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I have been employed with BHC for 8 years. I have been part time for quite sometime, but have been working full time for months. I have been willing and wanting to change to full time status for many months now, but due to FTE`s this has not been possible. I think that it is unfair that I am getting less PDO`s as a full time employee due to my part time status especially since I am working full time and helping out my department to fill in. Is there anything that I can do regarding this? Or, is there exceptions for employees in this situation? Any info would be greatly appreciated regarding this issue! – September 8, 2009- We have attempted to reach you via the email address you provided and have not received a response. Would you please contact Steve Infinger, our Benefits Director, at 850-469-2195 so that he can get the specifics from you so that you question may be properly addressed.
- According to the information at the last employee forum, Baptist is financially stable. Why then are you discontinuing the WOW awards? – August 31, 2009
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On Monday, August 17, BHC leaders will be sharing with staff about an exciting new reward and recognition program we will launch as a our new system-wide program. The new program is designed to:
????? -Create a consistency among all BHC facilities
-Elevate the significance of the reward
-Control costs evenly & proportionately across the organization and departments
-Expand the program to include volunteers, students, temp and contract staff
-Be given on behalf of a customer (patient, visitor, and physician)
-Allow the ability to reward with gifts of greater value
-Provide an additional option available to thank employees for jobs well done
At the request of our senior leadership, the BHC Employee Loyalty Team has worked diligently for the last 9 months to create a fresh new face to our whole reward and recognition process. This new program is called the SSTARR program and was designed by employees, for employees and is modeled after Lakeview's reward and recognition program. The program includes an upgrade from our WOW awards to the new SSTARR Awards which will provide for a whole new way of recognizing our staff for winning acts of service and care. The new process will also provide for better program oversight to ensure good stewardship of the resources we have available for this purpose. Please see your leader for details about this exciting new program coming to your facility the week of August 17.
- How Can Baptist Health Care help me grow professionally? – July 10, 2009
- Baptist Health Care recently launched a new partnership with Pensacola Junior College (PJC) offering employees one-on-one career assessments and advice to help them achieve their career goals. Learn more by visiting: Inside Baptist, Education, Career Development.
In addition, Baptist Health Care encourages all staff to attend Voyages - an interactive, high-energy class serving as a great refresher for employees, but especially for new staff members who have reached their 90-day milestone with BHC. Visit LMS to enroll in a class. - Who can help me get started with my goals to grow my skills? – July 10, 2009
- Meet with your leader to learn about ways to develop new skills, improve your performance or explore other personal development opportunities. Work with their leader to develop an individual development plan that has actionable steps you can take to develop new knowledge, skills, and abilities.
- Does Baptist Health Care have any new projects planned to improve our facilities? – July 3, 2009
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Baptist Health Care has several projects under way across our system:
???????????? - Baptist Manor is updating the Rehabilitation area with flooring, wall treatments, televisions, painting, curtains, pictures and clocks.
- Atmore Community Hospital is replacing 96 windows and 18 doors, and installing a roll-up door for the ambulance entrance and covers for all exterior vents.
- Baptist Hospital Behavioral Medicine is expanding to add about 18 beds to the facility, segregating men’s and women’s sections and enhancing the care environment with calming colors and new furnishings. The estimated project cost of the Behavioral Medicine expansion is $1.65 million and is in response to meet the needs of our community. - Why was Baptist Health Care bond rating upgraded? – June 26, 2009
- Moody's Investor Services informed Baptist Health Care in late May that our new bond rating is Baa1 with a stable outlook. Moody's report cited the following BHC strengths:
- Consistent financial performance posted over the last five years; ability to maintain operating performance despite dealing with the after-effects of multiple hurricanes is a testament to the fundamental strength of the organization and its structural organization around its Pillars of Operational Excellence strategy.
- BHC's focus on customer satisfaction, which permeates the hospital from top management down to floor personnel, and whose results serve as a benchmark for other hospitals across the country, has made a competitive difference over the last several years in this market with two other hospital providers. - What does Moody's bond rating upgrade mean for Baptist Health Care? – June 26, 2009
- Moody's bond upgrade is evidence that the external community considers us to be a financially viable, stable organization. The upgrade also enables Baptist Health Care access to capital to support our strategic plans. Our new bond rating would not have been possible without the results produced by employee efforts to help us reduce expenses and improve net revenues. Everyone's continued efforts and good stewardship of our resources makes all the difference and will continue to do so as we face challenges going forward.
