02/15/2008

Joe Scott: Our commitment to the community

BY JOE SCOTT

Generations of people from Hudson County and all of New Jersey have come to depend on the hospitals of LibertyHealth System for their health care needs. Hundreds of thousands of people have been born in our hospitals. Thousands of patients rely on us each year to treat them with expertise and compassion.

It is our legacy and it is LibertyHealth's continuing responsibility.

I have always firmly believed that no matter what position I held in a health care organization, I could make a difference in the lives of the patients that we serve.

It will be my job as president and chief executive officer to build on our legacy, to make our hospitals among the very best in improving the health of everyone who comes through our doors.

My plan is to focus our attention on four areas that are critical in judging any hospital's performance - safety, quality, patient satisfaction and financial stability. We are good now; we will be even better. In fact, our goal is to be a world class health care system.

First, we must provide the safest possible environment for our patients, involving every employee in a commitment to patient safety. It is not enough to say it. Everything we do will be measured for effectiveness and precision so that our culture is one of fierce attention to medical detail.

Next will be our commitment to quality. Our hospitals will achieve the highest marks on the core quality measurements on which a hospital is judged. As an example, that means that the time between a patient being rushed in with a heart attack and that patient receiving balloon angioplasty to open cardiac arteries has to be less than 90 minutes. The sooner that procedure is done, the better the result for the patient.

Our commitment to our patient experience is now high and will be even better. With our focus on becoming a world class system, we are striving to reach the top 10 percent in patient satisfaction. We will reach this goal by ensuring the highest level of physician and employee satisfaction. Our belief is that physician and employee satisfaction leads to the highest level of patient satisfaction.

Fourth, we must continue to focus on the financial health of our organization. This is a problem facing many hospitals today, especially those urban community hospitals like ours who gladly treat those who may not be able to pay. Since we began implementing the recommendations of our financial consultants, Wellspring Partners, great progress has been made in guaranteeing the continued financial health of our hospitals.

Maintaining financial stability is essential if we are to continue to meet and exceed the health care expectations of our community.

I deeply appreciate the support I have been given in this new position. The physicians, nurses, technicians and all employees of LibertyHealth are as dedicated as any medical team I have ever seen. The LibertyHealth board's commitment is outstanding, with each and every one of them stepping up to the plate whenever it was necessary, putting in the kind of time and commitment that built our tradition of excellence in the first place.

I look forward to the opportunity to serve as president and CEO and will give the system and my new community my very best. JOE SCOTT is president and CEO of LibertyHealth System, which includes Jersey City Medical Center and Meadowlands Hospital Medical Center. Most recently, he had been CEO of Broward General Medical Center and Chris Evert Children's Hospital in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

© 2008 The Jersey Journal

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