed to maintaining a safe environment for our patients, visitors, and staff. As part of a hospital-wide culture of continuous performance improvement, Griffin strives to provide patient-centered, safe, equitable, timely, effective, and efficient care. Griffin will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2009 fulfilling the vision of its founders of meeting the health care needs of those it serves.  Griffin is recognized for creating an exceptional patient experience, service excellence, the quality of care it provides, and as an employer of choice.  Griffin became the first member of the Planetree affiliate network in 1992 and soon after opened the first patient care building in the country designed and built based on Planetree healing design principles.  In October 2008 Griffin opened its new Center for Cancer Care that incorporated healing design features that distinguish the facility including abundant natural light, views of nature, an absence of physical barriers between patients and care givers, access to information that allows patients to be informed participants in their care and a holistic approach that addresses patient’s physical, emotional and spiritual needs.  The Center will offer a state of the art radiation therapy service to those Griffin serves for the first time. Griffin is recognized for having industry leading patient satisfaction ratings and has received quality and clinical excellence awards from the Premier Healthcare Alliance, HealthGrades, Thomson, and Total Benchmark Solutions and is the only hospital to be named one of the FORTUNE “100 Best Companies to Work For” nine consecutive years.  Teams from more than 650 hospitals have visited Griffin to see its unique healing environment and observe its Planetree patient-centered model of care in practice.  The Griffin Hospital management team was selected as the 2008 Top Leadership Team in Healthcare in the nation for community and mid-size hospitals by HealthLeaders Media.  Through innovation, Griffin has become an industry leader and is well positioned to provide a second century of service to the community it serves.       Mid-Columbia Medical Center   In northern Oregon, there is a glimpse of what the future of medical care could be. Here along the banks of the Columbia River a whole new vision of hospitals is taking shape.  The people who live here are practical and conservative.  They make their living from orchards, ranching and timber.  For medical care they go to a hospital in a town called The Dalles.  It is typical of good small town hospitals and is thoroughly state-of-the-art.  But for the people who run it though, the best technology is not enough.” Those were the words famed journalist Bill Moyers used in 1992 to open a segment of his Healing and the Mind series for PBS TV devoted to groundbreaking activities occuring at Mid-Culumbia Medical Center in The Dalles. Only a few months before the Moyers series aired, MCMC had become the first hospital in the world to complete a hospital-wide conversion to the Planetree model of care.  Moyers caught wind of the remarkable transformation of MCMC from typical small community hospital to whole-person center of healing and included the organization in his Healing and the Mind series. That program, which at the time was the highest-rated PBS special ever, earned MCMC an international reputation for innovation in healthcare that the organization has only built on over the ensuing years. Today MCMC is a model of how true whole-person care can be lived, demonstrated and delivered throughout an entire organization, from support staff to caregivers, from healing architecture and art to education and from patients to patients’ loved ones.       That MCMC is a hospital of a different breed is apparent from the moment a visitor enters the building. The main entrance opens into a large waiting area that could adorn a spread in Traditional Home magazine. Large, comfortable sofas and wing back chairs, upholstered in rich floral and striped fabrics, are arranged around mahogany coffee tables. The room is bathed in the soft light of rustic brass table and floor lamps.  Original paintings from local artists and wallpaper adorn the walls, and fabric window treatments complete the welcoming atmosphere. Visitors entering through the rear of the hospital walk through revolving doors into a magnificent four-story, glass atrium with terra cotta tiled floors, a baby grand piano and a towering fern-covered rock waterfall. The healing architecture and amenities extend throughout the organization, in all hospital departments, including the emergency room, in the adjacent medical office building and innovative cancer center, Cellilo, and even into the community, where in downtown The Dalles MCMC remodeled a beautiful Victorian to house its Planetree Health Resource Center. In the years since implementing Planetree, MCMC has developed several new initiatives all designed around the goal of meeting the broader definition of health that MCMC has adopted, one intended to address the biological, social, environmental, intellectual and spiritual needs of patients and their families. Cornerstone programs in this effort include the Center of Mind and Body Medicine, were stress-reduction and relaxation-promoting  tools like yoga, acupuncture and tai chi are merged with traditional approaches to cardiac rehabilitation, diabetes management and pain management.  All of those ancient healing therapies and many others combine to form the  “integrative therapy program of MCMC’s innovative cancer center, which opened in 2002.  In this beautiful and innovative center, patients benefit from a complete arsenal of healing tools, including those mind-body integrative therapies, chemotherapy and the most advanced radiation technology available. Inside the hospital, a new acute inpatient rehabilitation program called mPower opened recently to offer whole-person therapies to patients recovering from a range of medical conditions Finally, the hospital recently renewed its commitment to Planetree and the tenets of whole-person healing, not just for patients and families but staff as well, by retooling its comprehensive employee training program.  Today all employees complete an intensive training program designed to help them help their organization design and stage memorable experiences for patients and families. Over neary 20 years at MCMC Planetree has spawned at MCMC a true commitment to personalizing, humanizing and demystifying the healthcare experience for patients and families         Northern Westchester Hospital   Our mission is to provide the highest quality diagnostic and treatment services for the community, while assuring access to a coordinated continuum of healthcare services. Founded in 1916, Northern Westchester Hospital (NWH) is a not-for-profit, 233-bed, all private-room facility in Mount Kisco, New York serving residents of Northern Westchester, Putnam and Southern Dutchess Counties, and portions of Fairfield County, CT.  