Methodist Medical Center of Illinois - Peoria, Illinois

Summit Award Winner: Outpatient

Methodist Medical Center of Illinois is an urban, not-for-profit facility located in Peoria, Illinois. The center has 339 licensed beds, 17,565 admissions, and 107,792 outpatient visits annually.

At Methodist Medical Center of Illinois, keeping employee enthusiasm at peak levels to sustain patient satisfaction at the 99th percentile is an ongoing challenge we face daily, and is a driving force in our day-to-day operations and successful outcomes.

Keeping customer service in the forefront of everything we do is reinforced throughout the organization from the housekeepers to the medical staff. Each week on Metric Monday, staff and management anxiously await the previous week’s patient satisfaction. These results are reviewed by management, shared with staff, and prominently displayed in each area being measured. Keeping staff aware of how they are doing in real time allows them to take immediate pride in their accomplishments or improve in areas identified by their patients. Healthy competition permeates throughout.

Members of the executive team demonstrate their commitment by making weekly rounds to every unit/department. They talk with staff and distribute bags of goodies and color-coded certificates signifying the weeks’ achievements, which serve as a continual reminder of their accomplishments. This underscores the executive team’s commitment to the staff, while broadening their own knowledge of each area.

The recognitions and celebrations don’t stop there. Methodist’s Communication by Celebration Recognition program kicks into high gear with lively themed celebrations for every floor, unit, and office that achieves the 95th percentile in patient satisfaction each quarter. These celebrations include caravans with the management team, including the executives, to personally thank the 95th percentile achievers with a bag of goodies, a gold magnetic star for their satisfaction plaque, and multitudes of personal congratulations. Numerous other recognition and celebrations are ongoing, including personal notes by managers, cards sent by the CEO to the homes of staff mentioned on Press Ganey surveys, and department lunches of their choosing for being at or above the 95th percentile in patient satisfaction for five consecutive weeks.

As a result of our multitude of efforts in all aspects of providing “outstanding health care, period,” we have realized a phenomenal rate of retention of managed care contracts with many exclusive agreements. This is due in large part to the fact that patient experience is better. As described by one organization, “Methodist is a much friendlier and warmer place.” Our culture, combined with our continued success in maintaining our outstanding patient satisfaction results, has allowed us to enter into contracts that we were previously unable to attain.