Hospital Achieves Top 10 Recognition
St. Vincent Medical Center
Los Angeles, California
Annual ED Visits: 12,000
The Challenge
To continue fulfilling its mission as the full-service walk-in emergency
department of Los Angeles, St. Vincent turned to EmCare®, a national,
full-service emergency department management firm to reduce Length of
Stay (LOS) in the ED and improve patient satisfaction.
The Solution
St. Vincent recruited Susan Connor, RN, as ED nursing director and relied on
EmCare to recruit an expert onsite medical director, plus quali ed mid-level
providers. When Kevin Chamas, MD, MBA, joined the team in 2010 as
EmCare's site medical director, ED staff and providers immediately noticed
the leadership duo's commitment to quality and effciency.
Dr. Chamas and Susan Connor meet regularly to ensure that physician
initiatives and nursing goals work in tandem. "We've developed a great team
with a lot of trust between the nursing staff, medical staff and hospital staff,"
Dr. Chamas said. "EmCare has been great at supporting the process through
our regional personnel and its national resources."
Monthly work group meetings for clinicians in every department that
impacts the ED were held to develop and evaluate new strategies. A number
of those new strategies focused on the patients' experience. Dr. Chamas
initiated 100 percent rounding on admitted patients, and Susan Connor
works with her staff to conduct daily post-discharge callbacks.
Another strategy focused on communicating with patients to better
manage their expectations while waiting for treatment. Waiting patients are
constantly updated on what to expect, making them a part of the process to
decrease LOS. EmCare also conducted an operational analysis to eliminate
the time-consuming steps, particularly during the admissions process,
which impeded patient throughput.
The Results
St. Vincent's six-year
relationship with EmCare has
yielded national applause:
- This year, U.S. News & World Report ranked St. Vincent as one of the "10 Best Hospitals in the Greater Los Angeles Area," of 138 hospitals surveyed.
- St. Vincent has exceeded California's average for "Doctor's Communication" and "Would Recommend" indicators.
- St. Vincent is the recipient of a national healthcare survey firm's Emergency Medicine Excellence Award.
- The hospital has met or exceeded CMS core measures for treating patients with acute myocardial infarction and community acquired pneumonia.
- Press Ganey patient satisfaction scores up to 90th percentile.