Spectrum Health Reed City Hospital Designated Patient-Centered Hospital

November 27, 2012

First in Michigan and One of Only 21 Hospitals Worldwide

Spectrum Health Reed City Hospital in Reed City, Michigan has been formally designated by Planetree, Inc. as a “Planetree Designated® Patient-Centered Hospital.” This designation recognizes Spectrum Health Reed City Hospital’s achievement and innovation in the delivery of patient-centered care. Spectrum Health Reed City Hospital is the first hospital in Michigan and one of only 21 hospitals worldwide to receive the Patient-Centered Designation since the program’s launch in 2007.

“The Planetree Designation® is the only award that recognizes excellence in person-centeredness across the continuum of care,” said Susan Frampton, president of Planetree, Inc., an international not-for-profit organization that has been at the forefront of the movement to transform healthcare from the perspective of the patient for more than 30 years. “The designation signals to healthcare consumers that Spectrum Health Reed City Hospital is a hospital where providers partner with patients and families, and where patient comfort, dignity, empowerment and well-being are prioritized with providing top-quality clinical care.”

“We are very pleased with this Planetree designation,” said Sam Daugherty, president of Spectrum Health Reed City Hospital. “This achievement is a true testament to the providers, staff and leadership of this organization, each of whom has played a crucial role in integrating the philosophy of patient-centered care into their day-to-day work. The team at Spectrum Health Reed City Hospital is not only making a difference for individual patients and family members, but is also effectively transforming the culture of the organization, and fundamentally altering what this community expects when they come to the hospital.”

The criteria that a hospital must satisfy to achieve designation reflect what patients, family members and healthcare professionals in hundreds of focus groups say matters most to them during a healthcare experience. This qualitative data aligns with the growing evidence-base for patient-centered care and establishes the Planetree Designation® as a concrete framework for defining and measuring excellence in patient-centeredness.

More than 60 specific criteria address components of a patient centered health care experience including:

patient-provider interaction
food and nutrition
access to information
family involvement
the physical environment
spirituality
arts and entertainment
integrative therapies

Criteria also addresses how Spectrum Health Reed City Hospital supports its staff, gives patients and families a voice in the way care is delivered and reaches beyond hospital walls to care for the communities served.

As part of the designation process, Planetree representatives visited Reed City Hospital in March 2012 to speak directly with patients, family members, hospital leadership, staff, physicians and members of the Planetree Steering team. A series of focus groups were held in which participants candidly shared their experiences at Spectrum Health Reed City Hospital. Consistent with the Planetree Designation® criteria, the site visit team found that patients feel listened to, respected and well-cared for, and that staff feels informed, empowered and appropriately recognized.

Initiatives such as the award-winning Family Transfer Bag left an impression on the site visit team as concrete ways that the Planetree philosophy is being brought to life at Spectrum Health Reed City Hospital. The Family Transfer Bag was awarded second place at the 2012 Annual Planetree National Conference. Each year, Planetree solicits organizations for their most innovative practices and judges them on the impact they have on patients and families. The Family Transfer Bag was developed under the leadership of the Spectrum Health Reed City Hospital Family and Friends team in partnership with the patient and family advisory council (PFAC). The bag is given to families of patients who are transferred in an emergent situation and those families who find themselves away from home without the necessities. The bag includes important contact information, directions, map, paper, pen, personal hygiene items, water, snacks, etc. In addition to being recognized by Planetree, the bag has been duplicated in other Spectrum Health community hospitals and hospitals in other parts of the country.

“Over the past seven years, a culture change amongst staff, providers and volunteers has transformed Spectrum Health Reed City Hospital into an environment ripe with ideas as to how to improve care from the patient’s perspective” said Daugherty. He adds that “hundreds of ideas as to how to improve the patient experience have evolved into new programs”. Some of the ideas that have been implemented include:

Computer kiosks with internet connection throughout the organization to provide patients, families and community members increased access to meaningful information.
Open medical records
Flexible, 24-hour, patient-directed visiting hours.
A special room just for families allowing them to stay close to their loved one that offers a full service kitchen, lounge area and sleeping area.
The total transformation of the physical environment of the hospital
Pet therapy program and volunteer baking program as therapeutic distractions to offer enjoyment to enhance the clinical environment
Volunteer chaplains to provide support of spiritual needs
Care Partner Program – developed to formally involve family and/or friends in the care of their loved ones during their hospital stay and when they return home. A care partner can provide physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual support.
Integrative therapies which include Reiki therapy, massage therapy, and hand massage
Five star inpatient dining

The process also included a review of the hospital’s performance on publicly reported patient satisfaction and quality of care measures. As a group, the Planetree Designated® Patient-Centered Hospitals in the United States consistently exceed national performance benchmarks on the HCAHPS patient experience measures as well as on CMS’s clinical process of care measures.

Spectrum Health Reed City Hospital is a 25 bed acute care hospital located in Reed City, Michigan that has adopted the Planetree approach to care giving. A model of patient centered care in a healing environment, staff is committed to improving medical care from the patient’s perspective, empowering patients and families through education, information and encouraging healing partnerships with caregivers. Spectrum Health Reed City Hospital offers 24 hour emergency care, inpatient and outpatient services including lab and diagnostic imaging, a regional cancer treatment center, three primary care locations and an Eden Care award winning 50 bed rehabilitation and nursing facility. Spectrum Health Reed City Hospital has been recognized for its clinical performance in inpatient, outpatient and emergency department care by the Michigan Center for Rural Health Quality Improvement Organization for 6 consecutive years.

Spectrum Health is a not-for-profit health system in West Michigan offering a full continuum of care through the Spectrum Health Hospital Group, which is comprised of nine hospitals including Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, a state of the art children’s hospital that opened in January 2011, and 183 service sites; the Spectrum Health Medical Group and West Michigan Heart, physician groups totaling more than 700 providers; and Priority Health, a health plan with 600,000 members. Spectrum Health is West Michigan’s largest employer with 19,000 employees. The organization provided $204 million in community benefit during its 2012 fiscal year.