One final push is needed for our $3 million goal.

With just one month remaining in our beaker campaign, we all need to give one final push to ensure we reach our $3 million goal.

It will be a challenge: Our beaker amount decreased by about $125,000 in December, revenues and surgeries in January thus far are not as high as hoped, and February is typically not profitable because it is a shorter month. However, we have overcome many challenging months throughout the past year, and I believe we can achieve our goal if we continue the teamwork and cost saving efforts that have proven successful.

I am very proud to see that even as we near our campaign’s end, there are still many outstanding efforts being made to help reach our goal. Two specific examples come to mind:

• In Outpatient Rehabilitation Services, employees are keeping under a specific weekly budget for supplies, proactively ensuring appointment times remain filled by calling patients to check if they are coming and filling cancellations quickly, and setting specific goals for how they can personally control expenses and increase revenue in the next five weeks.

• In the Cancer Center, the team went the extra mile to quickly replace a piece of equipment for the linear accelerator so they could provide patient therapies that had been scheduled – and therefore bring in important revenues. Typically, it can take days to receive this 300-pound part because it must be flown in from another state, but the team expedited the process and had a technician on-site ready to replace the piece as soon as it arrived.

Please think about how you can apply similar scenarios in your areas; we have seen that no effort is “too small” to make a difference. Keep focusing on accurate documentation, turning in billing in a timely manner, controlling inventory, ensuring patients are coming for their appointments and referring your friends and family to receive services at our hospital. If you work with physicians, encourage them to refer their patients to Swedish Covenant for further services.

Perhaps more importantly, simply being on time for your shift, working productively for your entire shift and not taking unplanned PTO unless necessary can make a dramatic difference in controlling costs and growing revenue.

I recognize the many extra efforts you all are making and have made throughout the year and know that you are all very focused on this goal. I am excited to see everyone pull together as we near the finish line.

Mark