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Centegra Health System

  • Location: McHenry County, IL
  • Award: Evidence-Based Leadership Healthcare Organization of the Month
  • Awarded: March 2005

Written by the Centegra Health System Team

A spark has been ignited at Centegra Health System. During March 2005, Centegra Health System is the proud recipient of the Fire Starter of the Month award courtesy of the Studer Group. Chosen among 300+ hospitals across the country, Centegra Health System has been honored for overall excellence, top quality standards and helping to blaze a path in the communities we serve. We would especially like to thank our Studer Group coach, Lucy Crouch, for nominating us for this prestigious award and helping us sustain the fire throughout the past year.

Everything was not quite so hot a few years ago. Under financial and growth pressures that were typical of the last two decades, Centegra Health System’s collection of community health care facilities merged and grew until it had become the largest healthcare provider in McHenry County, Illinois. With 30 health care facilities, including two acute care hospitals, its leaders attempted to navigate the steady waves of new staff, new patient populations and heightened expectations.

In early 2002, the Centegra Health System Board of Governors, along with the new president and CEO, Michael Eesley and the leadership team, recognized that a complete transformation was needed. Together, they created a new compelling vision: "To become the destination healthcare system in the Midwest by providing the clinical quality of the Mayo Clinic with the service quality of a Ritz Carlton." The vision was supported through living the new values of "serving with genuine respect, passionate caring and a joyful spirit."

To achieve these clear and explicit goals of the vision and values statement, Centegra introduced one more organization behavior concept with servant leadership. Servant leadership emphasizes increased service to others; a holistic approach to work; promoting a sense of community; and the sharing of power in decision making. "Associates have embraced the servant leadership philosophy, which ensures that other people’s highest priority needs are served first, and have worked passionately to make our vision a reality," explains Eesley.

This shared vision and renewed focus have produced the measurable change and cultural transformation that Centegra leaders have wanted. In 2003, Centegra was recognized by Press Ganey Associates as a Finalist in the Success Story competition for achieving outstanding results in patient satisfaction. Centegra Memorial Medical Center’s Emergency Department also received the Compass Award in 2003 for significant improvements in patient satisfaction.

At the same time, Centegra was recognized by the Loyalty Institute of AON Consulting for the highest score ever achieved by a healthcare organization for employee satisfaction. In 2004, we were honored with the National AARP Recognition as one of the Best Employers for Workers 50 and Over, a finalist in Fortune Magazine’s Top 100 Companies to Work For as well as received a ranking among the "Best Places to Work" by our local newspaper, The Northwest Herald.

This measure of success gives Associates tremendous pride in what they do and strengthens their bond and commitment to Centegra Health System. And the results prove this theory--Centegra has been successful in retaining their valued Associates as evidenced by reducing the turnover rate from 23 to 13 percent.

Creating a spark from within our organization has certainly helped us achieve our outstanding patient satisfaction scores. To help sustain our success, ingrain our vision and values while continually raising the bar in Associate and patient satisfaction, Lucy Crouch relit the flame within our leadership group in January 2004. We adopted the Studer Group’s "Nine PrinciplesSM" and implemented the "Must HavesSM."

We have also adopted the "Five Pillars" into the "Centegra Five Star Goals" plan. Since we believe in sharing success with Associates on a financial basis, each year target goals are set in terms of our five key performance indicators: people, finance, quality, growth and community. If the target goals are met in each of these areas, Associates receive a bonus.

From sharing in the financial success to receiving a handwritten thank-you note from our leadership team, our Associates are recognized, empowered and passionate about their work at Centegra. And our patients are noticing a difference as well. Our most recent Press Ganey patient satisfaction scores in our two acute care hospitals for the quarter ending December 2004 are: inpatient behavioral health 97% and 99%, emergency department 84% and 82%, outpatient 90% in both facilities, inpatient 75 % and 79% and ambulatory 88% and 93%. Weekly results since January 2005 have also indicated continued improved patient satisfaction scores.

How has Centegra Health System implemented the Studer Group’s principles to achieve success in patient and Associate satisfaction? In countless ways, including the creation of nine service groups that have been formed throughout the health system to address issues such as service recovery, communication and reward/recognition. We are also proud to announce that a new room service program, much like a hotel’s approach to food ordering, is available for all our patients at our two hospitals. Thank you notes are routinely sent to patients and the words "Strive for 5" and "Ask Me About Very Good Care" are embedded throughout our health system on buttons, posters, flyers and cards.

Our journey continues as we strive for excellence in all we do. We look forward to our continued relationship with the Studer Group. May the light continue to shine for many years to come...

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