Stephens Co. Hospital Administrator Looks Back at 2016

Stephens County Hospital Administrator Lynne Anderson says her first full year on the job at Stephens County has been great despite the challenges.

The first year administrator spoke with WNEG last week about the last 12 months.

Anderson said that she has enjoyed getting to know the hospital’s employees and the general community this year.

She said that despite some challenges, the hospital had a lot of accomplishments in 2016.

“We had our Joint Commission triennial survey this year, which is something the hospital does every three years, but we had that,” said Anderson. “We did well with it. A new accomplishment, we had our Total Joint Program certified by the Joint Commission and we are very proud of that. We do total hip surgeries and total knee surgeries right here in Stephens County Hospital. Those patients have a very short length of stay and those patients have done very well, so we were proud of that and really excited to have Joint Commission certify that program.”

Also in 2016, the hospital finished its Wilkinson Center expansion, added a number of new providers to its medical team, and filled some positions with new individuals.

That said, the hospital had a challenging year, especially financially, announcing in October that it estimated a loss in the millions for the last fiscal year.

Anderson said those challenges, centered around low volume and low reimbursements, are not unique to rural healthcare.

She said the hospital is facing that challenge head on.

“We are working really diligently with all of our managers, our providers, to do things differently,” said Anderson. “Where we can save dollars, we have active programs to try to do that. We are looking at ways we can try to improve our revenue and just trying to change the models that hospitals operate under so that we can succeed going forward with these financial challenges.”

Moving forward, Anderson said that the hospital will be looking at a number of other areas in 2017.

“We feel like we deliver excellent patient care now, but we want to keep that at the forefront of our mind, so we have certain patient safety goals that we work on in conjunction with the Georgia Hospital Association,” said Anderson. “We also are working on our customer service skills and we will be doing a fair amount of education to make sure not only do we deliver good patient care and quality outcomes, but that we also have good customer service skills.”

Anderson said the hospital also wants to work on promoting the Hospital Foundation in 2017 as a way people can help the hospital.

Overall, she said she appreciates everyone for welcoming her and supporting her in this first year.

Anderson said she is confident the hospital can do some great things moving forward.