January 25, 2016

Happy New Year! 2016 marks an exciting time for all of us as we set new goals and seize new opportunities on our journey to make TriHealth a great place for team members to work, for physicians to practice, and for our patients to receive care.

Before we look too far ahead though, I want to, once again, recognize and celebrate the remarkable leadership of John Prout, and the incomparable legacy he leaves behind – both personally and professionally. John’s leadership and contributions will be greatly missed, but certainly not forgotten! We look forward to honoring him and his nearly two decades of exceptional service and career achievements over the next few weeks. Look for special tributes to John on LinkNet, and plan to join us on February 5th at our Oak Street facility for a retirement reception in his honor (specific details about time and location will be provided within the next few days).

Making TriHealth a Great Place to Work

An important part of our vision at TriHealth is to be a place where team members want to work and physicians want to practice. In 2016, we will be intensifying our efforts to make TriHealth a great place to work for all. Helping us do that will be the results of our 2015 Team Member and Physician Engagement Surveys. Thank you to those who took the time to participate in these important surveys. Your feedback will help us better understand what we are doing well, and what we can do better to create a workplace that consistently fosters pride, engagement, excellence, recognition, respect and enthusiasm for our work, our leadership team, our contributions and our future. We are currently evaluating the results of both surveys, and you’ll be hearing more about the key findings and next steps in the coming weeks.

Adapting to the Changing Health Care Environment

January marks the mid-year point of TriHealth’s 2016 Fiscal Year and we are beginning to experience the effects of health care reform. Due to a number of new realities, including a decline in regional inpatient use rates and lower than historic payment rates, we’re lagging our financial targets, though we remain a strong and financially healthy system. 

To remain strong, however, we have begun to make adjustments in our cost structure and revenue streams to help ensure we achieve our Fiscal Year 2016 Operating Plan. As part of this effort, our Management Team is in the process of developing a "Funding Our Future" financial improvement plan that will include specific cost reduction and revenue improvement measures to be put in place across the system. Our unwavering commitment throughout this effort is to preserve excellence in patient care quality, safety and satisfaction. 

Over the next few weeks, we will be finalizing the improvement plan and your leadership teams will be sharing with you ways in which your department can support this work. I want to thank you, in advance, for your support of these efforts. Given the changes and new challenges occurring in our industry, it’s more important than ever that we all work together to continually seek out ways to operate as efficiently as possible. This will enable us to remain financially healthy, while we continue to invest in, and secure, our exciting future.

Mark Your Calendars – Next Series of Team Member Forums Scheduled for March

I am happy to announce that Gail Donovan, our new COO and I will be conducting the next series of Team Member Forums with you in March. Once again, Forums will be held at all of our major TriHealth campuses and facilities, and both Gail and I look forward to meeting even more of you in person! We will be sharing our new Strategic Plan, as well as the results of our recent Team Member Engagement Survey. A schedule of the March Forum dates, times and locations will be finalized and published on LinkNet soon. 

Thank you for all you do for TriHealth, and all those we serve. Have a great week, and stay warm!