by Jill Clendening
Vanderbilt University Medical Center has recognized 183 clinicians and 27 clinical areas with Excellence in Patient Experience awards in recognition of exceptional performance and commitment to service excellence. Those awards mirror improvements in the institution’s overall patient experience scores during fiscal year 2019.
The patient experience awards honor clinical areas and individual clinicians who have reached the 90th percentile nationally in patient experience for fiscal year (FY) 2019, or from July 1, 2018 until June 30, 2019. The awards are based on nine different surveys administered by the health care solutions and consultant company Press Ganey across various service areas including medical practice/clinics, inpatient, ambulatory surgery, outpatient services and others.
The top box scores (the percent of the best possible responses) of all the survey questions were compared to the Press Ganey benchmark. All areas above the 90th percentile received an award. The provider-related questions on the medical practice/clinic survey were used to recognize clinicians. Eligibility was dependent on having at least 30 surveys returned during FY19.
“Our patients are so appreciative of the care and experience we provide them, and these scores reflect that appreciation,” said Brian Carlson, VUMC Patient Experience senior director. “We are defining personalized care, and I know how hard everyone here works for every patient every time.”
In addition to the top-scoring clinicians and clinical areas, VUMC’s institution-wide patient experience scores, which are also collected by Press Ganey, similarly showed positive change, with the institution reaching its target goal in the first quarter of FY 20 for the overall patient experience pillar goal with a top box score of 74.9% (target was 74.8%).
This continues the positive trend shown with statistically significant positive change in the specific measures of overall communication and courtesy that were reported for FY 19.
Starting with FY 2020, VUMC changed how the institution’s pillar goal related to patient experience is measured by focusing on VUMC’s top box scores, which are a direct reflection of performance, rather than measuring performance based on rank improvement, which is a comparison to the performance of other Press Ganey clients.
Also, the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS), a patient satisfaction survey required by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for all hospitals in the United States, has been added as a goal for FY 2020. The survey results are publicly reported by CMS on the internet.
“More public agencies and insurance companies are using HCAHPS results as a performance metric tied to reimbursement, and U.S. News & World Report will soon incorporate patient experience data such as HCAHPS scores, into its “Best Hospitals” specialty rankings,” said Paul Sternberg Jr., MD, Chief Medical Officer and Chief Patient Experience Officer. “It makes sense to monitor and report our own progress in this area.”
In October 2018, VUMC began a multi-year service education initiative, Defining Personalized Care — Elevating Our Culture of Service, and institution leaders point to this effort as a contributing factor in the improved patient satisfaction scores.
“This service education initiative builds on VUMC’s Mission, Credo and the Patient and Family Promise, reinforcing the standards that already guide how we handle every interaction with our patients and with each other,” Carlson said. “We have high completion rates for this training, which is still ongoing, so it makes sense that our employees are applying these lessons to deliver even more personalized care through exceptional service, and our patients are seeing it as well.”
The overall institution-wide communication composite reflected statistically significant positive change in FY19 (73.7% top box) over FY18 (71.8%), resulting in an improved average rank, moving from 51 to 54.
The overall courtesy composite reflected statistically significant positive change in FY19 (80.5% top box) over FY18 (79.1%), resulting in an improved average rank, moving from 45 to 50.
Of particular note, the clinical areas of inpatient care, medical practice, outpatient services and urgent care all had statistically significant positive change for both communication and courtesy, making these areas key contributors to the overall score improvement. No clinical areas reflected statistically significant negative change.
“We applaud these individual and clinic award winners, who by proof of direct patient surveys, have gone above and beyond to provide patients and their families the best possible experience while they are in our care.”