The hospital has long been recognized as one of the region’s premier healthcare providers, offering state-of-the-art care in a warm and nurturing community environment for all area residents regardless of their health insurance status or ability to pay for medical care. NWH is a member of the NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System and is affiliated with Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons and Weill-Cornell Medical College.  These relationships offer patients access to a wide range of advanced expertise, research and clinical trials in their own community.  NWH is also one of four members of the Stellaris Health Network, which helps achieve operating efficiencies that enable member hospitals to enhance delivery of high quality healthcare services. Northern Westchester Hospital is a member of the Planetree Alliance and is a Designated Planetree Hospital.  We are dedicated to patient-centered and family-focused healthcare.  NWH promotes healing and wellness by integrating time honored complementary therapies with Western evidence-based scientific medicine: • Department of Integrative Medicine, available modalities include: aromatherapy, Reiki, guided imagery, acupuncture and massage • The Ken Hamilton Caregivers Center and Caregiver Support Program • Pet, Music and Art Therapy • Pastoral Care Program • Support Groups • Employee Congress • Green Cleaning As a not-for-profit hospital, NWH provides many community benefits such as charity care and community outreach for our most at-risk patients: • The Community Health Outreach Program provides free health education and screenings to over 2,500 underserved individuals annually. • The Breast Health Initiative provides a continuum of free breast health services (including mammography) to un- and underinsured women. • Universal Access ensures that all members of the community receive timely, culturally sensitive and appropriate healthcare. • The Prenatal Care Assistance Program (PCAP) provides comprehensive care to uninsured pregnant women in Westchester and Putnam Counties. • The GI Clinic provides access to board-certified gastroenterologists for low-income, uninsured patients. • NWH provides over $2 million annually in uncompensated charity care, including free care and services to un- and underinsured adults and children. Our patients have consistently ranked NWH in the top 10% (inpatients) and 15% (Emergency Department patients) of community hospitals nationwide, as measured by Press Ganey Surveys.   Sharp Coronado Hospital and Health Care Center Sharp Coronado Hospital and Health Care Center is a 204-bed acute-care hospital located in the island community of Coronado, just across the bay from downtown San Diego, and provides medical and surgical care, intensive care, sub-acute and long-term care, rehabilitation therapies and emergency services in a peaceful physical setting.  Sharp Coronado has a proud of history of providing convenient, award-winning health care to the community for more than 75 years.  As the only Planetree partner hospital in San Diego County, and one of just five hospitals nationwide to receive the Planetree Patient-Centered Hospital Designation, Sharp Coronado promotes holistic healing by focusing on patient empowerment, patient and family education and complementary therapies. Additionally, Sharp Coronado is a part of Sharp HealthCare, which has been recognized for quality excellence with the 2007 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. When patients enter the lobby at Sharp Coronado, they are immediately welcomed into what feels more like a home than a high-tech healing institution.  The aroma of fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies, made by volunteers throughout the day, and a player piano create a sensation of warmth and care prior to any medical consultation. This nurturing environment continues throughout the recently remodeled first floor, which reflects Coronado’s beach resort ambiance through elegant artwork, new flooring and soothing colors and textures.  The remodel also included the opening of the hospital’s newly renovated Emergency Department, Intensive Care Unit and Fluoroscopy Suite, and two healing gardens that provide a quiet place for patients and families to relax and escape.  These improvements are part of the hospital’s major upgrade, known as the Coronado Project 2020, to be implemented throughout the entire hospital in three phases over the next 10 years. In keeping with the Planetree model, Sharp Coronado enhances holistic healing with personalized health care while delivering clinical excellence.  Complementary therapies, or “spa at the bedside,” include acupuncture, healing touch, massage therapy and clinical aromatherapy. Offered to inpatients, outpatients and the community, these treatments are essential ways of communicating caring that are often omitted from other clinical settings.  Pet therapy at Sharp Coronado provides unconditional love, laughter and acceptance for patients. Traveler, the pet therapy dog, has become a companion to many patients that are away from home and helps to calm and put them at ease in new surroundings. The Care Partners Program is an essential development in Sharp Coronado’s mission to provide patient-centered care. The program allows patients’ families to take part in the care process.  To help facilitate that care, the hospital offers guest suites for family members for overnight stays, and nearly all patient rooms are private.   Patients also have unrestricted access to their medical records, and they are encouraged to learn about their condition and even help chart their own healing course. Sharp Coronado’s focus on patient-centered care in a physical environment that promotes healing through complementary therapies, stimulation of the senses and restful, peaceful surroundings points to improved patient outcomes and satisfaction.  In addition to its designation as a Planetree Patient-Centered Hospital, Sharp Coronado was also recently recognized for sustaining the highest level of excellence in patient satisfaction in its Emergency Department by Press Ganey Associates.  In sum, everything patients experience at Sharp Coronado Hospital is measured by asking three simple questions:  Have we helped patients live their lives with dignity and in optimal health?  Heal to the highest degree of functioning possible?  