AHF's Benchmarking Express TM program is the performance measurement tool for every successful operator. The financial and productivity scorecard provided by the AHF Benchmarking process allow each operator to evaluate his or her facility in order to identify strengths and weaknesses. Strengths should be celebrated and shared. Identified weaknesses reveal operational inefficiencies that merit attention and data-driven process change efforts.
Operators who participate in the Benchmarking process have shared their success stories to highlight how Benchmarking has provided the tools and information they need to run well-managed operations. Financial comparisons are critical for the success of an operation and to know where your facility stands within the benchmarking percentiles.
Benchmarking allows operators to know:
- The cost to produce patient/non-patient meals
- Net Cost/Cost per patient day/Adjusted patient day
- Department productivity levels
- Cost of labor per patient day/adjusted patient day
- Patient day costs: Floor stock, catering, and free meals
Benchmarking is the only way for operators to know where improvement is needed, where weaknesses exist, and ways to strategize around meal plans, staffing, and subsidized costs, forecasting, and showing hospital administration where the facility stands in relation to other facilities. When the contractors knock on our doors, you can be confident in the data that you access immediately- and face the opposition confidently.
With over 480 facilities enrolled, and 170+ actively benchmarking, operators are able to compare themselves against similar size facilities, patient meal service types, and affiliations. These stats help provide operators with the tools needed to be able to tell a story to administration when potentially changing service levels, increasing or decreasing FTE’s, and when potential changes in stats take place, including when contractors come knocking at the door. There are hundreds of successful benchmarking stories out there. We would like to highlight the winner of the AHF 2019 Benchmarking Award of Excellence!
Spotlight:
- Operator: Mary Houston, Director of Nutrition
- Facility: Mercy Joplin Hospital, Joplin, MO.
- Beds: 240
Mercy Hospital became famous in 2011 for all the wrong reasons, when on May 22, 2011, an EF5 tornado tore through the town of Joplin, MO, a town of 52,000 people. The tornado ripped through the facility, destroying the entire building, and as the mile-long tornado ripped across the area, it created 2.8 billion in damages and killed 158 people. The building permanently closed, demolished, and was rebuilt and opened in 2015.
Mary Houston joined the team at Mercy in February of 2017. She worked at a facility prior to Mercy, where Benchmarking Express was used to its full extent. One of the first issues Mary had to deal with was a labor management company, who was contracted by the hospital administration, wanted to use Patient Days for the measures because the accountant that was from the labor company didn’t feel like meals were an appropriate measure because people reported it so differently and therefore, could not be a good measure. Using Patient Days would essentially wipe out any staffing for the cafeteria, as it would have eliminated 11 FTE’s. In Mary’s words, “I needed Benchmark for the meal definition to show how we compare when using the same input and that meals is a very appropriate measure. Those cafeteria meals account for 60% of our business”.
In addition to the potential elimination of FTE’s, Mercy implemented room service. Room service requires a strong FTE base, and without appropriate staffing, can prove to be difficult in getting hot meals to patients in a timely fashion.
Armed with the numbers from Benchmarking Express, Mary faced the labor-management challenges head-on, showing the numbers to administration with the story behind them, showing the numbers to the staff, keeping them involved along the way, and using the numbers to show supply costs, staffing levels and stats for cost of labor, and using the data to prepare the budget for 2019. Room Service was implemented, and overall patient satisfaction scores rose by 50%, and continue to be in the top 3 of Mercy hospitals for satisfaction. The goal is to be number one! Mary states: “The interesting thing is that we implemented that room service with the 5 less staffing level asked of us when I first came. We are below the 25th percentile: Our average is .12 labor hours per meal versus the 25th percentile of .14 meals per labor hour. I don’t have any problem getting replacement staff approved because we are so below the benchmark. I would not get that approval if I didn’t have my benchmark numbers. The proof is in the graphs that I am able to show my administrator. We are actually doing more with less and have better satisfaction. We had no construction costs or additional labor costs adding Room Service. The design was already completed when the new facility was built, and we were able to adjust our labor by process changes to implement Room Service. I am very proud of my team.”
Mary also shares: “The interesting part of this facility is that I am operating out of a new hospital because the original one was destroyed by a tornado. My department has been through so much with that disaster and yet they keep getting through the rough times. They are a group of grateful coworkers that could have very well lost their jobs in the tornado aftermath. The chaos of setting up temporarily, RV’s to cook in, tents, temporary building to moving into a new building could have crushed anyone. And yet, they are a grateful group and will do what needs to be done. This facility was designed for room service, but they didn’t have the resources to move into the new place and implement a new process! So, it was natural and much more efficient for Room Service. I am not sure I could have convinced Administration without my benchmark input!”
Benchmarking data gave Mary the tools needed to be successful in going against the labor-management company and keeping the staffing levels needed to have a top tier operation. This story is echoed throughout our organization. Every day, operators face many challenges that can jeopardize the integrity of the nutrition services department. Benchmarking Express is an easy way to access and compare your department against other departments, determine your percentile ranking, and create action plans based on the specific metrics you are trying to improve or even defend. Our competition is fierce, with their own set of benchmarking standards, which often have numbers hidden or that showcase metrics that do not apply to the operation, with the sole purpose of catching the attention of an administrator.
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Read the full article and more highlights from AHF's benchmarkers and how the program has helped them succeed in the most recent issue of S.O. Connected.