Charles T. Frock Chief Executive Officer FirstHealth of the Carolinas

verall, Pinehurst resident Robert Iverson felt he had a “very good” experience during a recent Emergency Department visit at FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital. But he also had some concerns that he thought weren’t addressed in the patient satisfaction survey that he was asked to complete afterward.

Briefly, Mr. Iverson:

• Perceived that family physician/specialist communications needed to be improved before they could “function as (the) team effort (that) FirstHealth professes to provide”
• Sensed that his doctors sometimes did not have timely access to his computerized patient information
• Observed that his lab results seemed to be “woefully slow” in getting to his physician
• Felt that his hospital communications with his physician were sometimes “hurried to the point that I feel I haven’t really had time to feel that I have asked or received answers to my questions or fully understand the doctor’s diagnosis and recommendations”

Mr. Iverson conveyed these concerns in a July 30, 2006, letter to me, noting that he was sharing his observations about his experience to help us “improve care for future patients and families as well as current patients.”

We take the responses to our patient satisfaction surveys very seriously, especially those that point out weaknesses in the delivery of our patient care services. Although certainly frank, Mr. Iverson’s appraisals were, I thought, honestly felt and fairly communicated and—as are all patient concerns—deserving of follow-up.

That role went to Patient Advocate Lyn Doehler, who contacted Mr. Iverson, assuring him that timely response to patient concerns is a primary FirstHealth goal and advising him that his would be thoroughly reviewed and addressed.

A couple of months later, I received another letter from Mr. Iverson. Here is what he had to say:

“My letter to you dated July 30, 2006, was submitted to provide to you awareness of areas of concern to me, and I believe others, relative to patient care and handling. You, through your staff, promptly responded to me in search of better understanding of these concerns in order to define approaches for improvement. Lyn Doehler and your chief medical officer (George Bussey, M.D.) were very interested and obviously involved to resolve these concerns …Your organization has aggressively moved forward to improve these concerns. I sense major improvements with no negative impact on my doctor relationships. I recently have had appointments with my family doctor and with three of my many specialists. I didn’t feel rushed, and the visits were efficiently handled. The laptop computer program has much improved my confidence in doctor-to-doctor communication as well as physician knowledge of tests and results for the patient. I have not had a chance to evaluate timeliness of these communications; however, with the progress made, I would assume results are also available on a timely basis. I am pleased that your organization moved in very quickly to make improvements. My experience with the progress has been very positive.”

Thank you, Mr. Iverson, for both of your letters. I welcome your comments, good and not so good, and I appreciate your taking the time to acknowledge our sensitivity to them. Your letters and our response to them uphold the philosophy behind our 2020 Vision—Working Together, First in Quality, First in Health—and confirm the passion behind our core purpose—to care for people.

Enough said.