Grow in all ways that have meaning for them?     Valley View Hospital Valley View Hospital has a sacred heritage and a reverenced responsibility to heal.   We are located in the Rocky Mountains at a place where rivers converge and healing waters bubble out of the earth as mineral hot springs.  For hundreds of years and uncounted generations people have come here to be healed.  The natives before us called this place “Yampah” which translates into “Big Medicine.”  These are the foundations for our community and our hospital: the inspirations for who we are.   We are an 80-bed community-owned hospital in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. We serve as the medical hub for a large mountainous area, 30 miles in every direction. A recently-completed 160,000-square foot expansion includes a new Emergency Department, Imaging and Family Birthplace. Construction continues and we anticipate the relocation of our Acute Care to the fourth floor of our new building in the Fall of 2008.  The new facility has become an opportunity for Valley View to physically incorporate elements of the Planetree philosophy. The population of the hospital's service area is rapidly growing, driving the growth in new hospital services. In the last year, Valley View has opened a new cardiac catheterization lab and added neurosurgical services. As we serve our community’s healthcare needs, we intentionally create an experience personalized to our mountain community, offering private rooms decorated with hard wood floors, cabinetry and quilts.  Necessary medical resources and supplies are concealed by cabinets and panels but accessible for any need. Wireless internet access is available in the hospital for patients and families.  Our Connie Delaney library empowers each guest with the information they need as they become partners in healthcare. Our best in class dining services department provides room service menus allowing patients and family members to customize their own meals.  Massages are offered and available at the patient’s request.  Family rooms complete with cozy fireplaces, breathtaking views and the finest in furniture appointments allow a comforting atmosphere for families to draw together, talk or pray.   A family kitchen and dining room invite families and patients to gather for home cooked meals.  We brew Starbucks coffee in our Mountain Brew Café where patients, families and employees can personalize their own beverages and relax in the lobby with a fireplace, music and special lighting emulating the Colorado night sky.  We are blessed to be in this great place where healing predates us all.   Those who come here are not here by chance but feel an inner calling to be here, commissioned to perform a great work.  Valley View Hospital stands firmly on the shoulders of those who have gone before us.  We are committed to our mission:  To be the leader of excellence in personalized care and healing.  As we move forward toward our vision:  The destination of choice for all who aspire to heal and be healed.     Waverly Health Center For more than 100 years, patients have looked to Waverly Health Center for their health care needs and have found a hospital filled with compassionate, trustworthy caregivers. In 2003, WHC joined the Planetree alliance to become part of a movement to transform health care delivery from the patient’s perspective. Planetree Patient-Centered Care Designation was obtained in June 2009 making the health center the first Critical Access Hospital in the nation and the first hospital in Iowa to receive the prestigious designation. Located in northeast Iowa, Waverly Health Center’s mission is to provide the highest quality, patient-centered care. Each employee serves as a caregiver and strives to embody the organizational values of compassion, enthusiasm, excellence, innovation and integrity. Achieving and maintaining designation status will continue to move Waverly Health Center towards its vision of being recognized for providing the premier health care experience in Iowa. Some of the many patient-centered services Waverly Health Center offers include the following: Human Interaction: Care partners, open visiting hours, support groups, patient welcome visits by senior leadership, multiple family lounges including a studio guest room for hospice families, patient escorts. Information & Education: Community Health Resource Library, open medical records, patient communication notes, patient ambassadors, personal health information books, bedside rounding, bedside charting through electronic medical records. Nutritional & Nurturing Aspects of Food: Family kitchen, room service, menus for special dietary needs, treat trolley, volunteer baking. Architectural & Interior Design: Healing environment incorporating elements of nature into the facility design, noise reduction through carpeting and overhead music, Tendrils Rooftop Garden & Community Arts Pavilion, design elements are used in wayfinding, VIP cart provides rides from parking lot to entrance. Arts & Entertainment: Activity cart, art cart. Spirituality: Meditation room, Blessing of the Hands, prayer hotline, mental health and grief counseling, prayer team, white rose program. Human Touch: Massage therapy. Complementary Therapies: Animal visitation, music therapy, relaxation music, aroma therapy, animal therapy for rehabilitation (Fall 2009). Healthy Communities: Community Advisory Council, Senior Health Insurance Information Program sponsor, speakers bureau, speakers series, Partners in Education program, diabetes education, tobacco prevention and cessation programming, Family Nest program, car seat safety program, Community Health Outreach Network. Employee Wellness: Spotlight on Values recognition program, WAVE recognition program, Perk Patrol, front-line involvement in decision-making through steering committees, councils and taskforces, on-going support for employee education through tuition reimbursement, education programs, and on-site CEU courses. Waverly Health Center’s commitment to consistently provide high quality, patient-centered health care is clearly supported through its high patient, employee and medical staff satisfaction scores. In the past four years, WHC’s inpatient satisfaction scores rank it in the top 10% of hospitals using Press Ganey. In addition, its HCAHPS scores are some of the highest among Planetree affiliates and other U.S. hospitals. Many hospitals claim to be patient-centered, but few truly have built their culture and core values around the patient and their families’ needs. At Waverly Health Center, the ultimate goal is to empower patients to be active participants in their health care to help them achieve and maintain wellness.