Patient Experience Award winners are:
Inpatient – Adult
Clinical Research Center
Cardiac Observation
Inpatient – Behavioral Health
Vanderbilt Partial Hospitalization Program – Adolescent
Clinic – Adult
Metro Nashville Public Schools – Bransford Physical Therapy
Metro Nashville Public Schools – West
Vanderbilt Asthma, Sinus and Allergy Infusion West End
Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Pi Beta Phi Physical Therapy
Vanderbilt Primary Care – Bellevue
Vanderbilt Primary Care – Green Hills
Vanderbilt Primary Care – Hillsboro Medical Group Village at Vanderbilt
Vanderbilt Primary Care – Nolensville
Vanderbilt Anticoagulation Clinic at One Hundred Oaks
Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center Infusion Center Cool Springs
Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center Breast Center Cool Springs
Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center Radiation Oncology at Franklin
Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center Oncology Cool Springs Suite B
Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center Oncology/Hematology at Spring Hill
Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center Oncology Genetics – Village at Vanderbilt
Walgreens Franklin
Vanderbilt Oncology Thoracic Surgery – Franklin
Dayani Health Psychology
Vanderbilt Orthopaedics Physical Therapy at Cool Springs
Vanderbilt Orthopaedics Occupational Therapy Franklin
Vanderbilt Orthopaedics – Spring Hill
Vanderbilt Anticoagulation Clinic at Murfreesboro
Vanderbilt Heart Winchester
Vanderbilt Anticoagulation Clinic at Franklin
Clinician – Adult
Rony A. Adam, MD
Ted Louis Anderson, MD
Alison Barlow, APRN, MSN
Alaina J. Brown, MD, MPH
Marta A. Crispens, MD
Margaret A. Hull, MSN, WHNP
Anna T. Kirk, MSN, WHNP-BC
Virginia B. Mazzoni, MD
Lisa D. Milam, MSN, WHNP-BC
Melinda New, MD
Nancy E. Osburn, MD
Christopher Sizemore, DO
Laurie Tompkins, APRN, MSN
Nicola C. White, MD
Karen C. Bloch, MPH, MD
Cody A. Chastain, MD
Sean Garrett Kelly, MD
Anna K. Person, MD
Tina Allocco, BA, MSN
James E. Loyd, MD
Cynthia Wasden, MSN, ACNP, BSN
Dana Wirth, BS, MSN, FNP
Heather C. Koons, MD
Anne O’Duffy, MD
Kristen B. Sherman, PA
Darrel Ellis, MD
Laurie C. Goerzen, FNP, MSN, BSN
Jami Miller, MD
William Stebbins, MD
Kate McReynolds, MSN, MSc
Leslie J. Crofford, MD
Susan Faye Kroop, MD
Eli Steigelfest, MD
Simpson Bobo Tanner IV, MD, CCD
Marni L. Groves, BSN, MSN, NP
Hillary Kaplan, MD
Gaelyn Garrett, MD, MMHC
Alexander J. Langerman, MD
James L. Netterville, MD
Sarah L. Rohde, MD
Kimberly Nicole Vinson, MD
Kenneth Watford, DNP, APRN
Matthew J. Abbate, MD
Federica Angel, MD
Katelyn Kennedy Atwater, MD
John M. Boone, Jr., MD
Jane Case, DNP, MSN, BSN
Tom Anass Elasy, MD, MPH
Jay Gainer III, MD
Paula Herrmann, MD
Tiffany Elder Hines, MD
Tim Hinton, MD
Ashley B. Hoadley, FNP-BC
Jill Jones, MD
Mohana B. Karlekar, MD
Catherine Linn, MD
Jamie MacDonald, MD
