P+F has served hundreds of hospitals and healthcare organizations interested in family-centered maternity and women's healthcare programs.

An In-Depth Look at Three Hospitals

1. Moses Taylor Hospital, Scranton, PA

Written by Beth Lavely, Director of Women's and Children's Services at Moses Taylor Hospital
http://www.mth.org/Obgyn.html

Moses Tyalor Hospital (MTH) is a 225+ bed hospital located in Scranton, Pennsylvania. It is one of three hospitals serving the community. All are within 1 sqare mile of each other. Moses Taylor and its two competitor hospitals have been operating since the late 1800's.

In the mid-1990's MTH begn to notice that their position for negotiating contracts with their payors was weaker than that of their competitors. This less favorable position resulted in a lower rate of reimbursement. During the planning process senior leadership realized that adding a Women's and Children's service line could dramatically change the MTH position in the marketplace. They contacted Phillips+Fenwick after doing extensive research with consulting firms. After several site visits to witness some Phillips+Fenwick previous clients, their decision was made.

The decision to begin the project was made late in 1999. Phillips+Fenwick provided on-site support for architectural, operational, and project management. The senior leadership of MTH felt that the addition of just another women's and children's service line would be counterproductive; their vision was a service that could be a center of excellence, one that would raise the bar in the community for family centered care.

Construction began 12/99. The Family Birthing Suites at Moses Taylor Hospital opened for business a mere 6 months after work had begun. Original projections were for 600+ births per year. We met and started to exceed our projections literally within months of opening. We started in 1999 with 30% market share. Today we are the market leader for births in the entire Northeast Pennsylvania area, and capture 85% of market share in the community and have 2000+ births per year. We have consistently been in the top 5% for patient satisfaction and have held the top 1% patient satisfaction in the country for varied periods of time. Staff turnover is less than 2%. We renovated our facility in 2005 to accomodate the rising volume of births, and opened a new 15 bed level 3A neonatal intensive care unit comprised of single rooms, along with an additional 18,000 square feet for a brand new mom baby unit. In addition, we renovated the Labor and Delivery area by adding some additional space to add triage and 5 additional LDRs.

We have created a center for excellence for family centered maternity care in Northeast Pennsylvania. We are 1 of 13 Lamaze approved provider sites, 1 of 2 baby friendly intent units in Pennsylvania, and consistently are a revenue producer for our organization. Our physicians say that coming to Moses Taylor Hospital is the best decision they ever made.

2. Good Samaritan Hospital, Lebanon, PA

Written by Karen Geiser, Administrative Director of Nursing, Good Samaritan Hospital
http://www.gshleb.org/maternity.cfm?id=354

In 1998, The Good Samaritan Hospital contracted with Phillips+Fenwick to assist in developing a Family-Centered Maternity Care service. Plans were already underway to move the OB service from its location 4 blocks from the main hospital to a newly renovated space at the main campus. A single room maternity care unit was being built in the new space, but the hospital realized that the service needed more than just physical changes. The OB service had been functioning in a traditional setting with fragmented non-patient focused care.

Beth Hamilton of Phillips+Fenwick moderated focus goups with women in the community to get feedback. Celeste Phillips proposed to educate our staff about family centered care, mother-baby nursing, labor management, childbirth educator certification and team building. She and her team of consultants came to our hospital over a period of 6-7 months to work with the nursing staff, physicians and administration.

Our new unit opened in December 1998. We saw pateint, nursing and physician satisfaction drastically improve. Staff and physicians felt well prepared to deliver care using a family centered care philosophy. We are in a rural area where opportunities for market share are limited, however, our volumes have remained relatively stable.

3. Southeast Alabama Medical Center , Dothan, AL

Written by Belinda Miller, Director Women's Center, Southeast Alabama Medical Center
http://www.samc.org

Phillips+Fenwick were contacted to assess our community needs in developing a Women's Center. They were then under contract to see us through the development, construction, training and implementation phases of the project. The assessment began several years before I assumed Director position of the Women's Center.

We opened April 8, 2003. Goals of our project were assessing needs, formulating a Women's Center plan to meet the health care needs of all women in our community and region. The Southeast Alabama Medical Center's Women's Center is the only comprehensive women's center within a 75 mile radius. Patient satisfaction continues to be 95-98%, clinical and medical satisfaction is now maintained consistently. As with all changes and new proceses, there are growing pains. Staff and physicians must become accustomed to new processes in order for buy-in and support to take place. Volume growth was 14% the first year, 3% second year, 8% third year. We continue to grow and are now in planning phase for expansion in our Family Birth Center. Women's Imaging Services has also seen phenomenal growth as has our Lactation Center, Prostheses Services, Boutique sales, etc.

We continue to market in our region, promote our Spirit of Women health education programming, provide a dedicated women's magazine and collaborative material, host an annual women's center birthday family-centered celebration, host of national Women's Health events during May, partner for community events, involved on a state level with the Office of Women's Health, host site visits and phone calls from interested parties throughout the nation. A significant note is that women's services has been integrated into other major service lines (cancer, cardiac, orthopedic) . The list goes on and on of our accomplishments since opening the Women's Center. It has become a flagstone for the Medical Center.