Over the last 20 years, one of the most significant shifts in the structure of American healthcare delivery has been the consolidation of hospitals into faith-based systems. This consolidation, as it turns out, seems to have a beneficial effect on patients’ perceptions of care and the drivers of retention for employees working in those facilities.

An in-depth analysis of The Jackson Organization’s national patient and employee benchmarks compared faith-based to secular healthcare organizations. Faith-based hospitals excelled in several dimensions of patient perception of care. Perhaps the most important issues are where and how faith-based healthcare organizations outperform their counterparts. Many healthcare organizations—regardless of type—can learn from studying the success of many faith-based hospitals.

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By Kathleen Jennison Goonan, M.D., for HealthLeaders News, Dec. 7, 2006

Out of 76 businesses and organizations from all sectors of the United States economy that applied for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in 2006, 45 of them were submitted by healthcare organizations. The Baldrige program started out under an act of Congress as a national award for businesses, first manufacturing, small businesses and the service industry received the honor designed to acknowledge role model organizations. In 2000, the program was expanded to include healthcare and education organizations. This year, criteria and an award process are being tested for nonprofit organizations. Since 1988, there have only been 71 recipients of the award and only six of those were in healthcare.

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Good clinical outcomes are a lot like preparing a meal. It is not simply about putting the ingredients in front of your dinner guests and expecting them to eat. One must follow a recipe and eventually the ingredients are synthesized into a complete experience. Likewise, patient care staff cannot simply tell a patient to take a medication without communicating important details related to the chosen course of treatment.

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“You say that nurses should always ask the patient if anything else is needed before we leave the room, and to also tell them that we have the time to help them. What if we don’t have the time? It feels like lying.”

By Asma Saif, Edgardo C. Reis, and Sarah Moore, for HealthLeaders News, Nov. 14, 2006

Lead or follow? Hospitals have long relied on a straightforward formula of clinical care, patient service, efficiency and top-down decision making to help generate financial results and positive impact in the community--with at times variable outcomes. Historically, quality has been lost in the shuffle. However, in reality, quality is the key driver behind increasing growth through financial results and community impact. In fact, effective clinical care depends on the quality of physicians and nurses and the resources available to them. Good service relies on the quality of staff. Efficiency depends on the quality of operational processes. Decision making rests on the quality of available information and the quality of leadership.

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The Jackson Organization is committed to improving the way healthcare is delivered in America. Sometimes, however, that commitment must go far beyond the care delivered in hospitals and doctors’ offices. When you’ve got hungry people in your community, it is about sending care directly to the hearts and homes in the community.

As the holidays approach, The Jackson Organization’s Production & Editing Team created a spark that ignited the entire company into action. They spread the idea that it would be a wonderful time to focus on those in our community who are in need. The Production and Editing Team successfully launched a program to collect items for the Maryland Food Bank, an organization that supports a network of 1,000 food providers across the state. The Maryland Food Bank reported that demand for food this year has surpassed last year by 80 percent. More than 235,000 people in Maryland turn to these food providers for help. Of these people, 43% are children and 45% of those served must choose between paying for food or paying for utilities, rent, medical care, etc.

Our employees really stepped up to this noble challenge. The Jackson Organization and the Production and Editing Team are immensely proud to announce the final results of our holiday food drive. We collected 751 items of food in total for this critical community need. Almost 400 of those items came from our passionate and dedicated interviewing center employees! We also collected $819 in cash donations. Because the food bank can turn $1 into $18 worth of food, that $819 translates into a whopping $14,742 to help fight hunger in Maryland.