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Read comments (21)"There are people in our community who don't trust our hospital," he said Friday at a special media event, the last official guided tour until the Community Preview Day June 14. "Too many. It is time to put the kibosh on that right now.
 Representatives of local media were given a red carpet tour of the new Heritage Medical Center Friday, the last guided tour before the Community Preview Day June 14. From left are Heritage CEO Dan Buckner, Chief Nursing Officer Pat Sweeton and Cardio/Pulmonary Director Victor Tiller. (T-G Photo by John Philleo) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo] |
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Buckner addressed reporters and others in the cafeteria of the new facility, explaining how the hospital is striving, not just to improve its physical environment, but its culture.
"You're not just our patients, you're our neighbors," he said. "And this is Bedford County -- you're probably our cousins, too!"
Buckner cited several glowing reports the hospital has received lately, including surveys taken by recently released patients.
"We are up 34 percent in customer satisfaction," he said.
The staff has undergone an intensive training program on providing customer satisfaction from a national consulting firm.
"This wasn't a two-week crash course," said Buckner. "This was three years."
A recent inspection from the Joint Committee that oversees hospital operations receive only three deficiencies, he said, adding that out of the approximate 300 hospitals under the CHS umbrella, that was the best score. The state survey that followed the joint committee's inspection found no deficiencies -- the only hospital in the state to get a perfect score this year.
"And this was in the old building," said Buckner.
"You are going to be impressed with how we look," he added later. "You are going to be impressed with our attitude and with our professional skills."
There have already been positive changes in the outlook, Buckner said.
"The community is behind us."
During the tour, Buckner and various department directors pointed out other improvements in service. The waiting time for outpatient testing has decreased to 46 minutes and Buckner estimated it dropping even further, to 30 minutes, at the new facility.
"In the emergency room, the average waiting time has decreased from two hours and 45 minutes last year to two hours and 18 minutes this year," said Keri McKamey, emergency room director. "In the last week, the average waiting time was only two hours."
"Two hours and 30 minutes is the best in the business," said Buckner. "You don't want to go any lower than two hours -- when you get in a too much of a hurry, mistakes can be made."
Detail work was still being done on the building, but its construction is right on schedule, said chief nursing officer Pat Sweeton. The physicians' building next door is a month behind schedule but shouldn't affect patients at the hospital.
The public is invited to take the tour, as well as enjoy fun, games, food and entertainment -- all free -- at the Community Preview Day, noon -3 p.m. Saturday, June 14.
Good Luck on the new hospital, but this is a small community made up of a lot of middle aged and seniors who deserve to be treated with respect, as do the employees of the hospital. There will always be another facility to go to for these patients and caregivers, so don't burn any more bridges.
Sharon22
JACHO has a class for its inspectors just for CHS facilities. yes it about the building and its about patient care. However its more about the MONEY. Youre decieved if you think that the fact that vacateing the building effects the inspections. The inspectors will write something. However the action plan developed to address the issues will simply read differed due to new hospital. The wave in health care is driven by profitability. It has to be, thats nonprofit,(BCMC UNDER THE COUNTY)( not for profit, (St Thomas, MTMC, Baptist.) or companys such as CHS. Budgets are made FTEs are allotted to the departments based on profit producing and nonprofit producing employees. A for profit company will cut the non revenue producing departments to the bone. While flexing other departments to insure the patient to staff mix is adiquite to make the numbers show WE ARE MAKING MONEY. This has a direct effect on patient satifaction surveys and the moral of the staff. It is what it is.
Most of you are thinking along my lines. It was never the building that received the majority of the complaints. It was the service's provided by the staff. I go out of town for all of my medical care. When it comes to my health it is MY choice where I want to go. Where I feel safe, confident and well taken care of. If it was a county hospital I might have given them the opportunity that Mr. Buckner says "we owe" them. I will not however contribute to the success of a for profit hospital, because as most people know, the bottom line is always the all mighty dollar. The staffing cuts that have been made since they took over should be proof enough that we "their neighbors and sometimes cousins" (what a jerk for even saying that) are not of importance to them, only our money.
If you have happy customers ie. patients, you wouldn't have to prove anything. You wouldn't even need to make such public comments. If I had to guess, I would say in their meeting room you will find a white board with their game plan for success. It will have everything on it except make the customer happy while providing a valuable service with a balanced cost efficient system.
