Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Marketing....4/9

FROM:Charlie Therrien
TO:Staff
SUBJECT:Common questions
March 30, 2009

As I meet with departments and individuals there are a few questions that come up that I thought I would respond to across the hospital.
Will DTO continue?
We will continue to make sure that we maintain the correct level of staff for the fluctuating level ofpatients in both the inpatient and outpatient areas, clinical and non-clinical. I understand that this creates anxiety and financial pressure during difficult times; however we are trying to reduce our expenses and avoid the elimination of positions.
Why spend money on Studer at this time?
The investment in Studer is an investment in the training and development of our people. It is consistent with our educational assistance program, CME, and other training that are all investments in the employees. The measurable outcome from all of these initiatives is to improve employee satisfaction, which drives patient satisfaction, which drives volume growth.
What is the hospital doing to increase business?
National trends indicate that people are putting off elective and non-urgent healthcare services due to the economic issues that we all are facing. In order to offset these trends we are actively pursuing strategies to grow new business. For example, we are actively working on a plan to open an urgent care center in New York, we are in the process of developing a coordinated women's health program, we have hired nurse practitioners and physician assistants to improve access to primary care services, and we continue to actively recruit more physicians to the area.
Please don't hesitate to contact me with any additional questions. Thank you very
much.


Marketing ideas, hmmmmm:
  • They've tried suing me, that really helped publicize Essent.
  • They've tried putting a happy employee's face on TV, extolling Essent's virtues--while laying off more staff.
  • They start the bidding for another hospital, at the same time cutting managers' salaries by 10%
  • They give a bonus...and pull matching retirement contributions. (Oh, yeah, that wasn't a bonus, that was retention.)

So rather than pay what they promised, they'll promise to pay.... Looks like Ducky and Charlie have been talking....

2 comments:

fac_p said...

Maybe bidding was not quite the term--no one else was opposing them. I think the timeline was pretty close, however.

As for the managers, could you imagine a worse job? Directly fielding employee issues and having the pressure from above? "We serve at the pleasure of Dux" just doesn't have a resounding ring to it...and truth be told, doesn't seem to be a permanent position.

Except for the ones that totally forget where they came from.

Anonymous said...

All I know is that PRMC is its own worst enemy. They want to blame this blog for losing them business when it's their own fault.

I was recently a patient at South and while I had some wonderful nurses I also had some real lulus. One thing that irritated me was no one seems to know how to shut a door! All the folks that came in my room (nurses, lab, etc) always left my door wide open. I don't like being on display especially when I am sick and hardly looking my best! I repeatedly had to ask for people to shut my door or get out of bed and shut it myself. After they complained that this blog violated privacy laws (hippa?) and here they leave a patient on full view of the public! Maybe some patients like to look out at the busy hallways, but I don't!
Improve your services and your image, PRMC!