SITUATION

Across the nation, many hospitals are floundering. By contrast, Bayou Bend Health System (BBHS), Franklin, LA, is flourishing. The health system even had the capacity to pay cash for its planned $23 million wellness center addition. BBHS’s success rides on its commitment to continuous improvement and stra tegic growth, as well as its belief in the power of partnerships.

The key was finding the right partner. Before contracting with Community Hospital Corporation (CHC), a mismatch had developed over time with the services offered by the health system’s previous advisory firm. Seeking a more customized relationship, BBHS leaders reached out to CHC Consulting, the managing and consulting arm of CHC, for a needs-based and goal-aligned “a la carte” services contract designed just for BBHS.

The partnership enabled an excellent health system to perform even better.

BACKGROUND

BBHS (formerly Franklin Foundation Hospital) is a 22-bed critical access community hospital in South Central Louisiana that has served the residents of St. Mary Parish and surrounding communities for more than half a century. While the hospital is a community pillar, area residents face a variety of health challenges. In fact, a recent Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) revealed that the population overall is in “very poor” health, with high rates of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

The situation inspired hospital leaders to seek a new way to focus on residents’ wellness needs, and to find a partner to join them on the journey.

PLAN

Propelling BBHS forward, CHC Consulting helped with the following:

• Conducting an operational assessment, with a deep dive into materials management
• Conversion to CHC Consulting’s group purchasing organization, CHC Supply Trust
• Conversion to one primary distributor offers greater visibility of savings
• Completing the CHNA, which validated the need for the wellness center and cardiopulmonary and senior behavioral health programs
• Executive recruitment and placement, including CNO and CFO positions
• Reviewing insurance programs and providing recommendations relative to cost savings
• Convening monthly operations reviews with the senior leadership team
• CHC Consulting’s ongoing support of day-to-day operations is such that each of the BBHS’s departments and cost centers (business office, revenue cycle, materials management, human resources, health information management) has an expert counterpart at CHC they call for guidance.
• Completing pro forma financial reports affirming the feasibility of the wellness center and service line additions

RESULTS

The most talked-about improvement is a 60,000-squarefoot wellness center, centered around a fitness facility with state-of-the-art exercise equipment that comes with software demos for proper use and generates progress reports that can be shared with healthcare providers. The center has group-class studios, an indoor walking track, a four-lane lap pool, an exercise therapy pool, an orthopedic group and a sports medicine program for area schools.

The wellness center is a pilot study being monitored by the Louisiana Department of Health to assess whether expanding the concept to other rural communities will improve population health. But actuarial data suggests that even if the BBHS wellness center bumps the community’s health up from “very poor” to just “poor,” that would extend life expectancy by 10 to 15 years.

Other positive performance indicators:

• Identifying room for cost savings and waste reduction, CHC Consulting created an inventory reorganizational chart for materials managers, reducing the amount of inventory on hand and saving thousands of dollars annually on supply costs.
• CHC recruited then trained a new materials management director, further optimizing supply chain management and inventory control.
• The BBHS wellness center was a factor in a major industrial corporation’s decision to open in Franklin.
• Along with a reputation for helping struggling hospitals, CHC boasts a strong track record for helping well-resourced hospitals like BBHS that are striving to perform even better.

 

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