Piedmont Fayette Hospital, located in Fayetteville, Georgia, has seen tremendous growth since its opening in 1997. For the past thirteen years, the hospital has grown from 100 beds to 143 and has filed with the state to get an additional 14 beds.
The hospital has been focused on meeting the needs of its rapidly growing community, adding multiple services, and is now moving toward improving efficiency.
Piedmont Fayette Hospital is a not-for-profit community hospital and is part of a larger Piedmont Healthcare system of four hospitals. Since 1997, the hospital has added a cath lab and obstetrical services, as well as obtaining a daVinci robot. The hospital also began offering an interventional cardiac program. All of these services were previously not available in the community.
Most recently, in 2010, the hospital opened a cancer center with the first linear accelerator in the county. The cancer center was a major initiative for the hospital, and took a patient-centered approach with a goal of treating the patient's whole experience in dealing with the disease, while still providing state-of-the-art care. The cancer center includes a wellness component that offers nutrition classes, cooking demonstrations, yoga, a library and support programs for the community.
With the fast growth Piedmont Fayette has experienced, the hospital is now working to improve on efficiency.
Burnett said the hospital has also teamed up with Medassets to evaluate supply chain management, which is also seeing improvement.
Another aspect to efficiency is technology. Piedmont Fayette has fully implemented CPOE and electronic charting. The hospital is evaluating how to invest in a fully integrated system to be more connected with physicians and the organization.
"We are looking at ways to integrate electronically with employed and non-employed physicians, primary care physicians and specialists, as well as with our sister facilities," Burnett said.
In light of growth and healthcare reform, Piedmont Fayette is facing a changing environment with physicians and trying to find the best relationship.
This is a common challenge in many hospitals, and Piedmont Fayette is working through challenges in physician relationships, all within the scope of healthcare reform. Employment models have worked in some areas of the hospital.
He also cautions that what works for one specialty may not necessarily apply to another. The hospital always works to stay transparent, looking at these decisions with physicians and working on things as a team. Burnett also said that the hospital has seen more requests for employment from physicians, developing those models will be an ongoing opportunity and challenge for the hospital.