 

 

For more information please contact Cathy Desautels, Planetree Consultation Services Specialist at 970.618.1257 or cdesautels@planetree.org

 

HCAHPS and the Planetree Model of Patient-Centered Care

Developed in partnership by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the HCAHPS survey is a nationally standardized survey that captures patients’ perspectives of their hospital care. It allows consumers, for the first time, to compare hospitals based on measures of how effectively they are satisfying patients’ needs and expectations. Individual hospital’s HCAHPS performance can be viewed by any interested consumer on the government’s Hospital Compare web site. The survey questions look beyond clinical outcomes and technical capabilities of hospitals and focus instead on aspects of the care experience that are particularly meaningful to patients, including communication with physicians and nurses, pain management, noise levels, and cleanliness.

Planetree hospitals have long been engaged in the work of identifying and responding to the full range of patient needs, many of which are explicitly measured by the HCAHPS survey, including communication with nurses and physicians, responsiveness of staff, and cleanliness and quiet in the hospital. Developed based on direct feedback collected from patients, the Planetree model of patient-centered care is structured around ten core components that represent diverse aspects of the hospital experience that patients have identified as important to them. Ranging from caring interactions with providers and the physical environment of the hospital to recognition of the role of spirituality, the arts and food in healing, these essential aspects of patient-centered care reflect that, from the patient perspective, hospitalization encompasses far more than the clinical experience.

