It All Adds Up

We've come a long way. The numbers behind our decade of growth prove it.

I remember my very first employee forum. A longtime colleague and I recalled it recently. It took place about a decade ago in the LVH–Cedar Crest auditorium. As I looked into the audience, I saw a sea of people with arms folded, concerned looks on their faces. Nobody spoke up. “They were unhappy, skeptical and cynical,” this colleague recalled.

Look how far we’ve come. Last year’s employee forums were lively and spirited, filled with progressive discussions and thought-provoking questions. The forums are just one of the many symbols of positive change we see all around us.

We talk often in this space about our successes, but it’s far more than just talk. Thanks to your talent, exuberance and diligence, we’ve made significant progress in seven key areas over the past decade. Here are the numbers behind our success at Lehigh Valley Hospital (which includes LVH–Cedar Crest and LVH–17th and Chew Streets) and LVH–Muhlenberg:

We’re the top choice for care in our community. Our reputation for quality care means more people than ever before are choosing us for their care. Our inpatient admissions climbed from less than 30,000 a decade ago to more than 45,000 today, and our emergency department visits grew from less than 60,000 to more than 100,000.

We’re seeing this tremendous growth in almost every other area, too, from home care to outpatient physician visits.

We’re a model of efficiency. The cost of health care is a concern to everyone, so we work hard to find efficiencies. You find Working Wonders to improve our care and save money. You also create better processes, leading to reductions in emergency room wait times and operating room holds. (Read about our PACU Alert team elsewhere in this CheckUp.) As a result, we operate as one of the most cost-efficient hospitals of our size (about the 25th percentile of our peer group). That means more than three-quarters of hospitals our size are more costly than we are.

We’re a great place to work. Honors like our Magnet designation are a symbol of our ability to find the best people to join our team, and then find the right place for them to excel. You told us how great you think we are when more than 9 out of 10 of you said, “I love the work I do in my department.” Our most recent employee satisfaction score climbed to 70.5 (it was 64 and 60 in the two prior surveys). We are proud of our team and our positive work environment.

We’re making our patients smile. You put our patients first, and it shows. Our patient satisfaction scores have steadily increased, and now often run above the 90th percentile in terms of “likelihood of recommending a hospital.”

We’re helping our patients get well. The most important statistic in any hospital is how well it cares for the people in its community. We report our mortality rates to a national database, which compares us to similar hospitals. Our mortality is currently 0.8—or less than expected.

We’re financially strong. Thanks to our hard work, we’ve created an excellent reputation in our community. Because we are caring for more people, controlling our costs, working in a vibrant environment, pleasing our patients and creating better outcomes, our financial performance is improving. This strength allows us to continue bringing our community the highest quality care.

As a not-for-profit organization, we invest all of our surplus (we call it a “patient services net margin”) back into our community. That means we offer free care for people who are unable to pay for needed services. It also means we can continue investing in the latest technology and the newest facilities for the benefit of all.

It all adds up. We’ve enjoyed a decade-long process of steady, thoughtful and focused growth, and it’s given us superior results. The days of skepticism are long gone, replaced instead by optimism and confidence. So long as we remain dedicated to providing the highest quality care for our community and remain focused on our cost discipline, we’ll continue to exceed the expectations of everyone around us.


Lou Liebhaber, Chief Operating Officer

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