Chapter Innovation Grant Final Report
Great Lakes Chapter of ACHE
Video-Conferencing Educational Sessions October 30, 2009 Contacts: Christina Freese-Decker President 616-391-9234 [email protected]
Mary Kay Van Driel Education Chair 616-391-1592
Project Abstract
Brief description of the project, the goals and process of implementation. Briefly summarize the results/outcomes of the project.
With 500 affiliates spread over the majority of the lower and upper peninsulas of Michigan, a single site event cannot reasonably serve the educational needs of the affiliates. By offering video-conference events, more affiliates have the benefit of attending educational sessions and be more closely linked to the Chapter. The geographic area covered by the chapter prevents many affiliates from attending the events that the Chapter offers. This problem has been confirmed through surveys and direct communications with the affiliates.
Through partnering with existing Internet and video networking structures in the state, the Chapter offered educational events to affiliates either at their place of employment or at video conferencing centers. Implementation of this project had not occurred prior to this time due to the lack of a coordinated communication network in the State of Michigan that is available at a cost feasible for a not for profit group such as the Chapter.
By expanding the access to educational events, the Chapter expected to realize a higher event attendance and broader affiliate participation. The affiliates will gain through the availability of the education offerings that are now limited by the travel challenges to a single site event.
Project Goals and Objectives
Provide a formal statement of the project goals and objectives. Indicate the expected impact on chapter operations and affiliate value.
The project goal was to increase attendance at events to a minimum of 328 attendees and a maximum of 523. The minimum was set as a 5% increase in attendance. The maximum goal was determined by the membership goal to reach every member in the chapter. The value of achieving this goal is to engage the members in education, discussion and the chapter activities. The Great Lakes chapter did reach the goal of 328 and has surpassed this number to 354. One more session is being planned for November but to date, the video conferencing supported our goal to reach more members.
Project Implementation
Describe how the project was implemented. Provide information on who was responsible for implementation, the timeline upon which the project was completed, the methods used during implementation. Provide sufficient detail that another chapter could replicate the project, including factors that may be unique to your chapter. Letters, announcements, emails and other sample documents should, to the extent possible, be included in an appendix so that other chapters can use these materials.
The Education Committee of the Chapter coordinated the project. Several 2009 educational sessions (June 5, Oct 1 and Oct 22) were scheduled for video-conference. The topics were identified by the Chapter to attract groups of affiliates to locations throughout the state that would have the educational event available.
From January-February 2009, video conferencing capabilities were investigated at the large hospitals in Michigan and with the Michigan Hospital Association. It was determined that REMEC, which is a bridge that is housed at Munson
Healthcare in Traverse City and connects to eleven (11) upper Michigan sites would provide the connection. The other hospitals already had their own technology to connect to REMEC. After February, the dates, topics, speakers and locations were chosen for the video-conferencing events. To prepare for the first video conference, videoconferencing technicians from Spectrum Health made telephone contact with their counterparts at the selected participatory locations to exchange information and discuss the set up and process for the educational sessions. The technical contacts from each of the participating sites conducted testing to address compatibility. Spectrum Health provided
videoconferencing bridging resources for the tests and events as well as technical support in the case of bridging difficulties.
The educational sessions were communicated and publicized in a similar fashion as our other events.
Project Outcomes/Results
Describe in detail, the results of the project and its outcomes. Specifically
describe the benefits that accrued to the chapter and how the project reduced or eliminated the problem(s) the chapter sought to address. Provide information on how the project added value for ACHE affiliates and what groups of affiliates benefited. If appropriate, describe what goals or objectives the project did not accomplish and why. Provide data and statistics relevant to the project including the number of attendees/participants, sites, participant evaluation results and/or other information relevant to the project.
On June 5, the Great Lakes chapter conducted the first video conference. Six (6) different sites around the state and Texas were included:
• Flint at Hurley Medical Hospital • Grand Rapids at Spectrum Health • Lansing at Sparrow Health
• Marquette at Marquette General Hospital • Texas – through the VHA
• Traverse City at Munson Medical Center
The speakers were:
• Michael Regier, Sr VP, Legal Affairs and General Counsel, VHA. He does most of his work in Washington, but we were able to video cast him from ‘home’ in Texas.
• Mary Beth Morrison, VP Strategic Planning at Munson Medical Center in Traverse City. She provided a Michigan perspective for community benefit reporting.
• Paul Shirilla, legal counsel for Munson. He moderated the panel.
The video conference reached 32 people across most of Michigan’s geography. The goal was to engage Marquette General Health System in the Upper
Peninsula, which is about an eight hour drive from Grand Rapids. Members from the Upper Peninsula area have not been able to attend in-person educational sessions due to the travel distance and time requirements. The members at Marquette welcomed the educational opportunity. On a scale of 1-5, this program scored 4.43.
In addition, the video cast went to the Manistee area, in northern Michigan. In the past, members from Manistee have experienced the same dilemma as the Upper Peninsula. The distance to travel for education sessions is a barrier. Although not every Northern Michigan area begins with the letter “M”, more engagement from Munson Healthcare in Traverse City with the opportunity of video cast events has been noticed. The members want to attend the
educational sessions, but traveling anywhere from three to eight hours for a 90-minute session is time and cost prohibitive.
The October 1 educational session on Advancing to Fellowship reached a new audience for the Great Lakes chapter. A total of 37 attendees joined the session. They dialed in from
• Lansing at Sparrow Health System • Flint at Hurley Medical Center • Marquette at Marquette General
• Detroit at Children’s Hospital of Michigan
The session was held live in Grand Rapids. Detroit is the catchment area of the MHEGA chapter. The two education chairs, Mary Kay VanDriel (GLACHE) and Brian Madison (Midwest Healthcare Executives Group and Associates, MHEGA) are collaborating on a number of opportunities for members. Video conferencing provided an easy method to open up educational sessions to our neighboring chapter.
