Winchester Hospital Celebrates Accomplishments of Past Year at 23rd Annual Meeting: Three Philanthropists of the Year Recognized for Spirit of Giving

Winchester, Mass. – More than 200 Winchester Hospital board members, corporators, physicians, hospital administrators and other supporters turned out for the 23rd annual meeting of Winchester Healthcare Management on Tuesday, Dec. 8 at Café Escadrille in Burlington. Paul Andrews, chairman of the Board of Directors, along with Winchester Healthcare Management President and CEO Dale Lodge and Winchester Hospital President and CEO Kevin Smith, reviewed hospital accomplishments and highlights from the past year.
 
The event also honored three recipients of the Eugene Joseph McCarthy Philanthropist of the Year Award, which recognizes donors who embody the spirit of giving. Ann Blackham of Winchester was selected as the Giving Circles recipient for her advocacy of the hospital and support of its many fundraising efforts. Blackham, whose late husband and two children were born at Winchester Hospital, has been a member of the hospital’s charitable Winton Club since 1985 and has served on the Winchester Hospital Foundation since its inception.
 
Salter HealthCare Services of Winchester was recognized as the Business Partner recipient for its charitable tradition dating back to 1956. Joseph B. Taylor, MD, who has practiced pulmonology and internal medicine at Winchester Hospital since 1984, was honored in the Physician category for donating a portion of his compensation back to the hospital in an effort to prevent layoffs which, indeed, never came to fruition.
 
In their joint report, Lodge and Smith called special attention to 10 top achievements by Winchester Hospital in 2009:
 
  • Winchester Hospital’s Board of Directors set an ambitious multi-year goal to eliminate preventable harm events by the end of 2011. Since this effort began one and a half years ago, preventable harm events (measured by fall with injury, surgical site infection, serious medication error, central line blood stream infection and ventilator-associated pneumonia) have been reduced from one in 6,000 patient encounters to one in 18,000 patient encounters.
  • Harvard Pilgrim Health Care (HPHC) awarded “Honor Roll with Distinction” status to the primary care physicians of the Highland Healthcare Associates Independent Physicians Association (IPA) for the high-quality care provided to both adult and pediatric patients. The IPA is one of just eight out of a total of 130 Local Care Units to achieve such outstanding performance in the 2009 review, and is the only physician group in the HPHC network to earn this level of recognition in each of the last three years.
  • Physicians ranked Winchester Hospital in the top 3 percent nationally when surveyed whether they would recommend the hospital to their family and friends.
  • Winchester Hospital was among the top 1 percent of hospitals nationwide to be recognized with the Premier Award for Quality for clinical excellence and efficiency of care.
  • Exemplary service to patients was demonstrated by patient satisfaction scores placing Winchester Hospital in the top 6 percent for inpatient and top 1 percent for outpatient when compared to other Massachusetts hospitals.
  • Winchester Hospital was named the No. 1 place to work in Massachusetts by Boston Business Journal for the second year in a row, and the No. 2 place to work in Massachusetts by The Boston Globe.
  • All jobs were preserved due to successful budget realignment.
  • Fifteen new physicians joined Winchester Hospital’s medical staff.
  • Winchester Healthcare Management experienced a five-year investment fund performance of 8.8 percent, exceeding the Dow Jones and NASDAQ benchmarks by 7.9 and 5.6 percent, respectively.
  • Winchester Healthcare Management earned an operating margin of 3 percent, or $8.28 million. Winchester Hospital earned an operating margin of 4 percent, or $10.21 million.
 
Andrews noted that the theme of this year’s annual meeting, “Connected by Community,” is particularly evident in Winchester Hospital’s Community Health Institute. Among its myriad of programs and services, he cited patient testimonials lauding the Outpatient Heart Failure Program, Home Blood Draw Program, Aging on Your Own Terms senior outreach program, Community and Hospital Asthma Management Program (CHAMP) and Osteoporosis Early Detection and Prevention Program.
 
“This is not the great American novel,” Andrews said, “but it is a great American story.”
 
Andrews led a round of applause for Dan Ahearn and his fellow investment trustees, Bob Willing and Paul Kaplan, who have served the hospital for more than 30 years. As chairman of the investment trustees, Ahearn provided a report detailing financial and economic realities that continue to warrant close monitoring. Despite the volatility of the national and global financial markets, however, Winchester Hospital’s endowment remains strong.
 
In additional reports, Winchester Hospital Foundation chair Deb McDonough reported that the sold-out One Shining Night Gala, which took place on Nov. 21 in Boston, raised more than $350,000 to benefit the Winchester Hospital Center for Cancer Care. A leadership appeal that was launched last spring to proactively address financial challenges has enjoyed 100 percent participation from Winchester Hospital and Winchester Hospital Foundation board members, senior management and directors, and members of the Medical Executive Committee. Additionally, nearly half of the hospital’s corporators have contributed.
 
Gloria Korta, MD, president of the medical staff, cited ongoing efforts to enhance physician communication through updates regarding key quality measures, health care reform initiatives, patient satisfaction, capital improvement projects and colleagues’ accomplishments at Winchester Hospital.
 
Andrews closed the evening by thanking the hospital’s leadership team for another fantastic year and the corporators for their unwavering support. He said, “I know that Winchester Hospital will continue to excel and achieve the highest level of performance.”
 
About Winchester Hospital
Winchester Hospital is the first community hospital in Massachusetts to earn Magnet recognition, the American Nurses Association’s highest honor for nursing excellence. As the northwest suburban Boston area’s leading provider of comprehensive health care services, the 229-bed facility provides care in general, bariatric and vascular surgery, orthopedics, pediatrics, cardiology, pulmonary medicine, oncology, gastroenterology, rehabilitation, radiation oncology, pain management, obstetrics/gynecology and a Level IIB Special Care Nursery. Winchester Hospital has clinical affiliations with several nationally recognized hospitals in the region, including Children’s Hospital Boston, Tufts Medical Center and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. To learn more, visit www.winchesterhospital.org.

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