Seven years ago, Peter F. Bastone and his management team atMission Hospital were putting the finishing touches on plans fora $150 million, state-of-the-art critical care tower.
“We thought we had really touched all the bases,” Bastone, thehospital’s president and CEO, says. However, at the boardretreat at which Bastone and his crew presented their final recommendations, several physicians expressed their reservationswith the plan.
Their concern was that with the steady growth of the community that Mission Hospital served, expanding the hospital’sovertaxed emergency room should be its No. 1 priority. Afterall, what good is a brand-new critical care tower if patients arebeing diverted to other hospitals because Mission’s emergencyroom doesn’t have room for them?
The physicians had been involved in the planning process,but they were so focused on their own specialties that they didn’t see the big picture. The discussion at the board retreatsaved the organization from making a huge mistake.
“This thing almost had a bow on it,” Bastone says. “We wereready to send it up to the health system for their approval. We hadto go back to our architects and our master plan and our budgeting process after that board retreat. We had to pull it apart, and wehad to delay our tower until we expanded our ER.”
Soon after the board retreat, Bastone had to chair a ball duringwhich he fielded several questions about the organization’splanned expansion.
“I was embarrassed,” he says. “I’ve already spent millions of dollars on this project, but it won’t make any difference if people can’tget into the hospital.”
Bastone’s discomfort was only temporary, because although itcost a significant amount of money, disaster was averted, and theright decision was made.
Now, Bastone emphasizes communication among every area of the2,000-employee hospital, which posted net revenue of $334.5 million in 2007. Effective communication between departments canmake or break any organization. Here’s how to make sure it doesn’t break yours.