- Why did our bond rating drop last year? – June 26, 2009
- Baptist Health Care's bond rating was downgraded last summer as a result of the planned debt associated with the acquisition of West Florida Hospital. The Baa3 rating - the score prior to this recent adjustment - while still "investment grade," was substantially lower than the Baa1. Therefore, obtaining the new rating was a goal for our organization. Achieving this goal despite a weakened economy and period in which hospital downgrades far exceed upgrades is a major accomplishment.
- Since Baptist Health Care's bond rating was upgraded, does that mean we will purchase West Florida Hospital? – June 26, 2009
- While our new bond rating enhances Baptist Health Care's access to capital dollars, our intent is to improve and invest in our existing properties and facilities.
- There are so many stories going around, and CSU employees would like to know why CSU lost ten beds in April '09. Will CSU ever get those beds back, or is CSU planning to close soon? The rumor has it that CSU is closing this fall, after the new Baptist Behavioral Medicine Center is functioning at full capacity - is this true? – June 19, 2009
- No, it is not true that the Crisis Stabilization Unit (CSU) will close. The CSU is an important part of Lakeview Center's mission of helping people overcome life's challenges. The bed reduction reflects funding issues related to indigent care under the Baker Act. It also is in line with our recovery philosophy of providing community-based treatment alternatives to acute care hospitalization. The Community Recovery Team (CRT) was launched March 1, in part to help support the CSU bed reduction. The CRT provides around-the-clock services to high-risk clients within their natural environments. This evidence-based, recovery-oriented approach allows people with serious and persistent mental illnesses to remain independent in the community.
The CSU and the Behavioral Medicine Center have different roles, and therefore the expansion will not impact the number of CSU beds. At present, there are no plans to return the CSU to its previous 30 beds. - What's happening in cancer research? – May 8, 2009
- Cancer research is opening up two new studies lymphoma and breast cancer. Researchers also are creating an independent study that evaluates the quality of life for cancer patients who participate in yoga.
- My mother needs cataract surgery and I hear there's a new procedure? – May 8, 2009
- Baptist Medical Park Surgery Center - Nine Mile offers the latest cataract surgery technology to reduce recovery time and improve the safety and control of micro-incision cataract procedures. The BMP Surgery Center invested $158,000 in WHITESTAR Signature™ System, the latest phacoemulsification technology for cataract surgery and the first of its kind on the Gulf Coast. The new cataract removal system reduces complications and provides patients an enhanced surgical experience. For many patients, vision improves almost immediately after surgery, requiring no eye patches, injections, pain medication or hospital stay.
- How can Baptist Hospital employees who do not have computer access from work or home print pay stubs? – May 8, 2009
- We did an inventory of the computers around the Baptist Hospital campus. Most departments have computer access. There are also computers in the Bistro and in HR for those who do not have them in their departments. Another option for some employees is to use a computer at another location such as the public library, or at a friend or relative's home. If you're not sure how print your pay stub, come to HR and we would be happy to help you.
- What new services are being offered at Baptist Hospital? – April 28, 2009
- Baptist Hospital is the first and only hospital in the region to offer robotic minimally invasive mitral valve heart surgery. Since performing the first case in October 2007, Baptist has performed more than 200 robotic surgeries and is the first facility ever to offer three robotics surgical specialties within the first year. For more information, visit http://www.ebaptisthealthcare.org/RoboticSurgery.
- How is Baptist Manor doing? – April 28, 2009
- The Manor is having its most successful financial year in more than 10 years. The Manor is pointed in the right direction and hopes to further improve our bottom line over budget.
- Have we made recent capital investments? – April 10, 2009
- Baptist Health Care invested $2 million to purchase and install the Siemens 3 Tesla (3T) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system at Baptist Medical Park - Nine Mile. The region's only wide-bore 3T system, the MRI combines the latest technology with comfort and speed to benefit patients. Baptist Medical Park - Nine Mile MRI department had its best financial month in more than a year in March, completing 225 MRIs. In addition, Atmore Community Hospital and Jay Hospital have partnered to offer 1.5 MRI advanced diagnostic imaging technology.
