Strategic Plan

1 Strategic Plan

Strategic Plan

Franklin Woods Family Birthing Center

2 Strategic Plan

Introduction and Background on Facility

Franklin Woods Community Hospital and Birthing Center is located at 300 MedTech

Parkway in Johnson City, TN 37604. Franklin Woods Community Hospital and Birthing Center

is not a stand-alone health care organization. It is part of Mountain States Health Alliance.

Franklin Woods is approximately 240,000 square feet. It opened in 2010 on a 25-acre

lot, located inside Med Tech Park, adjacent to the Wellness Center. It is a not-for-profit

organization, and has 80-beds. Franklin Woods is dedicated to bringing quality health care home

to East Tennessee. This is the first green hospital in the state, meaning that it offers a full array

of primary care and some specialty services. It also received the 2014 Premier Quest Award for

High-Value Healthcare.

The Family Birthing Center at Franklin Woods Community Hospital has 20 private

rooms, 12 of which are designed for labor/delivery/recovery/postpartum stays. The remaining

eight rooms serve to care for gynecology patients. Services at Franklin Woods Community

Hospital and Birthing Center include: labor, delivery, and recovery; postpartum stays;

gynecology; 16 bassinet nursery; first aid program for parents; breast-feeding classes; sibling

classes; two operating caesarean section rooms.

http://www.msha.com/hospitals/franklin_woods_community_hospital_l_johnson_city_tn.aspx

3 Strategic Plan

Mission, Vision, and Values

Mission Statement: Mountain States Health Alliance is committed to Bringing Loving Care to

Health Care. We exist to identify and respond to the health care needs of individuals and

communities in our region and to assist them in attaining their highest possible level of health.

Vision Statement: We passionately pursue healing of the mind, body and spirit as we create a

world-class healthcare system.

Values:

Integrity… honesty in everything we do

Service… with caring and compassion

Leadership… with creativity and innovation

Excellence… always pursuing a higher standard

Mountain States Philosophy: Mountain States Health Alliance team members as caregivers

create relationships, environments and service delivery centered on the patient through a holistic

approach to healing that ministers to the mind, body and spirit. Mountain States caregivers

believe that healing can exist without curing, but healing cannot exist without caring.

4 Strategic Plan

SWOT Analysis

Strengths:

 Part of Mountain States Health Alliance

 State of the art Birthing Facility

 First green hospital in the state

 Caring staff

 High expectations for employees

 Production increasing technology saving time and steps

 Open affiliation with other organizations

Weaknesses:

 Dependent facility

 Do not have strong mission and vision statements

 Implementing technology

 Staff are not willing to comply with high technology such as Vocera

 Wait time for care

 Early deliveries above Tennessee average

Opportunity:

 First green hospital in the state

 25 acre lot/room for growth

 Accepts financial donations

 Public health outreach

 Part of Mountain States Health Alliance

 20 new private rooms in Birthing Center

 Not for profit organization

 Partnering with Wellmont Health Systems

Threats:

 Competition with private practices

 Affordable Care Act

 Some people prefer a midwife facility over a birthing center

 Patient and third party reimbursement rates (or lack thereof)

5 Strategic Plan

Goal 1: Decrease the number of early deliveries by at least 1% in order to

meet the Tennessee Average.

Strategy: In order to evaluate and control this goal, we would chart and refer back to previous

Hospital Compare percentages to track our progress. We will know that we are on target if the

Tennessee average percentage is equal to our percentage, and if we are not on track we will

know to make improvements. The Birthing Center Department Head will be in charge of

charting and tracking progress.

Action: Improve the use of technology in order to better identify the exact progression of the

pregnancy.

Action: Improve the technology training that employees receive on a regular basis (quarterly), to

better identify the exact progression of the pregnancy.

Short Term Objective: Identify reasons for early delivery scheduling. Improve the use of

technology in identifying how many weeks along the pregnancy is in order to properly schedule

a delivery date.

Long Term Objective: Implement a strategy to use technology in identifying the age of the

fetus and reduce early deliveries by at least 1% to meet the Tennessee Average.

Financial: In regards to using technology, our plan will include estimated funds to update the

current software we already use. We will also allocate funds to train current staff members with

the new software so that we can work more efficiently. The staff will be paid regular hourly

wages for the time they spend in our training program. Instead of including these responsibilities

into the department heads duties we plan to use one of the department’s interns specifically for

monitoring our improvements in comparison to the Tennessee average.

6 Strategic Plan

According to Hospital Compare, patients in the Emergency Department of Franklin Woods wait

an average of 24 minutes before being seen by a Health Care professional, whereas patients wait

an average of 15 minutes at Johnson City Medical Center.

Goal 2: Reduce wait time from 24 minutes to 15 minutes or less to match a

competitor.

Strategy: In order to evaluate and control this goal, we would create an online system where the

current wait times and check-in activity is tracked in real time and accessible to all staff. The

nursing receptionist would be responsible for input and would be overseen by the Director of

Nursing. This strategy would hold the staff accountable and allow us to see whether or not we

are on target.

Action: Review and improve current check-in process, and evaluate and implement changes as

needed to make this process most efficient.

Short Term Objective: Identify the “time wasters” in the Emergency Department. Review the

check in process and speak to Health Care providers to find out the cause of the lag in service. Is

it a lack of technology? Is our staff unsure of the current process being used? Do we not have the

necessary materials available to treat patients?

Long Term Objective: After a leading cause is identified, implement a strategic process to

improve the flow of patients from check-in to actually seeing a Health Care provider. Reduce the

wait time to 15 minutes or less.

Financial: We will install new equipment in order to monitor present wait times and check-in

availability. We will also allocate funds (approximately $1.25) for the nursing receptionist, who

will be in charge of monitoring and input for the system. In addition, we have decided to rent a

popular electronic billboard off of I26 to let the public know wait times. We have allocated

$2,000 per month for a Quarter to see how much impact this change makes for our patients.

7 Strategic Plan

According to Hospital Compare, patients of Franklin Woods Hospital claimed that their doctors

“Always” communicated with them well 80% of the time, whereas the Tennessee average is 84%

of the time.

Goal 3: Improve communication and relationships between doctors and

patients so that the patient is always clear on the care they are being given.

Improve survey results to at least 84% to meet the Tennessee average.

Strategy: To evaluate and control this goal, the Administrator would hold a seminar with

doctors to improve awareness of physician/patient communication problems. The Administrator

would provide training and statistics to encourage better communication with their patients. We

would frequently check Hospital Compare and evaluate our progress against the Tennessee

average of 84%.

Action: Hold 3 seminars with doctors to improve awareness of physician/patient communication

problems and provide training and statistics to encourage better communication with patients.

The doctors are most likely capable of this communication, but these seminar could incite

passion to improve the quality of care for these patients. The advantage of 3 seminars will help

us train doctors at a faster rate while allowing for easier scheduling.

Short Term Objective: Speak with doctors and identify the cause of the lack of communication.

Are they pressed for time? Are they unable to thoroughly explain care in common language? Are

they aware of this problem with communication?

Long Term Objective: Create and implement a strategic plan to address the lack of/ineffective

communication between doctors and patients. Find ways to free up their time and hold

workshops to improve communication skills. Improve survey results from 80% to 84%.

Financial: We have allocated funds to pay each attendee his or her hourly pay during each

seminar. Lunch for each seminar will be provided at the cost of our department and provided by

the hospital cafeteria to minimize cost. The healthcare administrator will be in charge of

monitoring survey results at no extra cost to our department.