Baptist Easley Hospital

Programs: Baptist easley hospital (be) is a nonprofit 109-bed facility, the largest hospital in pickens county, south carolina. Baptist easley provides a wide range of acute care services and progressive technology to support our exceptional patient care. Baptist easley is a joint venture of the two largest health systems in south carolina palmetto health based in columbia, sc and greenville health system based in greenville, sc. Baptist easley is joint commission-accredited and has more than 850 employees, about 150 volunteers, and almost 250 physicians on its medical staff. During fy2016 be launched its new mission to "serve compassionately. Inspire others. Personalize the experience. " as well as a new vision statement "to be the best in community healthcare". All five of be's primary care practices achieved level 3 (highest possible) designation as patient-centered medical homes (pcmh) from the national committee on quality assurance (ncqa). Clemson neurology received level 3 designation as a patient-center specialty practice, one of only four other practices in the united states to achieve this designation. During the fiscal year, baptist easley cared for over 3,700 inpatients, over 102,000 outpatients, delivered over 470 babies, performed over 4,000 surgeries, and treated almost 39,000 emergency room patients. Our thirteen primary care & specialty hospital-owned physician practices cared for 154,000 patient visits. Baptist easley is designated as a disproportionate share hospital under the medicare & medicaid programs as it treats significant populations of indigent patients. Baptist easley provides extensive community outreach through several unique programs coordinated by a dedicated community benefits staff. Our largest, abundant living, was established in 1996 and is based on a volunteer parish nurse model that takes wellness training into the community. Abundant living staff work with 123 local churches to provide health education, health screenings, resource assistance, chronic disease management and self improvement courses to the congregants. The abundant living program also supports these same services in the community at large as well as focusing on vulnerable populations within the community. Some examples include breast cancer awareness events, smoking cessation classes, physical activity campaigns, assistance with women's health services through the best chance network, and mental health awareness programs. The healthy outcomes plan is an additional resource baptist easley provides to reach out to those who are uninsured and who frequently use the emergency department and/or are admitted to the hospital. The goal of the program is to get these patients connected to other community services (such as a primary care home, medicaid or affordable health care, mental health services, and substance abuse treatment) to better address their healthcare and other socioeconomic needs. Additionally, numerous partnerships are formed with local and state agencies to target disparate vulnerable populations, identify universal health care concerns, provide evidence-based care, and provide positive outcomes for the community. These populations and health concerns are identified by local, state data, national data, community health needs assessments, and hospital admission and discharge data. Several examples of evidence-based care include nutrition and exercise programs, cardiovascular disease education and support, chronic disease self management programs, and arthritis exercise programs. Baptist easley also supports a diabetes education program that is evidence-based and outcome driven. Clients are seen in group and individual sessions for diabetes and pre-diabetes education, management, and care. The local diabetes support group is also supported by baptist easley hospital. The pastoral counseling program provides mental health services including marriage and family counseling, stress and grief management, children's services and parenting programs on a sliding scale fee available to individuals throughout the upstate of south carolina. There are no other sliding scale counseling services in the county. State-supported mental health services continue to be insufficient and reduced funding significantly impacts the availability of these critical services. Baptist easley's pastoral counseling program supports the community in filling this gap by working in partnership with local churches to reach beyond the primary service area into neighboring counties. Childhood play therapy services were added to this program in fy2015. In partnership with the samaritan health clinic of pickens county, a local free clinic, be helped to design and furnish a dental clinic staff by local area volunteer dentists. The dental clinic is located at the dream center, a community outreach center. Be is also partnering with the dream center in its development of the opportunity village, a one-of-a-kind transitional housing project built around the "tiny house" concept to offer homeless residents of pickens county a place to live as well as support services. Be donated funding for one of the tiny houses during fy2017. Be, in conjunction with the school district of pickens county, south carolina vocational rehabilitation and pickens county board of disabilities and special needs, has partnered with project search to help educate students with intellectual and development disabilities. Project search program combines classroom training with hands-on job experiences making these students eligible for employment in the community upon completion of the program. Be provides the classroom setting as well as the job-internship opportunities within departments of the hospital for seven students enrolled for the 2016-2017 school year. All seven of these students obtained gainful employment after completion of their internship at be.

baptist easley has been recognized over the years for quality in both services and patient satisfaction. In 2013 be received the guardian of excellence award and in 2014 the patient experience beacon of excellence award for ambulatory surgery. In 2015 & 2016 baptist easley's wound care and hyperbaric center received the center of distinction award for clinical excellence as well as the robert warriner center of excellence award for 2016. For the past four years baptist easley was recognized by the joint commission with the "top performer in key quality accountability measures" for exemplary performance in using evidence-based clinical processes that are shown to improve care for certain conditions, including heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, and surgical care.

be is a blue distinction center for maternity care in 2015 & 2016 given by blue cross/blue shield for hospitals recognized for expertise in delivering specialty care. In 2014 and 2015, the south carolina hospital association (scha) awarded be with the certified zero harm award for leadership and excellence in patient safety. Be has received the "safe surgery 2015 hospital" designation from scha for using a surgical safety checklist for every patient/every procedure. (continued on schedule o)