October 3 , 2003

Leadership meeting offers update on hospital's 2004 budget, Magnet recognition and other activities

Despite financial challenges such as decreases in reimbursement and external cost pressures, the MGH was able to balance its operating budget for fiscal year 2004, according to Sally Mason Boemer, vice president for MGH Finance, who gave a presentation about the FY '04 budget at a leadership meeting held Sept. 24.

To accomplish the balanced budget, hospital leaders developed several strategies to help close what began as an approximate $60 million gap. They reduced expenses in new and existing programs, enhanced revenues by refining volume and rate assumptions, and relied on cost-cutting initiatives from other Partners entities to reduce costs and build on savings. After Mason Boemer's presentation, Peter L. Slavin, MD, president of the MGH, thanked members of hospital leadership for their hard work they did turning around the financial performance for FY '03 and developing a budget for FY '04.

"We have had to deal with a lot of challenges in this budget process, and we still face more that lie ahead. But if we stick to the roadmap we have developed, we should be able to remain on target financially. We need to meet these targets in order to be able to fund key investments in the MGH, such as the Yawkey building and the new research building," he said.

Slavin also gave an update about the hospital's strategic planning process, informing the audience that the seven task forces have been hard at work developing significant ideas and recommendations to be given to the Strategic Planning Steering Committee by the end of October. The steering committee then will review these recommendations, set priorities, begin implementing some of the short-term recommendations in November and develop a process for reviewing the long-term recommendations. There also will be ongoing communications about the progress of these task forces in Hotline and other venues.

Jeanette Ives Erickson, RN, MS, senior vice president for Patient Care Services and chief nurse, then gave an enthusiastic presentation about the hospital's recent recognition as the first and only Magnet-designated hospital in the state. Magnet recognition is the highest honor for nursing excellence bestowed on hospitals by the American Nurses Association's American Nurses Credentialing Center. The award is meant to recognize health care organizations that provide the best nursing care and that uphold the tradition of excellence in professional nursing practice. Less than 1 percent of hospitals in the nation earn Magnet status, and the MGH is only the 83rd in the nation to receive such an honor. Ives Erickson concluded her presentation with a moving video tribute to all MGH employees who helped the hospital attain this significant achievement.

Maryanne Spicer, director of MGH Compliance, then gave a review of the hospital's recent survey from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). As chair of the hospitalwide JCAHO steering committee, Spicer coordinated the hospital's efforts to prepare for the surveyors' visit, which also included a lab survey. According to Spicer, the MGH received a preliminary report from the surveyors that overall was positive with a few recommendations for improvement that the hospital already is addressing. The hospital will receive the final results of the survey in about a month.

"I want to thank everyone for the hard work in preparing for this visit, and I want to congratulate you all on a positive survey," said Spicer. "You make me proud to be here every day — particularly those days that the JCAHO surveyors were here."

The leadership meeting concluded with a presentation about this year's United Way campaign by Harry Rubash, MD, chief of MGH Orthopædics, who serves as co-chair of the United Way Steering Committee with Dawn Tenney, RN, MSN, associate chief of Perioperative Nursing. The goals of this year's campaign — which begins Oct. 6 and will run through Oct. 24 — are to increase employee participation to 10 percent and to raise at least $260,000.