Somerset Medical Center - Somerville, NJ

Success Story Finalist

Somerset Medical Center was sailing into its second century of service when it hit an iceberg—the results of its first Press Ganey survey. Scores for the first quarter of 2000 ranked the medical center in the 58th percentile for emergency department satisfaction, in the 39th percentile for outpatient satisfaction, in the 35th percentile for inpatient satisfaction and the 22nd percentile for ambulatory satisfaction.

People
Somerset Medical Center’s new CEO charged the medical center’s Senior Vice President of Patient Care with the task of identifying problem areas and implementing strategies to improve patient satisfaction. A steering committee of key managers and staff was formed. The next step was the recruitment of other staff members to form subcommittees.

Programs
Over the past three years, Somerset Medical Center has implemented a wide range of programs to improve patient satisfaction, including:

• A $10 million clinical information technology upgrade.
• Wireless phones for nursing staff.
• “Secret shoppers” who interview patients and staff to see how well employees are exhibiting recommended standards of behavior.
• Thank you cards for all inpatients.
• A service recovery program.
• A mandatory three-hour customer service orientation program for all new employees.
• Ongoing customer service education.
• Quarterly reward and recognition programs honoring employees.
• A monthly honor roll distributed to each department.
• Monetary incentives to department managers for meeting goals in patient satisfaction scores.

Progress
In 2002, the medical center reached the 99th percentile in Emergency Department and Inpatient satisfaction in the fourth quarter. Outpatient satisfaction soared to the 95th percentile while Ambulatory satisfaction topped the 92nd percentile for the fourth quarter of 2002.

These results have translated into an improved bottom line: the medical center has noted dramatic growth in patient volume in virtually all clinical departments and has experienced a 51 percent increase in net patient revenue over the past three years. The medical center boasts an astounding 4.5 percent nursing vacancy rate – well below the state average of 18 percent.