The speakers for the event were:
• Ellie Heinrich, President of Heinrich, Casey & Associates and president elect of the MHEGA chapter
.
• Dr. John Fick, full-time Associate Professor in the Graduate College of Siena Heights University, Director of the Graduate Program in Healthcare Leadership and the Coordinator of the Healthcare Management minor. John is also President of John W. Fick & Associates, Inc., a private healthcare consulting practice
The evaluations demonstrated that overall, participants were very satisfied with the panel discussion. Overall the session received strong satisfaction scores at 4.65.
There is still a barrier for those in the north. Video conferencing gives us greater reach as a chapter and broader access to national speakers. The
videoconference quality was very good with no technical difficulties. On October 22, the Great Lakes chapter offered an educational session, Innovative Strategies in a Downturn Economy, with our annual meeting.
Typically at an annual meeting, we may get 30-40 people. Over 100 participants joined the meeting and educational event. This year, we had the meeting
combined with a free box lunch (at the actual location) and the educational session.
The panel consisted of:
Brian Peters – Sr. VP from Michigan Health and Hospital Association Joe Fifer – CFO, Spectrum Health,
Jan Sternberg – President and CEO, Huron Medical Center Sue Patten – Attorney, Butzer, Long
The event was held in Grand Rapids and we provided video conferencing to: • United Memorial Hospital in Greenville
• Reed City Hospital
• Munson Medical Center, Traverse City • Hurley Medical Center, Flint
• Sparrow Health System, Lansing
• Marquette General Health System, Marquette Evaluations demonstrated an average satisfaction of 4.21.
Project Costs
Describe in detail the costs of implementing the project from all sources, including in-kind or donated equipment, materials, or services. Indicate the amount of volunteer time required to implement/manage the project.
Time Investment (In Kind) for one session.
Technical Consulting (SH- Media manager) 4 hours Technical Coordination (SH-Technician) 4 hours Event Support (SH-Technician) 2 hours Event Support (SH Media Manager) 2 hours Total 12 hours Fiscal Investment
Main site rental (In Kind) $0
Connectivity Fees (In Kind) $0
Bridging Fees (In Kind) $0
Total $0
Annual Meeting lunch ($7.50 x 105 projected attendees) $787.50 Lessons Learned
Describe what the chapter learned during implementation of the project. Provide specific information on how the chapter would implement the project differently, if at all, and any advice that the chapter would give to another chapter planning a similar project.
Continuation of this innovation will depend on attendance at outlying sites. New attendees, number of attendees and attendee surveys will be reviewed to determine the ongoing feasibility.
The educational events that were video cast provided these learnings:
1. Identify a coordinator at each site. The responsibilities of the technical coordinator are:
a. Reserve a room with video-conference capability (unless it is preferred by a particular site that the administrative coordinator reserves the room).
b. Confirm via testing that the video-conference equipment is compatible with the video-conference bridge.
c. Connect with the bridge at the time of the event and be sure there is no video disconnect throughout the event.
d. Disconnect once event is finished.
2. Identify administrative/education coordinator for each site. The responsibilities of the coordinator are:
a. Be the recipient of handouts, evaluations and sign-in sheets for distribution at event.
b. Be the face of ACHE and welcome participants.
c. Make handouts, evaluations and sign in sheets available at registration.
d. Make sure participants sign in.
e. Facilitate questions from that site after the panel completes their presentation.
f. Obtain the completed evaluations.
g. Collect any registration money that is due.
h. Mail the sign in, evaluation and registration dollars promptly to the education chair.
3. Create a document that includes cell phone and e-mail for: a. Administrative/education coordinator contact for each site. b. Technical support contact at each site.
c. Speakers/panelists contact. d. Education chair.
e. Location that includes instructions where to park at each site. 4. Conduct a practice run.
a. Be sure to include each technical support person,
administrative/education coordinator and panelists. If the panelists are comfortable with using this type of technology, they may not need to participate in the practice run.
5. Schedule a phone meeting with panelists and education chair to coordinate presentations.
6. Send handouts, sign in sheets, evaluations and registration confirmation to all the administrative/education coordinators the week before the scheduled event.
7. Send schedule to all participants on the document in item (#3). The schedule includes:
a. Date and time of practice run. b. Date of presenters phone meeting.
c. Speaker sequence so coordinators know when to prepare for questions.
d. Sequence of questions. We went in alphabetical order according to the name of the city that we video conference to.
What we learned:
1. Have an administrative/education coordinator make sure the camera is focused on participants. At one site we only saw empty chairs but heard the participants.
2. Make sure everyone receives the handouts. The screen can be blurry at different sites so handouts are necessary. However,
administrative/education coordinators have different versions of
PowerPoint software that may need some adjustments and resending to a compatible version.
3. Use registration on line and accept only prepayment. It is very difficult to have 5 different sites collect money and send to you after the event. 4. Two weeks is not long enough to collect all the necessary information and
send to ACHE for credit. ACHE was very good about allowing an extension, but 3 to 4 weeks is necessary.
5. Mute microphones at each site except for the speaker.
6. Have questions prepared to get the Q and A started. Be sure to remind sites of the sequence of questions so they can be prepared when the moderators moves to their site and asks “Any questions?”.
Note: We are currently developing a Video Conferencing Procedure for the Great Lakes Chapter. The procedure will include detail instructions for board members and their support staff to follow when coordinating such an event.