Employee FAQ
Employee Forum 2/4/20
Employee Q&A
Answers From: Clay Prince, MD, CMO
Q: What were some of the deciding factors in purchasing Seasons Medical? What were the benefits gained from this?
A: Our initial affiliation with Seasons was a five year deal, meant to be readdressed at the end of that contract. When we went through those scheduled negotiations last year, the physicians expressed a desire to be more closely aligned than in the previous arrangement, and there were advantages for us, too. So, those things led to the decision for us to purchase them outright.
There are many strategic advantages to this new arrangement. For example, we are now larger and better positioned to bargain with insurance companies, and to participate in value-based pricing contracts that will be coming. We are also more able to capitalize on our 340-B drug pricing status. We have always worked closely with Seasons physicians. So, we feel like the merger is a good fit.
Q: Any concerns with a new offsite facility coming in from another Hospital? (Old CalRanch building)
A: Not really. First of all, the rumor that there is another hospital coming imminently to Rexburg is false. Still, we know that, whatever else happens, we need to be positioned to compete well in the local market, whatever form that takes. We actually think fair competition is healthy, and we think we can compete. Remember, we’re pretty great, and the competition has to be concerned about us, too!
Q: What would it take for us to become a Level II Trauma center?
A: Lots of things. For example, we would need 24/7 Neurosurgery coverage. We don’t have any plans to take that leap in our emergency care, since we already have a great trauma center close by (EIRMC). We have focused on improving our care for common time sensitive emergencies, and have received certification and recognition for that in the past year.
Q: Who holds accountability over the MMH administrators?
A: Technically, since MMH is a government organization, MMH Administration is accountable to “We, The People.”
It works like this: Voters elect the Madison County Commissioners, who appoint local residents to the MMH Board of Trustees. This group hires the CEO, who reports directly to them. The rest of the administrators (including me) serve at the direction and pleasure of the CEO.
If you ever want to observe this in action, you are welcome, both as employees and as citizens, to attend the monthly Board Meetings. There, you will observe Rachel, and sometimes others, reporting the hospital’s progress to the Board. Your Director or Manager can also get you a copy of the current organizational leadership chart, if you’re interested.
Q: Can you explain how an hourly wage is decided upon for an employee and how often this is reconsidered as far as a min, mid, max or comparable national or local area pay scale?
A: Our pay scales are determined based on local and regional data for comparable positions, which we obtain and meld from a variety of sources, as well as local need and availability of employees with appropriate training, skill, and experience. We have conducted market surveys three of the past four years, to ensure that we remain competitive in a changing marketplace. The most recent market-based adjustments took place in the latter part of 2019.
We don’t use a lot of national data, as it isn’t particularly applicable in our marketplace.
Q: Will we ever have a need to increase our bed count?
A: We don’t anticipate major changes any time in the foreseeable future, and it isn’t part of our long-range plan.
This is because, even though our population is growing, and some of our beds may change purpose, the use of inpatient services in general is declining as more and more patients are cared for in other settings, such as rehab centers, nursing homes, surgical centers, infusion centers, etc. This is both a local and national trend, and we think it will continue for the foreseeable future.
We do anticipate that we will continue to see steady growth as an organization, but we don’t foresee most of that occurring in the inpatient realm.
Q: Can environmental service aides get paid more? (Its really hard trying to pay rent with just this one job. Several people in our department have to have 2 jobs to make ends meet. I also believe that it would save money in the long run because we would have less of a turnover rate if the pay was better.)
A: Thank you for the question. We hope that our wages, at every position, are competitive. We certainly strive to keep them that way. We don’t anticipate drastic wage changes, up or down, in any department, any time soon. We tend to take a “slow and steady” approach to wages, raises, and benefits. Turnover is an issue here, as it is with any organization, and we do our best to minimize it.
We want to keep all of our good employees, and we also hope to promote them. We encourage everyone to look for opportunities to “move up” through internal promotion. Is there an opportunity for more education? More training? Ask your manager or director about scholarships. We hope to help advance your careers in any way we can.
Q: We took over Seasons this past year. Will the same thing happen with Carriage Cove?
A: Carriage Cove is a joint-venture operation between MMH and private investors. There are currently no plans to change the ownership arrangement.
Q: How can we overcome the stigma of being just a small, ma-and-pa country hospital, compared with more sophisticated ones like EIRMC?
A: Don’t take this the wrong way, but from our perspective, we don’t want to be EIRMC, or anyone else. MMH has its own culture, and its own values, and there are lots of things to like about us precisely because we’re not like more “sophisticated” organizations. While we can certainly learn from organizations like EIRMC, they can learn from us, too, and they do.
As a physician who has practiced here more than 15 years, I really don’t view MMH as a “country hospital.” Not any more, anyway!
Having said that, we also simply don’t have the population base to support larger scale operations than those we are already engaged in.
Q: Why don’t we offer bariatric surgery?
A: We’ve never really explored that particular service line. There isn’t any rule that says we couldn’t. Many times, we haven’t considered certain service lines because we don’t have the required physician(s) to support them, nor any likely prospects.
As a rule, we try to base decisions regarding new service lines on those things the community needs most, and not necessarily just on what would be most profitable.
Q: What can I, as an employee, do to make this a better place for all of us?
Great question! In a word: Engage! Be the type of employee that you would want to work with.
We are convinced that employee engagement has much more to do with who you work with, than how much money you make, what kind of benefits you get, or any other single factor. We hope everyone comes to work with the vision to understand that we need every single employee’s best work to benefit the lives and health of our patients. That attitude is contagious, and it creates the teamwork, the sense of purpose, and the positive energy that makes MMH a great place to work!