Progress West HealthCare Center Community Benefit Report 2008
 Community Benefit
Our Beginnings
Key Partnerships
Honors & Awards
Bringing Physicians to the Community
Access for the Uninsured/Underinsured
Smoke-Free Campus
Facts & Figures
Economic Impact
A Personal Touch
Community Benefit to O'Fallon and Beyond
In 2008, Progress West HealthCare Center hosted or participated in more than 70 events and educational opportunities for the community contributing $92,160 to enhance areas served.
Charity Care -- BJC HealthCare hospitals and service organizations care for all patients, regardless of their ability to pay. Progress West HealthCare Center provided more than $932,000 in charity care to patients who were unable to pay.
Community Education -- The community was invited to educational opportunities provided by local physicians, dietitians and other health experts. Topics included:
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Healthy eating 
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Arthritis
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Osteoporosis
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Preventing falls
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Back pain
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Prescription management
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Weight loss
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Medicare
Programs included:
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Keys to Weight Loss Success
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Fun, Fitness and Arthritis
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Set the Tone for Healthy Bones
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Taming Tummy Troubles
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Back Pain Through the Ages: Adolescence, Adulthood and the Golden Years
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Saying Goodbye to Your Chronic Cough
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Creating a Healthier Family
Screenings and Health Fairs -- Progress West HealthCare Center hosted or participated in more than 20 health screenings and health fairs, providing screening results to participants. Screenings included:
Health professionals recommended an action plan for individuals based on screening results.
Learn more about Progress West's upcoming programs.
Offering "Better Living" to Local Women -- Progress West hosted its first large-scale women's event April 11, 2008. "Better Living: Head-to- Toe Health Care for Today's Woman" attracted 47 women from southern St. Charles County and introduced them to the physicians and services Progress West offers.
 Women took advantage of health screenings including:
Breakout sessions included:
Keynote speaker Jan DeMasters, PhD, presented "Five Keys to Turning Information into Personal Power."
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Our Beginnings
The February 20, 2007, opening of Progress West HealthCare Center means a new access point for quality health care in southern St. Charles County and a new era in health care delivery.
For years, advances have been made to the science of medicine but relatively few changes have occurred to the operational aspect of health care. Standard procedures for patient care have been in place for decades and essentially dictate what happens to patients.
Steve Lipstein, president and CEO of BJC HealthCare, supports new standards of operations. Realizing that science and technology alone cannot advance the patient experience, Lipstein supports creating an environment for radically improving the patient experience by putting the patient more in control of what happens when entering a hospital.
By thoroughly explaining to patients what will be happening to them, Progress West lessens the anxiety that frequently accompanies a hospital visit and interferes with healing.
"I tell our team I want two things: the utmost safety and satisfaction for each of our patients. They need to feel their experience here is exceptional," says John Antes, president, Progress West HealthCare Center.
Conveniently located near the intersection of I-64/40 and Highway K in O'Fallon, Missouri, Progress West HealthCare Center is BJC HealthCare's 13th hospital and the first acute care hospital in southern St. Charles County.
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Key Partnerships
St. Louis Children's Hospital
Progress West HealthCare Center partners with St. Louis Children's Hospital in providing pediatric physicians in its Emergency Department, inpatient department and on-call support from newborn specialists. All three areas are supported by our pediatric-trained, experienced nurses.
With four inpatient beds, admissions can be one night or longer if the child needs extended treatment. Children requiring specialized care for cancer, blood diseases or other complex conditions are referred to St. Louis Children's Hospital.
 The St. Louis Children's Hospital community events team routinely brings their expertise to the Hospital campus providing activities including:
With inpatient services and community events for pediatric patients, Progress West is better able to meet the needs of area families, promoting a child-focused, family-centered approach.
Consumer Health Information Resource Center
 Progress West HealthCare Center and Barnes-Jewish St. Peters Hospital team up with the St. Charles City-County Library District to provide a unique resource for St. Charles County residents. The Middendorf-Kredell Library Branch, on Highway K in O'Fallon, Missouri, is home to a resource center that helps consumers make informed choices about their care.
The Consumer Health Information section includes materials and electronic resources on health-related issues and dedicated library staff.
BJC HealthCare is where learning and innovation come together for better health and better health care. As members of BJC HealthCare, both Progress West HealthCare Center and Barnes-Jewish St. Peters Hospital recognize the importance and responsibility of our hospitals to provide consumers with accurate, timely health care information. Both hospitals provide funding, expertise and programming. Each month, the hospitals host health lectures or screenings along with an "Ask the Doctor" program, bringing medical experts to the community.
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Honors & Awards
Progress West is named a Professional Research Consultants (PRC) Top Performer Hospital for Patient Perception for the second consecutive year. The PRC overall Top Performer Award is given annually to a health care provider scoring at or above the 100th percentile in Overall Quality of Care. Progress West departments receiving the Top Performer Award for the second time were the Emergency Department, inpatient, outpatient and outpatient GI/endoscopy. This is the first time one hospital won the three top awards for inpatient, outpatient and emergency services in back-to-back years.
