Synergy - January/February 2013 - 15

industry feature

functions and responsibilities . This is
essential for making sure that these bodies
only consider issues for which they have the
authority to render an opinion .
Medical staff meetings can reinforce the
cohesiveness and identity of the medical
staff . They provide a chance to expand,
update or revamp the pool of shared
knowledge . They allow for brainstorming
of important issues . Working as a team
creates a commitment to the outcome .
Team members are more likely to accept the
group’s decisions, assign responsibility and
establish expected time frames for action .

Applying Reengineering
Concepts
Reengineering is reworking and redesigning
to improve a process . This includes
eliminating those activities or structures that
impede a process from operating at full
efficiency . Although there are many benefits
to meetings, they are time-consuming,
expensive and often are attended by the
wrong (or not enough) people .
At one time, accreditation standards
required hospital oversight of key functions
by medical staff committees . Committees
were written into the bylaws, but when
the accreditation standards changed,
the committees stayed . Both The Joint
Commission and DNV Healthcare’s National
Integrated Accreditation for Healthcare
Organizations standards require only a
Medical Executive Committee (MEC) . The
Health Facilities Accreditation Program
of the American Osteopathic Association
requires MEC, utilization review and, for
hospitals with 10 or more DOs that admit
patients and provide direct patient care,
a Utilization of Osteopathic Methods and
Concepts Committee .
Reengineering requires evaluation of current
functions and processes, defining important
functions and critical processes, and
determining how to perform these functions
with fewer resources/time spent .
To justify cutting a committee or the
number of meetings held, it is helpful to
evaluate the time spent in meetings versus
the accomplishments of the committee .
This is known as determining the return on
investment (ROI) . To determine the cost
15

SYNERGY J anuary/F ebr uary 2013

Table A
Meeting Evaluation Form – Education and Library Committee
Hospital Staff Salaries
Position

Number
of Hours

Hourly
Salary

Subtotal

27.00

162.00

Hospital CMO (based on annual salary of $225K)

1.5

100.00

150.00

Library director

26.50

265.00

Librarian (assistant)

11.00

33.00

Housekeeping (includes two people — set up/tear down of
meeting room)

9.00

36.00

Dietary (includes all personnel involved: menu planner, meal
prep, servers, dishwashers, etc.)

11.00

88.00

Laundry (include if linens are used for meeting)

9.00

Audiovisual support

21.00

10.50

.25

10.00

2.50

Medical services professional (includes monthly meeting
calendar, notices, phone calls, scheduling rooms and
audiovisual equipment, agenda planning and preparation of
materials, minutes, follow-up)

Mail room (cost of staff for pick-up/mailing of meeting notices)

Totals

(average)

Print shop employee (include if materials are sent to a central
print shop for printing)
Total of hospital employee salaries

34.25

756.00

$756.00

Cost of Materials/Supplies - Hospital
Food
Luncheon meeting: sandwich, soup, crackers, chips, soda, iced tea, coffee, estimated
cost $20 each person (get actual costs from dietary dept.)

200.00

Materials costs and postage
Includes, paper, ink, envelopes, postage. Copying cost is 0.06/sheet. Estimated to
include meeting notice and eight-page agenda times 10 people. Agenda is mailed in
advance and copies are also provided at the meeting. (A single-sided 10-page letter
costs about $0.60 to mail; if duplex copying is used, reduce to about $0.37 in
postage. Ask mail room for actual costs.)

13.00

Total

213.00

Cost of Physician Time
Using a conservative estimate of $200 per hour for physician time, if six physicians attend and
the meeting averages 1.5 hours, this averages two hours per meeting, which comes to $1,800
per meeting. If you factor in travel time of 0.25 hour each way, the total comes to $2,400
per meeting.
Cost Per Meeting

The cost of a meeting will differ greatly by
organization depending on the varied cost
of services in different geographic locations,
the wages and salaries of the staff and
practitioners involved, and the amount of
time spent in the meeting . The following
case study illustrates how this would work
for one meeting .

$2,400.00

$3,369.00

ANNUAL COST OF MEETING

of a meeting, analyze meeting minutes to
see exactly what was accomplished over
a specific time period — for example, a
year — then weigh the accomplishments of
the committee in comparison to the cost of
holding the meeting .

$213.00

$13,476.00

Case Study
The Education and Library Committee is
charged with three purposes:
1 . evaluating the resources of the library to
determine if additional resources should be
made available,
2 . making recommendations for continuing
education to be offered to the medical staff,
and
3 . recommending to the MEC a budget for
the following year .

Synergy - January/February 2013

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