TRMC gets J.D. Power award

A skeptic might classify one occurrence as luck and chalk up a consecutive happening to circumstance, but even the most cynical critic would be hard-pressed to pick nits with Thibodaux Regional Medical Center’s most recent accomplishment.

TRMC received the J.D. Power and Associates Distinguished Hospital award in inpatient service excellence for the third straight year and complemented it with the same award in outpatient excellence for the second year in a row.

The hospital has five of the awards, directed by customer surveys, in its trophy case. No other Louisiana hospital has one. “Thibodaux’s performance is the best I’ve ever seen,” said John Clark, a director in J.D. Power’s healthcare division.

TRMC CEO Greg Stock said the award signifies the trust patients have in the hospital, an important facet of the healthcare business.

“[The award] means for those who understand that part of marketing and developing, it means loyal customers and in this case, loyal patients,” Stock said. “You don’t get the loyalty unless you perform at the very top.”

Stock said his business has an abundance of leadership and that his leaders abide by a philosophy the chief officer described as the “ring of consciousness.”

“If you’re a leader, with the things that you know intuitively and in an emotional and intelligent sense, you sense when it isn’t right and you’re going to bring it back,” Stock said. “You’re going to step up and lead.

“Just like on a ball team, the more leaders you have, the more that have that sense and the more who are willing to stand up and really represent the best of what you are, the better chance you have then to perform at a high level consistently.”

In terms of patient service, TRMC has compiled an impressively consistent track record the past three years, winning five J.D. Power awards out of six in inpatient and outpatient service.

“To me, that separates the real winners, I guess, the top performers versus the ones you’re not sure if they were lucky or they just happened to do the right things for a while, they didn’t have the staying power, they weren’t really on the top of their game and all that, those two are separated when you’re there every year,” Stock said.

J.D. Power surveyed 300 patients from hospitals in both categories, and also in cardiovascular, maternity and emergency department, aggregated the data and recognized the centers in top 20th percentile of a category as distinguished hospitals.

Clark said the survey’s depth revealed that “almost 80 percent of patients that come through this hospital go on to talk to friends and family and make positive recommendations to, on average, eight people.”

“This is a 20-minute telephone interview with a lot of probing and a lot of discovery around all facets of the patient experience, and that’s why we’re able to measure the emotional dimensions as well as some of the clinical dimensions and get a real comprehensive picture of the experience,” Clark said.

Clark, who was on hand to present the award from Troy, Mich., said TRMC’s emphasis on it work environment is proven by the recent streak atop J.D. Power’s database.

“What really separates Thibodaux from most other hospitals is the way they sustain this performance year after year,” Clark said. “That is not luck. A trend like that reflects culture and commitment.”