The connection between HCAHPS performance and the Planetree model is reinforced by data.  Six organizations that have comprehensively implemented the Planetree model over the period of several years, as demonstrated by their participation in pilot-testing Planetree’s Patient-Centered Hospital Designation Program, as a group exceeded the national HCAHPS benchmarks in all ten HCAHPS domains, with a 10% difference in patients’ willingness to recommend the hospital. 

Health Care Consumers and the HCAHPS Survey
The HCAHPS Survey and the Hospital Compare website are valuable tools that put meaningful and understandable information about hospitals directly in the hands of consumers. As information about hospitals’ performance on patient care quality indicators – such as HCAHPS – becomes more readily available, health care consumers are empowered to make more informed decisions about where they receive their health care. 

To supplement the information consumers may gather at the Hospital Compare Website, Planetree has made available a list of questions to ask about hospital operations and policies, including approaches to visitation, sharing of one’s medical chart, ability to tailor one’s meal choices and times, and availability of complementary therapies. The complete list of “Questions to Ask Your Hospital About Patient-Centered Care” is available HERE. 

 

HCAHPS Consultation

The adoption of the HCAHPS patient experience of care survey as a national standard and the launch of public reporting of HCAHPS data has raised hospitals’ awareness of the need to take action to improve the patient experience.  Planetree hospitals have long been engaged in the work of identifying and responding to the full range of patient needs, many of which are explicitly measured by the HCAHPS survey, including communication with nurses and physicians, responsiveness of staff, and cleanliness and quiet in the hospital.  Planetree is pleased to offer HCAHPS Consultation Services to assist hospitals in understanding, communicating and utilizing their HCAHPS data to continually improve the patient experience.

Menu of Services

• Presentations to Leadership and Boards of Directors

 

Planetree will customize an interactive presentation designed to address leadership questions and interest in HCAHPS.  The presentation will provide an overview of HCAHPS and value-based purchasing, explore the implications of both as they relate to hospital operations and implementation of the Planetree model, and examine individual sites’ HCAHPS scores relative to state and national benchmarks or other comparison groups identified by the hospital.

• Customized HCAHPS Data Analysis

 

Planetree will develop user-friendly reports for individual sites or systems that detail HCAHPS scores over time, geographic comparisons, and/or other comparisons of interest.

• Qualitative Patient Experience Research to Understand HCAHPS

 

Planetree will facilitate focus groups with patients and staff to drill into sites’ HCAHPS scores to understand the meaning behind the data.  This qualitative data will be presented as a complement to HCAHPS data, and a final report will identify specific strategies for addressing what patients and staff have identified as areas for improvement.

• Quality, Safety and Research Forum Listserv

 

This interactive on-line forum provides opportunities for Planetree affiliates to collaborate on quality, safety and research issues.  More than 100 listserv participants pose questions, share best practices and brainstorm approaches to common challenges.  To join the QSR listserv, email sguastello@planetree.org.

 

 

 

 

 

For more information please cotnact Cindy Jecusco at 203-732-166 or cjecuso@planetree.org

 

 

Planetree Survey Services

The success of any healthcare organization relies on the relationships it builds with several important groups – its employees, patients, community members and physicians. That is why it is crucial to understand the principal drivers that lead to high levels of satisfaction, a good reputation, a safe environment, and employer and hospital of choice status.

The Planetree team can assist you in developing and administering a variety of surveys that assess your hospital’s current standing with employees, patients, physicians, and residents of the local community. We can support your organization’s efforts to increase employee satisfaction and customer loyalty and create the safest environment possible for your patients through results-oriented survey instruments and actionable management consulting.

Our survey team has over 20 years of experience in the healthcare field with a focus on quality, service and patient safety. We offer phone, web and paper-based surveys to ensure that the right customizable method is used for your organization. Your results are delivered to you in a matter of weeks, allowing you to respond to pressing needs when it matter most – as soon as possible.

