Becker's Hospital Review

43 FINANCE CMO / CARE DELIVERY 6 patient experience leaders share their 2022 goals By Erica Carbajal and Jackie Drees F rom reviving the human experience for patients and care teams to increasing digital access, hospitals and health systems around the U.S. are continuing to elevate patient experience initiatives heading into the new year. Here, six leaders overseeing patient experience at hospitals and health systems across the country share their organization's goals for 2022. Editor's note: Responses have been edited for clarity and length. Rick Evans. Senior Vice President of Patient Services and Chief Experience Officer of New York City-based NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital: Our 2022 patient experience goals are focused on continu- ing to recover the human experience for our patients, families and teams, even as we continue to move through the pandemic, which has very significant impacts on our hospital and community. We will also focus on leveraging technology and other innovations to help us in- crease the ways we can meaningfully connect with those we serve and with each other. Finally, we will focus on ways to support our weary but amazingly dedicated colleagues and strengthen our culture of be- longing and respect. Aaron Davis. Chief Experience Officer at Lubbock, Texas-based UMC Health System: UMC will continue to improve the patient experience for our customers by addressing access through infra- structure and digital touchpoints. We will employ evidence-based practices while focusing on empathy and meaningful connections. For us, it starts with maintaining a culture where staff love coming to work, find fulfillment in serving others and deeply care for one anoth- er. We will address what the market demands: online listings, price transparency, access and high-quality care, all while emphasizing the human connection. Lisa Drumbore. Chief Patient Experience Officer and Vice President of Marketing and Communication at New Brunswick, N.J.-based St. Peter's Healthcare System: To say the past two years represent a true balancing act between ensuring outstanding patient experience and navigating the challenges of the pandemic is an understatement. Saint Peter's Healthcare System's goals for ever improving the patient experience are to continue creating "moments of truth" with patients and their family members. ese "moments" represent the opportuni- ty to humanize every interaction at every level of care. By fulfilling our mission, which is based on core human values, we continually explore ways to enhance our patient experience. is is more important than ever as we seek to exceed expectations going forward — particularly during the challenging moments we face in healthcare. Julie Moretz. Chief Experience Officer at Augusta (Ga.) University Medical Center: While we continue to focus on the patient experience, in 2021 we also turned our efforts to supporting our own caregivers in a different way. e pandemic continues to be difficult for our caregivers, and it is clear that their mindset and well-being affect patients. is is the same situation many hospitals across the country are also experiencing. While we set things in motion to support our healthcare team, we also used this time behind the scenes to strengthen our inter- nal data-reporting processes. Even though our team continues to pro- vide excellent care for each and every patient, our patient experience team recognized that front-line caregivers were simply trying to get through the day given their challenges. It has been difficult to ask front-line staff to do "one more thing," so we have been working in a different way now by identifying more ways to assist them. ey continue to review data and work toward process improvement using their new, established individualized scorecards. Darlene Stone. Senior Vice President and Chief Experience Offi- cer at Topeka, Kan.-based Stormont Vail Health: At Stormont Vail Health, our focus for patient experience is to be the first choice for healthcare services in our region by optimizing connection, coordina- tion and communication. is focus can be especially challenging due to the pandemic, but we are looking at our efforts through a different lens. is is critical in identifying ways we can provide outstanding care in a different way. Charleen Tachibana, DNP, MSN. Senior Vice President of Quality, Safety and Patient Experience, and Chief Nursing Officer At Seat- tle-based Virginia Mason Franciscan Health: Our patients are our top priority. As we look toward 2022, we hope to see more patients returning for the annual check-ups and screenings they put off due to the pandemic. To ensure patients are comfortable returning to the healthcare setting, we will work to continuously improve and implement our safety and quality protocols to keep patients, staff and the community safe. n Memorial Sloan Kettering paid $1.9M severance to former CMO By Ayla Ellison M emorial Sloan Kettering has paid a total of $1.9 million in severance to its former CMO, who resigned in 2018. José Baselga, MD, PhD, resigned from his roles as phy- sician-in-chief and CMO of Memorial Sloan Kettering in September 2018, shortly after an analysis by The New York Times and ProPublica revealed he failed to dis- close financial ties to healthcare companies in papers he authored. At the time, he said the lapses in disclosure were unintentional and that his industry work was known among the public. IRS filings show Memorial Sloan Kettering paid Dr. Baselga, who died in March 2021, nearly $300,000 in 2020. The cancer center paid him more than $1.5 million in severance in 2018 and 2019. Two other former executives received payouts in 2020, which were contractual obligations under employment agreements. Memorial Sloan Kettering's former senior vice president and CIO, who left the organization in December 2019, received nearly $695,000 in severance pay. The cancer center's former senior vice president and chief communi- cation officer, who departed in May 2019, received nearly $456,000 in severance pay in 2020. n

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