Wherever you decide to go, go where you feel comfortable and get the level of service that is acceptable to you. Settle for no less, it's your health and your hard earned money.
After reading all of the comments about the BCMC I have found out what will fix the problem. It is very simple. After many months of reading comments on several subjects I have found that Evil Monkey knows all about everything so just hire Evil Monkey. I do not understand why we do not see bumper stickers wanting Evil Monkey for legal aid for the White House. They cannot get it right either. So you see this would solve it all.
I have stated this before and I will do so again. I have worked at both large and small in the past 18 years and all have their own unique problems. Bedford county is a small rural hospital that is there for a purpose and as far a I am concerned does well. I have had several relatives in the ER where they received excellent care. I presently work at a large hospital in Nasville where I know they would have recieved good care, but it's too far to go for an emergency. As far as JACHO and the state inspections, I can tell you from experience that they really don't give a flip if they hopital was moving out of the old building, they inspect on where you are when they come. JACHO also does "suprise" inspections now. The hospitals know about when the expect them to come based on the last visit, but hospitals are expected to be ready for a visit at about anytime, anywhere(new or old buildings).
I can understand the billing concerns, but hospitals have bills to pay, including all those receiving a pay check. My present place of employment will ask for the ER co-pay even from their own employees. I know we have been brought to an age where health care is thought of as a "right", but it is also a responsibility that comes with some cost. I do feel for folks with large bills and the hosptials should work with them and be kind along the way. I congratulate craftin_mom for paying the bill, as a big percentage of folks totally ignore the bills, including those from the collection agency.
csanders,
Out of curiosity, how do you fit into this? I see you adamantly defending the hospital, but these people have legitimate concerns and reading the above statements from the CEO leads me to the arrogance this gentleman has towards his neighbors. I mean..."The buck stops here," he added. "You owe us a try."
Really, I owe him? No. I don't owe him a thing. I never been to the hospital here, yet. But the sentence before that really caught my eye, "There are people in our community who don't trust our hospital," he said. "Too many. It is time to put the kibosh on that right now." Then he stated that arrogant "Owe us" crap.
How would you feel if I said, "You Owe me to buy my websites." With no reason why? Customer service is not just about training, it is about human compassion, understanding and general concern about the welfare of the public. None of that was mentioned, it was all about how important the BCMC looks... Well If I were you, I would fire the PR rep that came up with this because this turn out to be a disaster. Better yet, hire me, I have some common sense.
Why should we trust the new hospital? It will not be any better if we dont get rid of the doctors and staff, that are rude, and hateful. New building....Doesnt mean good hospital. As we all know its not the building that makes the hospital its the people.
"Two hours and 30 minutes is the best in the business," said Buckner.
It didn't take Harton 2.5 hours to get my father in when we took him to the ER with pneumonia. He was in Triage within 30 minutes of our arrival, and in Radiology for chest x-rays quite shortly after. And yet, at the old BCMC, I saw a lady having chest pains and a history of heart problems waiting well over 3 hours to be seen. She was trumped by a soccer teen with a sprained knee. Whatda????
I don't recall saying I didn't want to pay. I doubt that most middle income families have had the medical bills we have had the past three years due to a sick child and I am proud to say that as of today every single one of those bills have been paid off. The point I was making is that out of all of the different bills (hospitals, physician bills, radiology bills, lab bills...)BCMC was by far the most difficult one to work with. The care we received there was definitley adequate but we choose to go to another hospital because we know we will be given a reasonable amount of time, if needed, to pay our part of the bill.
jaxspike.....Im glad you received good care at Harton Hospital. My question to you is this. Is that where you go for all of your medical needs. If not, why don't you ask some of the people who live in Tullahoma how good the care is at that hospital on a regular basis.
In response to craftin_mom. Im not sure why you didn't get part of your bill. But when your child was first born, it had to go to the nursery to be checked over and things like that. And at the time your child was born BCMC was county owned. Now it is owned by CHS. It was bought 3 years ago. This is what I mean by an unfair opinion.
casnders . . . I have actually been to Harton Medical Center in Tullahoma for a hospital stay and received excellent care and the nurses were amazing.