Look to us for the following surveys:

* Employee Satisfaction
* Physician Satisfaction
* In-patient Satisfaction
* Emergency Room Satisfaction
* Community Image Monitor
* Patient Safety Assessment

Let us do the work:

* We guide you in selecting the appropriate survey medium.
* We design the survey.
* We handle inbound survey returns.
* We manage data input.
* We analyze and interpret the data.
* We provide benchmark and trending analysis.
* We submit the findings in an executive summary outlining the conclusions.
* We deliver on-site presentations to important constituent groups.

You can count on our results:

* Timely
* Accurate
* Personalized
* Cost-effective
* Tied to specific Planetree initiatives

Our commitment doesn't stop with the delivery of your results. We will work closely with you to optimize the Planetree model, creating a better environment for employees and patients. We believe you will find that the Planetree approach is more timely, personalized, and cost-effective than similar services offered by other vendors.

Community Image Monitor Surveys

This annual assessment of the perception of your hospital among residents of your primary and secondary service areas will provide you valuable information to assist in marketing efforts and program development. You will learn how your hospital is perceived versus other institutions, how consumer choice is made, your perceived strengths and weaknesses, and more.

While we will design the questionnaire to your specific needs, areas which are commonly covered include:

* Top-of-mind aided and unaided awareness of your hospital and of selected competitors.
* Awareness of and reactions to marketing initiatives.
* The prevailing image of your hospital and selected competitors. Identification of strengths and weaknesses.
* Hospital of choice.
* Factors which affect hospital selection.
* Rating your hospital on key selection factors such as professionalism, competency, staff and other key areas.
* Sources of information on hospital and health care services.
* Demographics of patients and non-patients.

Our timely, telephone based survey, conducted by an independent research firm, will provide you with valuable information to identify opportunities within your market and issues that need to be addressed. Generally, a total sample of several hundred telephone interviews are completed with randomly selected consumers within your primary and secondary market areas who are responsible for making the health care and hospital decisions for their households. This sample will provide you with statistical validity of 95% + or - 5%.

Employee Satisfaction Surveys

With the high cost of recruitment and training compounded by shortages in nursing and other health care positions, retention of qualified individuals is a critical business strategy. A key to understanding the driving force behind employee turnover starts by gathering useful, relevant information from your employees. A Planetree employee satisfaction survey can assist you in your efforts. Some of the dimensions covered in the Planetree employee satisfaction survey include:

* The employee orientation process
* Employee recognition
* Integrity in leadership
* Employee engagement
* Equitable work environment
* Valuing the organization
* Healthy environment

In addition to the standard report, a section benchmarking your hospital against a Planetree peer group can also be included. While we will design the questionnaire to suit your specific needs, it is important to start with key questions that have strong benchmark potential assuring consistency, quality and testing reliability. We provide you with the tools to ensure that you collect a representative sample with statistical validity of 95% + or - 5%. This survey can be administered on paper or via the Internet.

In-patient and Emergency Room Satisfaction Surveys

Our in-patient and emergency room satisfaction surveys are instrumental in monitoring your hospital’s quality of care and services. They will provide you with the data you need to understand your patient’s perceptions, thus initiating positive outcomes that meet or exceed your patients’ highest expectations.

Three key patient-centered areas covered in the survey include:

* Patient satisfaction with medical staff and services provided
* Likelihood of returning to your hospital
* Likelihood of recommending your hospital to family, friends and neighbors

Our timely, telephone based survey, conducted by an independent research firm, will provide you with valuable information to identify opportunities within your market and issues that need to be addressed. The same number of telephone interviews is conducted each month for ease of comparison and trend analysis. Verbatim comments from patients can be included if desired. Any individual patients requesting follow-up calls from the hospital to discuss issues and concerns are emailed immediately to your contact, so that service recovery efforts can be initiated in a timely manner. Reports of results are prepared and delivered within three weeks of each concluding month.

We begin by providing you with a standard questionnaire to ensure that you include questions that have strong benchmarking potential to assure consistency, quality and testing reliability, and then we customize the survey to meet your unique needs. Sample sizes are determined that will provide you with statistical validity of 95% + or - 5%.

