November 19, 2013, Cincinnati Business Courier
If it weren’t for a couple of signs in front of the gray, low-slung building in the back of the Village Crossings shopping center off Glendale-Milford Road in Evendale, you might not even notice one of the top-rated hospitals in Greater Cincinnati.
The only thing remarkable about the exterior of TriHealth Evendale Hospital is how well it camouflages the quality of care provided inside by the doctors, nurses and medical assistants who labor there. Their work consistently results in some of the highest patient satisfaction scores in Greater Cincinnati.
“If you want a happy patient, solve their problems for them,” said Dr. Matthew Langenderfer, an orthopedic surgeon and one of 23 doctors who founded what was called the Surgery Center of Evendale when it opened in 2004. “A big part of it is the staff. They’re motivated. They feel like part of a winning team all day. We picked some great staff to help. We created a positive culture and great environment.”
The staff of 217 includes 54 nurses but no doctors. One reason people like working there is because normal business hours are 7:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. The average inpatient stay is two days, and only about 5 percent of inpatients might remain hospitalized on a Saturday or Sunday. Few people work weekends, and nobody is on call to come in late at night at a moment’s notice, said Kelvin Hanger, executive director.
The hospital doesn’t have an emergency room, and the focus is on surgery, including for sports-related injuries, rather than treating contagious diseases. The 100,000-square-foot building, which is tucked to the rear of the neighboring CAM International Market that specializes is Asian groceries, includes 10 operating rooms. About 90 percent of inpatients are recuperating from total knee, hip or shoulder replacement surgery.
“We have a very high-quality surgeon staff here,” said Langenderfer, who maintains an independent medical practice and isn’t a TriHealth employee. “We don’t allow physicians here who are going to be disruptive in personalities or practices.”
All of those things factor into why TriHealth Evendale scores so well on the monthly survey called HCAHPS, which stands for Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems.
In the latest quarterly HCAHPS ranking, 88 percent of inpatients treated at TriHealth Evendale Hospital rated it as a 9 or 10 for overall quality. By comparison, Christ Hospital scored 83 percent, West Chester Hospital 80 percent and Mercy Hospital Fairfield 79 percent. The Ohio average is 71 percent, while the national average is 70 percent.
Such results are posted in the Hospital Compare section of Medicare.gov, a federal government website, so consumers can compare how adult inpatients rated their quality of care.
The Evendale hospital had high scores before being purchased in January by TriHealth, and Hanger said the scores have improved in the months since. In June and August, 100 percent of patients surveyed by an independent company gave TriHealth Evendale Hospital the highest scores possible for overall quality, Hanger said.
“Next month, Hospital Compare will be updated with our even higher numbers,” Hanger told me on Tuesday. “We only have preliminary September figures, which will change. So August is our latest. It’s amazing. Every patient that month gave us a 10.”
Hanger said he thinks consumers have become increasingly aware of the HCAPHS survey numbers reported through Hospital Compare.
One area where TriHealth Evendale Hospital stands out on Hospital Compare is for the category “Always quiet at night,” Hanger noted. In part, that’s because the hospital has so few inpatient beds compared with others in Greater Cincinnati.
A $9 million expansion in 2008 yielded 29 inpatient rooms, which were necessary for the Evendale surgical center to be designated a hospital. By comparison, Good Samaritan Hospital in Cincinnati has 532 beds (not counting the neonatal intensive care unit), according to TriHealth spokesman Joe Kelley.
Another factor is that the nurses at TriHealth Evendale Hospital tend to care for just three patients apiece, as opposed to the four to eight patients that a nurse in a bigger hospital might be responsible for overseeing, Hanger said.
And despite having sold the hospital operations to TriHealth (but not the building or land), many of the 78 doctors who owned the hospital back in December “actively participate in the management,” Langenderfer said. “We’re still involved. A committee of physicians goes over data. We look for improvements. Not much has changed.
“It gives us a lot of pride,” Langenderfer said. “TriHealth has definitely recognized how well this hospital runs. They do not want to disrupt what we have here.”
http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/blog/2013/11/heres-how-a-cincinnati-hospital.html?page=all.
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