If you lived in Tullahoma or Murfreesboro you would be saying bad things about those hospitals too. I have had bad expirences at several different hospitals. And I don't fault the entire hospital. It is sad that so many people feel the way they do about our hospital. I had all of my children at Bedford County Hospital, and I couldn't have ask for better care. But everyone is entitled to their own opinion...Even if it is an unfair one.
They'll "forget" to mail you a bill, then turn you over to a collection agency. I know that first hand. It happened when I had my son 6 years ago. I gave specific instructions that the baby was to stay in my room at ALL times. Yes, he WAS with me the entire time until we checked out. So, why was I referred to a collection agency for a bill regarding the nursery? And, why wasn't this bill figured in when we were given a total bill and arranging to make payments (BTW, we never missed a payment for the almost $17K bill. I could have financed a brand new car easier than making payments to BCMC).
So, I don't owe BCMC squat. Any other children we are blessed with will be born in M'boro or Tullahoma.
This is the problem with society. They expect to receive services and not pay the deductible before being seen. That is what a deductibale is for. This medical center is adequite for any type of emergency and then if it extends its resources then transfers you to another facility. If you go to MTMC or Harton they will treat you the same way. the only differance is Bedford County can recognise they can't treat every case. Harton and MTMC have sat on alot of cases that they should have transfered but they tried to treat only to find out they needed a higher level of care hours after the fact. This hospital may require you to pay (big deal you should pay) but so will every other hospital around. MTMC does not do charity work for those who dont want to pay neither does harton.
If you were paying on the bill, it is illegal for them to turn it over to collections. AND if they do turn it over to collections, your rights are to always work with the original creditor. Since you were originally anyways, it is considered deceptive practices and the hospital can be held liable for damaging your credit when you were paying on it.
It might be a better facility but what I have experienced with the financial aspect is the middle income from Bedford County can't afford to be treated there. If you have a deductible they want you to pay it up front and if you have been in the hospital they give you very little time to pay your bill with monthly installments and after a few months they turn it over to a collection agency even if you have paid every month. You can go to Vanderbilt and they are very reasonable to work with,they will allow you to make monthly payments. This is helpful when you end up with a hospital bill, physicians bill, radiology bill, lab bill... Sometimes all you can do is give everybody a little until you get the small bills paid off but BCMC doesn't care about.
Simple blood tests shouldn't take forever. Its the admitting part that needs an overhaul. I'll give ya a chance though. Just one.
It is sad to say that our hospital is not given it the CREDIT or RESPECT it is due. I have been in and out of BCMC.for 15 years. I was taken there while having my first heart attack. I was then and have been ever since treated with the best treatment possible. I have many other health issues and found myself one day being taken to Harton Hospital ( if you want to call it that ) a few months back because I was out of town when this spell happen and that was the worst place I have ever seen. I spent 7 hrs.in the ER and got no treamment at all. My wife had to set there and worry not knowing what was going to happen. I was released with no treatment because the night crew was coming to work and they did not want me there. I asked 11 times to be sent to BCMC or to Vandy and got no reply except if I got worse they would see what they could do. They done nothing to start with. They did try to get me to sign a AMA. because there had been no Dr.in to see me and they wanted it to look like it was my fault that I never got treatment. No hospital in perfect but,I can say with great respect and trust we have one of the best hospital and staff around. Oh one other small thing to say. I ended up at BCMC the same night after being put out of Harton ( Vet.) hospital and spent 3 days and was well taken care of. I know that if I have to go again and I know I will because of my health BCMC is where I can get treatment I need and if things happens to get worse I know that I will be sent by to Vandy. My wife gets the peace of mind knowing I am taken care of. Thanks to all of you at BCMC. and May God Bless you all.
I dont owe them anything . . . they haven't changed anything and I still hear complaints about their services. I even had a friend who went not so long ago and received horrible service in the emergency room.
I will still continue to go to Murfreesboro or Tullahoma before I go to this hospital.
The people of Bedford County Owe CHS and its new building with all of the used and or refurbished equipment nothing. As far as the 3 years of training. You can train any animal to respond when you have them at the end of a bull whip.
Of course the JACHO and the state inspection was good. Why write a standard infraction when your moving out of the old building.
"The community is behind us."
Yes that just the place that you need to be to apply shoe leather.