Patient Safety Assessment Survey

Patient safety is a critical component of quality in health care environments today. Prevention of patient injury, through early and appropriate response to evident and potential problems, is the key to patient safety. Planetree can assist you in auditing your culture for patient safety opportunities using the public domain survey tool developed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). The survey is designed to provide hospital officials with a means of assessing the extent to which their cultures emphasize the importance of patient safety, facilitate open discussion of error, encourage error reporting, and create an atmosphere of continuous learning and development. The survey provides a level of detail that helps hospitals identify specific areas of strength and areas for improvement at both the unit-level and hospital level.
The Patient Safety Assessment Survey is designed to measure twelve areas or dimensions of patient safety:

1. Overall perceptions of safety.
2. Frequency of events reported.
3. Supervisor/manager expectations and actions promoting safety.
4. Organizational learning—Continuous improvement.
5. Teamwork within units.
6. Communication openness.
7. Feedback & communication about error.
8. Nonpunitive response to error.
9. Staffing.
10. Hospital management support for patient safety.
11. Teamwork across hospital units.
12. Hospital handoffs & transitions.

In addition to comparing your hospital's results on each item, you can also obtain a summary view of how your hospital compares to other hospitals.

We begin by providing you with a standard questionnaire obtained directly from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to ensure that you include questions that have strong benchmarking potential to assure consistency, quality and testing reliability, and then we customize the survey to meet your unique needs. Sample sizes are determined that will provide you with statistical validity of 95% + or - 5%.

Patient-Centered Quality and Safety

In 2001, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) identified “patient-centered” and “safe” as two of the six aims for a high quality health care system, but years later there is still little consensus on how these two aims relate to one another. The IOM described “patient-centered” as “providing care that is respectful of and responsive to individual patient preferences, needs, and values and ensuring that patient values guide all clinical decisions” and safe as “avoiding injuries to patients from the care that is intended to help them.” In 2007 the Joint Commission adopted a National Patient Safety Goal to “[e]ncourage patients’ active involvement in their own care as a patient safety strategy” by “defin[ing] and communicat[ing] the means for patients and their families to report concerns about safety and encourag[ing] them to do so.” Many of the existing initiatives related to patient-centered safety, however, focus exclusively on making suggestions to patients about what they should do to improve safety without examining how to create an ongoing partnership between patients and providers. Since 1978, Planetree has been working with hospitals and other healthcare organizations around the world to develop and implement patient-centered approaches to care, based on a solid partnership between providers and patients. Planetree helps organizations recognize the patient safety benefits of patient-centered care, maintains a listserv of affiliate quality and safety contacts, and compiles and disseminates affiliate best practices related to patient-centered quality and safety.

Physician Satisfaction Surveys

Physicians play a vital role as primary providers of healthcare services at your facility, so it is essential to fully understand their needs, perceptions, and levels of satisfaction with your organization. Our physician survey will provide your organization with specific, actionable data that you can use to strengthen the loyalty and satisfaction of your medical staff. Below is a list of some of the key areas that we measure in our survey:

* Nursing care satisfaction
* Surgical services evaluation
* Communication between primary care physcians and specialists
* Evaluation of outpatient services
* Physician amenities
* Satisfaction with hospital administration
* Overall quality of care
* Need for additional services

We work with an independent research firm to offer a unique telephone-based survey that will assist you in identifying opportunities within your organization and establishing goals for improvement. We start with a standard set of survey questions and allow you to customize based on your specific needs. Verbatim comments to the many open-ended questions are included at no extra charge.

 

For more information please contact Kim Montague, AIA, NCARB, Director of Design Consultation Services, Planetree at 248-996-2321 or kmontague@planetree.org

 

Design Consultation Services

Making choices about the design of your new facilities, additions to your hospitals, or renovations in your departments can have a profound impact on the patient, visitor and staff experience in your facility, and ultimately the health and wellness of all who occupy it. The physical environment provides multiple opportunities to create a “sacred space” for anyone who comes in contact with your hospital or health system. Through interactive sessions, reviews of your strategic plan, master plan and budget, and meetings with your architect, construction manager and others, these Design Consultation Services are intended to help you realize your vision for your own healing and healthy environment and to provide you with practical input for moving forward.

