JCH hits goals

Jay County Hospital surpassed several of its goals this year, hospital CEO Dave Hyatt told the Jay County Commissioners on Monday.
The commissioners, who appoint the hospital board of trustees, were told the hospital was given five out of five stars by the Medicare Beneficiary Quality Improvement Project.
The project is essentially “a fancy way of saying, if you don’t do well, Medicare takes money away,” Hyatt said.
Jay County Hospital consistently outranked the Indiana average for patient satisfaction with nursing communication, doctor communication, responsiveness of staff, pain management and communication about medicine. Indiana’s numbers exceeded the national averages.
Patient satisfaction isn’t just about doctors smiling at them, Hyatt said. The real point is to improve health by preventing complications later.
“If you have that connection with your nurse and your doctor and you’re not stressed out about the procedure that you just had, you can probably hear information a little bit better, which means you might understand how to take care of yourself better when you get home. That means you’re less likely to come back to the hospital with an infection or a medication error,” Hyatt said.
On satisfaction surveys, patients rated the hospital 9 or 10 nearly 76 percent of the time.
“If you give us an 8, it might as well be a 0,” Hyatt said. “We set the bar pretty high.”
As far as employee satisfaction, 86.6 percent of team members were very satisfied or satisfied with their job. That’s statistically no different than 85.4 percent of employees choosing one of those options last year, Hyatt said.
The difference is a drop in the top category; 33.3 percent were very satisfied this year compared to 39.5 percent last year.
The main issues are communication, which Hyatt said has been true at any hospital he has worked at, security concerns related to drug usage in the county and compensation.
Hyatt said the hospital is working to keep employees informed by sending memos and visiting them after board meetings to discuss changes. The hospital will be talking with Jay County Sheriff’s Office and Portland Police Department about security options. As far as compensation, the hospital gave a 2.5 percent raise this year and has implemented an $11 per hour minimum wage.
Hyatt also summarized the hospital’s major purchases in 2015, including 19 acres of land north of the hospital, giving it flexibility for future expansion, and medical equipment including a new CT scanner and a scope that provides a 330 degree view during colonoscopies, an improvement over the old 170 degree view.
In other business, the commissioners:
•Learned from county engineer Dan Watson that “spot paving” on county road 300 South should be complete today.
“It’ll get us through the winter,” he said of patching areas damaged by concrete mixers and other vehicles related to construction of Green Valley Ranch’s confined feeding operation at 2104 E. 300 South. More permanent repairs will happen after construction is complete next year.
•Signed a proclamation inviting Jay County residents to “celebrate the entire year of 2016 as the Indiana Bicentennial Year.”
•Learned highway superintended Ken Wellman would like to replace some of the department’s older trucks, particularly two from 1987 and 1995 that are approaching 200,000 miles. He expects to have quotes next week and encumber leftover equipment and equipment rental money to make the purchase next year.