Third quarter results of PEAK program are in

The Productive Employees Achieving Key Goals program results have been calculated for the third quarter, the period of time hardest hit by COVID-19. Despite the pandemic’s effects, our results for the months of April through June are largely positive.

The table below provides what the payout would be for each employee group if we met all the goals based on the third-quarter results.You should recall from prior communications on the PEAK program this year that we have connected three of our strategic plan goals with our PEAK measures. Seventy percent of the PEAK program will be based on Asante results to encourage us all to work together in our improvement efforts.

Provide the highest quality services

We continue to focus efforts on the patient experience for inpatient and ambulatory clinic patients. We’re using a different methodology for measuring the patient experience this year, focusing on several domains of care instead of just the overall hospital rating question. We’re short of the goal of 74.4% top box score with a result of 73.9% for fiscal-year-to-date.

In the APP office visit patient experience top box scores, we’re doing very well this fiscal year, beating the goal of 84.2% top box with a result of 86.2%. APP has made great strides in improving access to care, one of the key questions on its patient experience survey.

In addition, we’re focusing on reducing hospital readmissions by ensuring our patients are getting the right care at the right place and time. This means supporting those who have been inpatients, so they don’t come back to the hospital. We’re doing well this fiscal year, with a result of 8.14% returning to an Asante facility within 30 days of discharge. Our target for this metric is 10.54%.

Provide affordable services for our patients

To ensure we are efficient in our work, we continue to have our operating margin as one of our goals. We’re showing a very slight operating margin at 0.1% through Q3. As with last year, we must meet at least a positive operating margin (> 0%) to get a payout for the PEAK program overall.

Build the Asante team of the future

We have added the response rate on the Employee Voice survey to the PEAK program this year. The engagement survey is open Aug. 7 through 21, and we need to hear your concerns and what we’re doing well, so we can work to make your experience as an Asante employee as positive as possible. The more employees who provide feedback make the survey results more meaningful.

Our goal for participation in the survey is 80% of Asante employees. So, when you see information in August about the survey, be sure to encourage your co-workers to make their voices heard. To focus even more keenly on this work, we’ve been surveying a random group of employees to ask the specific survey question: “Different work units work well together in this organization” and reporting that on our Asante Balanced Scorecard.

Customized measures

The remaining 30% of the PEAK award opportunity is focused more locally, either at the hospital and entity level, or at the department level.

For employees who work at Asante Rogue Regional and Asante Three Rivers, your remaining goal will be the hospital’s results on the health care-acquired infection/patient safety rate. We are pleased to report that ARRMC has a fiscal-year-to-date result of .23, with a goal of .24 and ATRMC has a fiscal-year-to-date result of .14, with a goal of .38. Employees who work at Asante Ashland have two goals: the HAI rate, which has not hit the mark this fiscal year with a result of .77, against a goal of .12. The hospital’s results on the patient experience survey is the other measure, which they met with a result of 80.2% against a goal of 76.5%.

For employees who work in Asante Physician Partners clinics and administration, your entity-specific goal will be a composite of several measures to improve patient access to care and will be clinic-specific. Your leaders should be sharing with you how you’re doing on those goals.

Finally, for those working in corporate departments, your leaders will communicate your departmental goal results to you as well.

More than 5,100 Asante employees are eligible for the PEAK program. Managers should report results quarterly to keep track of how we’re doing toward meeting our goals, but the payout will be based on the fiscal-year-end results. As in previous years, we expect the bonus will be paid after the fiscal year ends in November 2020.

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.