As such, whether you are embarking on a new building project, in the midst of a renovation, or considering some interim “face lifts,” we have developed a menu of Design Consultation Services to meet your needs. These services are offered to you in concert with the latest research, best practices and evidence-based design criteria that will allow you the opportunity to create a truly unique, efficient and Planetree facility that matches the mission of your organization.

MENU OF DESIGN CONSULTATION SERVICES:

• Community Design Assessment – This tool was developed to aid you in taking the “pulse” of your community-at-large prior to the start of a major construction project. An interactive question/answer presentation format that includes basic Planetree information, along with sample images of Planetree facilities and programs. Questions are asked of participants in a focus group setting and a final report of feedback and design recommendations is prepared and presented to your leadership and/or project team (similar process as the Organization and Progress Assessments you are already familiar with).
  
  
• Vision – A session best utilized with key stakeholders on your project team. This session asks each participant to look at images from other Planetree sites and patient-centered facilities around the world, and assess the needs, wants and likes for a particular project you are about to undertake, each in terms of Planetree’s Ten Core Components. A summary report is provided to you, with common themes, ideas and reflections compiled for your use in developing the overall schemes with your architect.
  
  
• Component Mapping – A study of your facilities master plan or strategic plan and an overlap analysis of the components versus the programs defined in the master plan. Final deliverable is the Component Map, suitable for presentation to your Board or Foundation members.
  
  
• Stepping Stones – Unlike a traditional schedule, this approach allows you to develop a step-by-step process to get you to the eventual product you wish to achieve, with interim goals and successes identified.
  
  
• Design Consultations – individual tasks that include meeting with your facility team for:
  • Review and analysis of plans already in progress
  • Determining the needs to plan for a new project
  • Providing suggestions to improve an existing facility in terms of finishes, signage and wayfinding or programmatic needs
  • Working with your architect to include more Planetree elements in the design
  • Referrals from a library of resources such as “green” materials, a wide variety of specialty consultants (artwork, lighting, signage, etc.) and suppliers that provide exemplary services in the arena of patient-centered design and healing environments.

Developing a program that incorporates all the senses and is focused around the Planetree Model of Care takes patience, reflection, unique approaches and challenges to traditional thought. We are very pleased to be able to provide these Design Consultation Services as a resource to support you in your ongoing efforts to create a safe, healing environment for patients, families and staff members.

 

For more information please contact Kim Montague, AIA, NCARB, Director of Design Consultation Services, Planetree at 248-996-2321 or kmontague@planetree.org

Planetree Introduces Visionary Design Network
organizations excelling in patient-centered care

Derby, Conn.—Today Planetree introduces a new program for architecture and design firms to apply for certification and become part of the Planetree Visionary Design Network.  This certification will establish the firm as a specialist in evidence-based health care design following the Planetree philosophy and its core components of healing design; such as welcoming a patient’s family and friends, valuing human beings over technology, enabling patients to fully participate as care partners and fostering a connection to nature and beauty.

“The attributes of a healing environment provide the greatest opportunity for caring of the body, mind and spirit of those seeking health care services from its facility. Planetree designs are shaped by the patients, visitors, family members, volunteers and staff members who circulate through it on a daily basis,” said Planetree Director of Design Consultation Kim Montague, AIA.

Click here to download the the self assessment tool and an application. Certification is closed for 2009, but will re-open in December for 2010.

Firms will submit all documentation via electronic media such as flash drive or CD. Following acceptance of the application, an interview will be arranged with firm leadership to discuss the organization’s commitment to healing environments, evidence-based design and principles of design excellence and innovation. Demonstration of knowledge base and a cultural assessment of the applicant firm are the key components for this visit.

Once the interview is completed, each firm will be asked to select one project for two representatives from Planetree Design Advisory Council to visit and assess.  The assessment process will take place over one day and will include review of the physical environment as it relates to the Planetree model of care and key aspects of a healing environment appealing to the five senses.

Certification will give firms a marketing advantage while also assisting hospitals that are planning construction or remodeling, especially Planetree members, in finding a firm committed to the same patient-centered care philosophy.  As part of this program, Planetree will offer to each firm opportunities to participate in continuing education programs which will include webinars and conference sessions.

Firms accredited by the Planetree Visionary Design Network will be honored at the Planetree Annual Conference.

 

Step 1 Application

Step 2 Application