Greenwich Hospital Fiscal Year 2007 Highlights*

Greenwich Hospital experienced dramatic growth on all fronts this year, with a record-number of Connecticut and New York residents turning to the hospital for high-quality care. Among the highlights:

Strategic Plan
Greenwich Hospital adopted a new vision statement and strategic plan to reflect the institution’s transformation into a regional medical facility with a broader service area. The revised strategic plan includes working collaboratively with physicians; managing growth in hospital departments, such as the emergency department and operating rooms; building new capacity to accommodate growth; and maintaining high patient satisfaction levels while remaining fiscally solvent.

Medical Staff
Forty-six physicians joined the medical staff (15 primary care and 31 specialty physicians). The number of hospitalists was expanded to eight and a hospitalist rotation was added.

Patient Satisfaction
A nationally recognized leader in service excellence, Greenwich Hospital remained in the top two-percent in patient satisfaction among similarly sized hospitals nationwide, reported Press, Ganey Associates, the nation’s leader in patient satisfaction measurement.

Patient Volume
Inpatient admissions reached 12,779 for a tenth year of growth. Outpatient volume increased to 419,387 visits, while the Emergency Department handled about 39,000 visits. New Yorkers accounted for 39 percent of all hospital admissions.

Satellite Facilities
Greenwich Hospital extended its reach beyond the main campus with the opening of two new satellite facilities in New York and Connecticut. The Greenwich Hospital Center for Integrative Medicine at 35 River Road in Cos Cob combines conventional medicine with research-based complementary therapies. An office complex at 900 King Street in Rye Brook, NY, houses a number of administrative departments, some formerly located at 55 Holly Hill Lane in Greenwich. The relocation paves the way for creating an ambulatory surgery center at Holly Hill Lane in 2008, pending approval by the Connecticut Office of Healthcare Access.

The Healthy Living Center was renamed the Richard R. Pivirotto Center for Healthy Living in honor of the longtime healthcare advocate. Pivirotto, a hospital board member for three decades, was instrumental in transforming Greenwich Hospital into a regional healthcare facility.

Clinical Initiatives
The state approved certificates of need for a second linear accelerator to enhance cancer care services and a joint venture with physicians to open an Endoscopy Center.

In the area of radiology, a special procedures laboratory was constructed and a certificate of need was approved by the state for an imaging system to ensure patients have timely access to care.

To meet increased demand, the Emergency Department expanded its “fast-track” program for patients with non-urgent medical needs. The department opened a four-bed behavioral health unit (which can also serve as a disaster unit) and a four-bed chest pain observation unit.

The hospital began offering four-dimensional ultrasound that enables physicians to detect problems earlier in pregnancy and allows patients to see features of their babies in the womb.

The Pediatric Specialty Center expanded to include specialists in endocrinology, child development, gastroenterology, diabetes, cardiac, pulmonary, metabolic, orthopedics and neurology.

The hospital submitted a certificate of need for an Ambulatory Surgery Center as a joint venture with physicians.

Yale New-Haven Health System
Greenwich Hospital continued participating in Yale New Haven Health System initiatives that focused on patient safety, best practices and clinical quality.

Community Outreach
Thousands of Connecticut and New York residents took part in wellness programs, health fairs, screenings, lectures and other programs offered by Greenwich Health at Greenwich Hospital. Popular community events such as the Teddy Bear Clinic, programs offered by Families for Greenwich Hospital and lectures sponsored by the Women’s Health Advisory Board drew residents from Greenwich and beyond.

Recognition
For a second consecutive year, Greenwich Hospital earned the prestigious Summit Award for providing patients with an exceptional hospital experience. Greenwich Hospital’s patient satisfaction scores have consistently ranked in the top two-percent nationwide for seven years.

Greenwich Hospital is prominently featured in Masterpieces in Health Care Leadership: Cases and Analysis for Best Practices (Jones and Bartlett, 2007). The book describes how successful healthcare leaders nationwide engage their staff to achieve extraordinary results.

The American Geriatrics Society’s first “Excellence in Geriatrics” award went to Greenwich Hospital for its wide range of programs for older adults and their families.

The Center for Healthy Living received the Healthy Heart Award from the Sister to Sister—Everyone Has a Heart Foundation for its commitment to heart disease prevention.

The hospital won the “Silver Connecticut Quality Improvement Award Partnership Innovation Prize” for a second time for improving pneumococcal and influenza rate for patients with congestive heart failure and pneumonia.

For a seventh year, Greenwich Hospital was named in the “Top 100 Most Wired Hospitals” by Hospitals and Health Networks for its modern information systems.