Year-end PEAK results are in

In one of the most challenging years in Asante’s history, we could expect that COVID-19 and the wildfires might affect the Productive Employees Achieving Key Goals (PEAK) program results for fiscal year 2020. So it’s great news that not only did we reach many of our goals, all eligible employees will receive a payout!

Nearly $4.5 million will be distributed to over 5,100 Asante employees eligible for the PEAK program (see eligibility details on the right).

You’ll recall that this year we connected three of our strategic plan goals with our PEAK measures. Seventy percent of the 2020 PEAK program has been based on Asante results to encourage us all to work together in our improvement efforts. These were:

Provide the highest quality services: We had continued focus on the patient experience for both inpatient and ambulatory clinic patients this past fiscal year. We have been using a different methodology for measuring patient experience, focusing on several domains of care instead of just the overall hospital rating question. With COVID isolation rules placing an added burden on both patients and staff, teams put extra effort into maintaining a positive experience for our patients. Unfortunately, we fell short of the goal of 74.4% top box score with a result of 73.7% for the fiscal year.

In the APP office visit patient experience top box scores, we did very well this fiscal year, beating the goal of 84.2% top box with a result of 86.4%.

In addition, we focused on preventing unnecessary readmissions across the continuum of care. The goal is to ensure our patients are getting the right care at the right place at the right time and that we are supporting those who have been inpatients so that they don’t come back to the hospital. We did very well this fiscal year, with a result of 8.07% returning to an Asante facility within 30 days of discharge; our goal being 10.54%.

Provide affordable services for our patients. To ensure we are efficient in our work, we continued to have Asante’s operating margin as one of our goals. Remember that for 2020 we required at least a positive operating margin (> 0%) to get a payout for the PEAK program overall. Despite the pandemic, wildfires and everything else 2020 has thrown our way we managed to maintain a 2% operating margin. This is in large part due to several federal reimbursement programs from COVID-19 and our ability to ramp up more services in the fourth quarter. The cost-conscious savings we as an Asante family have put into place and everyone stepping up to the plate where needed has allowed us to do this.

Build the Asante team of the future. We added the response rate on the Employee Engagement survey to the PEAK program in 2020. Our goal for participation in the survey was 80% and we far exceeded that target with 87% of Asante employee responding.

Hospital/entity and department goals. The remaining 30% of the PEAK award opportunity was focused more locally, either at the hospital/entity level or at department levels.

Employees who work at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center and Asante Three Rivers Medical Center focused on patient safety and lowering the rate of health-care-associated infections. We are pleased to report that ATRMC has a fiscal year-to-date result of .19, with a goal of .35. Unfortunately, ARRMC had a fiscal year end result of .29, with a goal of .22. The employees who work at Asante Ashland Community Hospital had two goals: the HAI rate, which did not hit the mark this fiscal year with a result of .56, against a goal of .12, and results on patient experience surveys, which it met with a result of 80.2% against a goal of 76.5%.

The table above shows what the payout would be for each employee group if we met all the goals noted based on the quarter one results.

Employees working in Asante Physician Partners clinics and administration had a goal that was a composite of several measures to improve patient access to care. Despite the pandemic, APP met those targets fiscal year 2020.

Finally, for those working in corporate departments, leaders will be communicating departmental results directly with their staffs.

Special COVID-19 and wildfires bonus!

We are pleased to announce that the Asante Board of Directors has approved an additional bonus for all PEAK-eligible employees in addition to the PEAK awards noted in this article. Each full-time employee will receive an extra $150 in their bonus checks; part-time employees will receive 75% of that ($112.50); and flexible/on-call employees will get 50% ($75). We hope this helps in some small way to make up for the extra work, effort and impact we all experienced in 2020.

The bonus will be paid on the Nov. 13 paycheck.

PEAK plan for fiscal year 2021

As we move forward into FY21, we will continue driving home our commitment to One Asante. All five PEAK goals are organizational and based on Asante performance overall, with no distinction between facilities or entities. Eligibility for the plan remains the same as in FY20.

Provide the highest quality services: We will continue to use the inpatient experience composite score to measure how our hospitalized patients considered their experience with us during their stay. In addition, we have added back the percentage of employees receiving a flu shot (90%). This is to encourage all employees to heed the importance of immunization while helping create herd immunity throughout our communities.

Provide accessible services for our patients: We are adding consumer perception of access for APP patients to the measure to ensure our patients can get an appointment with their APP provider in a timely fashion.

Build the Asante team of the future: We want to continue to get meaningful feedback from every Asante employee to help improve your employee experience as well. We will continue to monitor the percentage of employees who participate in the Employee Engagement Survey.

Maintain a positive operating margin: It is important that we continue to be strong financially to expand and serve our growing communities. To ensure financial stability and continue to keep Asante fiscally healthy, we have adjusted the payout trigger for PEAK in FY21. That trigger will align with our goal for operating margin at 2%. That means that the PEAK plan will only have a payout if we achieve at least a 2% operation margin at the end of the fiscal year.

Look for the bonus in your paycheck

There will be no on-site check handouts this year. Instead, your PEAK and one-time COVID-19/wildfire payouts will appear in your Nov. 13 paycheck.

To be eligible for PEAK:

• An employee must be classified as regular full-time, regular part-time or flexible employee for at least one full fiscal quarter (hire date no later than July 1, 2020) and be employed at the time of the incentive payout.
• Full-time, part-time and flexible status is determined based on employee status as of Sept. 30 of the plan year.
• Regular full-time eligible employees receive 100% of the award.
• Regular part-time eligible employees receive 75% of the award.
• Flexible eligible workers who work at least four hours throughout the fiscal year receive 50% of the award.
• The first written corrective action an employee receives during the fiscal year will reduce the overall award amount by 40%.
• Each additional written corrective action an employee receives during the fiscal year will reduce the award by an additional 20%.
• PEAK achievements are tracked throughout the year. They are based on annual targets and paid annually. The primary entity and department the employee works in on Sept. 30 of the plan year is the entity and department used to determine the award amount.
• Employees participating in other Asante incentive programs are not eligible to participate, including but not limited to: executives, directors, managers, physicians and advanced practitioners.