Progress West also received six "5 Star" Awards for the second year by scoring in the top 90th percentile with a rating of "Excellent" for Overall Quality of Care in emergency, inpatient, outpatient, outpatient surgery, outpatient radiology and outpatient GI/endoscopy.
"Our vision of providing a unique patient experience -- combining compassionate care, advanced technology, and a healing environment -- is paying off in patient satisfaction scores that are tops in the nation," says John Antes, president. "It's an honor to be recognized for this achievement. Our teams have worked hard to provide the best possible experience for our patients."
PRC conducts Patient Perception research and obtains opinions of patients at Progress West. Confidential interviews assess patients' perceptions of their care. Findings are presented to the Hospital to use in continuous improvement and enhancement of patient satisfaction.
Progress West's rankings are reflective of how it scored among 300 geographically diverse national health care facilities, including Mayo Clinic Hospitals, Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville, and Parkland Health & Hospital System in Dallas.
In March 2009 the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Health Care Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) released Progress West data on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services web site for the first time. At 85 percent, Progress West HealthCare Center is the highest ranking hospital in the metro area for patient's willingness to recommend to family and friends.
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Bringing Physicians to the Community
Progress West HealthCare Center provides a physician referral line, 636.344.CARE (2273), to help area residents find a physician who meets their insurance needs, area of specialty preferences and geographic location requirements. Doctors listed in the referral directory are active on the medical staff of BJC HealthCare hospitals. These doctors make no payment to be in the referral directory, and the selection is based on the needs and desires of each caller. Progress West has made the commitment to bring more primary and specialty care physicians to southern St. Charles County. Our first expansion is a medical office building so St. Charles County consumers are not compelled to drive to St. Louis County for care.
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Access for the Uninsured/Underinsured
Progress West HealthCare Center is committed to providing the community with high-quality patient care and services. Financial representatives are available if a patient needs help paying a bill. All information is confidential, and we pledge to treat you with dignity and respect. If you do not have insurance coverage, we automatically discount your hospital bill with additional discounts available for paying in full.
Depending on the situation, a patient also may qualify for financial assistance including:
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Helping you apply for Medicaid
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Determining your eligibility for free health care services
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Determining eligibility for a reduction in the amount you owe for some services
Every year BJC HealthCare provides more than $100 million in free care for uninsured patients, more than any other hospital or health system in Missouri.
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Smoke-Free Campus
Progress West HealthCare Center joins other Missouri hospitals and serves as a role model for area St. Louis hospitals in implementing a smoke-free campus. Our entire campus -- including buildings, parking lots, green spaces and walkways -- is smoke- and tobacco-free, which supports the Hospital's mission of improving the health of the communities we serve.
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Facts & Figures for 2008
Beds in operation
Surgeries
Inpatient
Outpatient
Total
Admissions
Emergency Department visits
Births
Physicians on staff
Employees
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40
499
1,334
1,833
2,431
17,100
498
463
316
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Economic Impact
Progress West HealthCare Center is the seventh largest employer in O'Fallon, Missouri, and serves a vital role in community leadership and the economic development of area neighborhoods and the St. Charles County region.
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A Personal Touch
 Progress West HealthCare Center helps two sisters in their journeys to health.
Maintaining good health is very important to Bernadette Travers and her sister, Dorothy Goggio. They have become regular attendees of Progress West HealthCare Center lectures and events. Both Dorothy and Bernadette live close to the Hospital and appreciate the services and community events offered there. "We aren't able to get together too often, so the classes are a great opportunity for that," says Dorothy. "Not to mention the valuable information we've learned."
Bernadette appreciates the importance of prevention for her health. "The classes and talks have given me the opportunity to learn more about current trends and information in health care and they've helped me to take action to prevent serious health issues that could come up later." Most importantly, Bernadette appreciates getting to know her physicians more personally by attending their lectures. "It's nice to learn their background and not feel like strangers," says Bernadette. "It makes me feel more comfortable with my doctors."
Because of the information Dorothy learned by attending various classes and lectures, she found herself as a patient at Progress West. "I had a flair-up of indigestion that lasted about a week. I was not in any condition to travel to my regular doctor but I knew about Marc Bernstein, MD, gastroenterologist, at Progress West." Dorothy received an endoscopic exam and treatment for her pain. "I enjoyed my stay at the Hospital and was grateful to be close to home."
Like her sister, Bernadette has gained helpful health knowledge at PWHC community events. "The women's health fair (Better Living: Head-to-Toe Health Care for Today's Women -- April 11, 2008) is by far my favorite one. I've attended women's fairs through other facilities and I just felt more comfortable at this one. I really liked talking to the doctors one-on-one and listening to the lectures they gave. I think this health fair goes above and beyond and I look forward to it."
Bernadette and Dorothy say they will continue to attend and are excited for new speakers and topics in the future. "Good health will always be a priority for me and I am grateful to the individuals who make this happen," says Bernadette.
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