- Have any physicians joined BHC lately? – April 10, 2009
- Several physicians have joined the medical staff including Drs. Wayne Mosely and William Strohmeyer, orthopedic hospitalist program; Jeff Friedman, bariatric surgeon; John Lohrbach, general surgeon; Keena Risola, neurologist; Dr. Sangosanya, cardiac electrophysiologist; Tom Messe, Jim Binkard, Jason Yost, Melissa Pocta, Reina Alexander, Hilary Hulstrand, Abby Hunt, primary care physicians; Joe Petroni and Scott Riley, ER physicians; Sean Wolfort, plastic surgeon; Michael Coyle, urogynecologist; and James Tylke, anesthesiologist. In addition, new orthopedic surgeons Barry Callahan, M.D., and Lonnie Paulos, M.D., and orthopaedic specialist Erik Nilssen, M.D., joined the Andrews Institute. These renowned physicians receive patient referrals throughout the Southeast.
- Why is Baptist Hospital flexing staffing up and down? – April 10, 2009
- To effectively manage expenses, flexing to meet lower patient volumes is especially important, especially during this economy. This economic reality is impacting patient volume at all health care providers across the U.S. Unfortunately, with the lower volumes, we need to down-staff more than we have in the past. We hope that, as the economy begins to recover, patient volumes will get closer to our historical levels. That said, to help offset the personal impact of down-staffing on employees, PDO is now being accrued based on the number of hours down-staffed. Employees still have the option of either using their PDO when down-staffed or taking the down-staffed time off without pay. Now, however, taking this time off without pay will not serve to reduce an employee's PDO accrual potential. Since January, every down-staffed hour (using the "down-staffed-no pay" pay code) will be eligible for PDO accrual just like PDO is accrued based on hours worked or PDO used. This important decision regarding the accrual of PDO hours when down-staffed has been in effect since January and an e-mail reminder was sent to leaders in March.
- I have heard several times from Upper Management that FamiliesFirst Network will be laying off Family Services Counselors, is this true? – April 9, 2009
- Fiscal projections for all community, social, and health care services are directly impacted by both state and federal revenue estimations. All Lakeview services (mental health, substance abuse, child protection) fall under those categories.
Each division of Lakeview has been working on strategies to address projected revenue decreases. With regard to Family Service Counselors, FFN's strategy prioritizes maintaining caseload ratios at or below industry standards. What that means is that reducing Family Service Counselors would fall very low on a long list of strategies to address possible cuts in funding. At this point, the extent of potential reductions is not known and we will not have sufficient information to work with until the legislature has finalized the state budget. - What's the current construction on the Baptist Hospital campus? – April 2, 2009
- Baptist's Behavioral Medicine Center at 1101 West Moreno St. is currently undergoing a $2 million construction project to increase patient beds from 52 to 78 for adult and adolescent patients. The project is on schedule for completion in August 2009. BHC is meeting this need for behavioral services, and we anticipate volume will cover the construction expenses within 18 months.
- I heard LifeFlight launched a new helicopter - where? – April 2, 2009
- LifeFlight has extended its services to south central Mississippi. LifeFlight 4 is based out of the Bobby Chain Airport in Hattiesburg, Miss., enhancing coverage and aircraft availability. The addition complements the LifeFlight fleet: LifeFlight 1, Pensacola, Fla.; LifeFlight 2 Mobile, Ala.; and LifeFlight 3 Evergreen, Ala.
- Is there a hiring freeze? – April 2, 2009
- No, and we do not anticipate one at this time due to our successful management of company resources and flexing based on patient volumes. In reality, Baptist Health Care is actively recruiting for 130 open positions that focus on direct patient care and client services. Lakeview Center also continues to have job opportunities in many areas and is interested in hiring well-qualified individuals. For a list of available jobs, visit Careers at eLakeviewCenter.org or eBaptistHealthCare.org.
- Are we getting raises? – April 2, 2009
- In spite of the large number of local employers who have chosen to freeze or reduce pay, BHC and Lakeview Center remain committed to investing in our work force. BHC will continue merit increases but in a reduced amount and with a 90-day delay beyond the employee's anniversary date. This information was communicated in a letter that was sent to all employees' homes in late January. On March 27, Lakeview Center notified staff that they will be receiving compensation adjustments effective April 12. Leaders at both entities felt that continuing merit increases was an important way of offering tangible reward and recognition for employee dedication and outstanding performance while meeting budgetary constraints during this economic decline. Both BHC and Lakeview's senior management groups opted to forego pay increases for 2009.