William Martinez, MD
William H. Maynard, MD
Matthew Miller, MD
Sandra Moutsios, MD
Scott R. Parker, MD
John Peach, MD
Jason Pereira, MD
Jan Price, MD
Heather Ridinger, MD
William Serafin, MD
Anderson Spickard III, MD, MS
Catherine Vanessa Stober, MD
Craig Sussman, MD
Cecelia N. Theobald, MD, MPH
Bobby White, MD
Benjamin Womack, MD
Elizabeth Ann Yakes, MD
Kelly A. Birdwell, MD, MSCI
William Henry Fissell IV, MD
Edward R. Gould, MD
Sarah B. Connor, APRN
Alexandra L. Kuchler, APN, NP
Ashlee Lecorps, BSN, MSN, FNP-BC
Alyssa C. Miller, APRN
Rhonda R. Hollins-Dortch, FNP
Christina Edwards Bailey, MD, MSCI
Naira Baregamian, MD, FACS
Daniel Beauchamp, MD, FACS
Shannon Sweeney Bell, APRN, MSN
Rohan Chitale, MD
Tracey L. DeWire, MSN, ACNP-BC
Mary Egger, ADN, BSN, MSN
Louis Garrard, III, MD
Lee Gorden, MD
Ana Grau, MD
Kent K. Higdon, MD
Michael D. Holzman, MD, MPH
Mary A. Hooks, MD, MBA, FACS
Julie H. Hull, DDS
Ashley B. Johnson, RN, NP
Tonna L. McCutcheon, APRN, MSN, BSN, DNP
Ingrid Meszoely, MD
Julie Wang Rezk, DMD
Matthew D. Spann, MD
Raeshell S. Sweeting, MD
Marcus C.B. Tan, MBBS
Sara N. Horst, MD, MPH
Christopher Lind, MD
Lindsay A. Bischoff, MD
Michael J. Fowler, MD
Janie L. Hagan, APRN, MSN, BSN
Melissa F. Wellons, MD
Vandana Gupta Abramson, MD
Kristin K. Ancell, MD
Dana B. Cardin, MD
Kristen K. Ciombor, MD
Jill Gilbert, MD
Stacey A. Goodman, MD
Leora Horn, MD
Madan H. Jagasia, MD, MBBS, MS, MMHC
Waleed Khalaf, MD
Ingrid Mayer, MD, MSCI
Sanjay Mohan, MD, MSCI
Colleen T. Morton, MD
Barbara A. Murphy, MD
Kimryn Rathmell, MD, PhD
Shannon Stinnett Serie, MD
Katie Sibler, APN, BSN, MSN, WHNP-BC
Natalie M. Spradlin, MD
Charles L. Cox, III, MD, MPH
Mihir J. Desai, MD
Jennifer L. Halpern, MD
Amir A. Jahangir, MD, MMHC
Jed Kuhn, MD
Leon R. Scott, MD
Albert Attia, MD
John Han-Chih Chang, MD
Austin Kirschner, MD, PhD
Kenneth Niermann, MD, MSCI
Evan C. Osmundson, MD, PhD
Robert Ossoff, DMD, MD
Eric Tatsuo Shinohara, MD, MSCI
James A. Bookman, MD
Michael T. Baker, MD
Geoffrey Chidsey, MD
Andre Churchwell, MD
Walter K. Clair, MD, MPH
John A. Curci, MD
Joseph L. Fredi, MD
Mark D. Glazer, MD
Shawn Alen Gregory, MD
Elias Victor Haddad, MD
Rob R. Hood, MD
Sean G. Hughes, MD
Soo Hyun Kim, MD, MPH
Marvin W. Kronenberg, MD
John McPherson, MD
Beth Meador, MSN
Jay A. Montgomery, MD
Robert Piana, MD
Mark A. Wigger, MD
Maie H. El-Sourady, MD, MSc
Jennifer Kiser Green, MD, MPH
Ashley J. Karpinos, MD, MPH
Althea A. Shelton, MD
John C. Thomas, MD
Clinician – Pediatric
Sunny Bell, MD
Cassandra C. Brady, MD
Tom Doyle, MD
Cary Fu, MD
Alisa Carman Gotte, MD
William Heerman, MD, MPH
Irene Hong-McAtee, MD
Tara Mosley Huss, MD
Deborah Kaye P. Jones, MD
Jennifer C. Kelley, MD, MSCE
Yasmin W. Khan, MD
Jefferson P. Lomenick, MD
Angela Cherie Maxwell-Horn, MD
Andrew Radbill, MD
Mark Elkin Rawls, MD
Alice Mauskopf Rothman, MD
Bill Russell, MD
Jill H. Simmons, MD
Stephanie M. Spence, MSN, BSN, NP
Jill Elyn Steigelfest, MD
