Employees March 05, 2009
PIP 2009 Incorporates Focus on Departmental Goals; Employees Can Earn 3 Percent Payout
For fiscal year 2009, Yale-New Haven Hospital has made changes to the hospital’s Performance Incentive Plan (PIP), including the addition of a new measure and mandatory departmental goals. For the third consecutive year, eligible employees – who meet departmental goals – can earn up to a 3 percent PIP payout at year-end.
This year, PIP results are being measured in three areas of performance: financial, patient satisfaction/ safety and individual departmental goals. Cost per day and cost per discharge are no longer measures in the financial category so employees can focus on the measures that deliver successful outcomes, including the new goals that will impact overall financial performance. For the first time this year, each department is required to develop a goal – valued at 20 percent – that focuses on achievements specific to the department. Departments may develop up to two goals valued at 10 percent each.
“In the past, PIP departmental goals – although used by many departments – were optional, but this year, every department has been asked to develop departmental goals as well,” said Kevin Myatt, senior vice president, Human Resources. “Adding department-specific goals to PIP gives employees an even greater opportunity to impact overall performance in their everyday work activities.”
For 2009, the financial measures will continue to include net operating income – patient revenue minus expenses – and will account for 30 percent of PIP. The productivity measure of percentage of patient discharges by 11 a.m., which was introduced as a PIP measure last year, accounts for 10 percent of PIP.
The second category of measures – patient satisfaction and safety – includes overall patient satisfaction, accounting for 20 percent of PIP, plus the cleanliness measure accounting for 5 percent. Results from each of these measures reflect the scores based on patient feedback from the Press Ganey patient satisfaction surveys. Hand hygiene, an infection control measure which is measured through recorded observations, accounts for 10 percent of PIP.
A new measure added to PIP for 2009 in the patient satisfaction and safety category is the regulatory mock audit measure. Teams of hospital employees periodically perform mock audit surveys on patient care units throughout the hospital in order to identify opportunities for improvement in hospital practices that can enhance and improve patient safety and satisfaction. The regulatory mock audit measure accounts for 5 percent of PIP.
In its eleventh year, the hospital’s PIP program continues to offer employees a financial stake in achieving organizational goals. The incentive shared by eligible employees at year-end is determined by employees’ collective performance against goals.
When PIP began in 1999, the first payout for employees was 0.1 percent. By 2007, employees were eligible to earn up to 3 percent of salary. PIP performance is measured by the degree to which goals are achieved – maximum (exceeding expectations), target (reaching goal) and threshold (acceptable, but short of target).
Results from first quarter FY09 will be announced shortly.
Article originally appeared in the March 5, 2009 issue of the YNHH Bulletin (page 1)
http://www.ynhh.org/bulletin_archive/2009/030509_bulletin.pdf
