Lori Mazanec appointed Interim CEO for Box Butte General Hospital
Interim BBGH CEO Lori Mazanec
The Box Butte General Hospital Board of Trustees has appointed Lori Mazanec as Interim Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. Lori has worked at BBGH for 15 years, continually increasing her responsibility from Finance Assistant to becoming Chief Operations Officer January 1, 2014.
As previously reported, Dan Griess, FACHE, the hospital’s CEO for 13 years has accepted a position with Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital in Omaha. “Dan did an excellent job leading the team,” said BBGH Board of Trustees Chairman David Briggs. “During his tenure BBGH grew significantly allowing more procedures to be provided locally and also oversaw the building of our $42 million addition. During the next few months, the Board will evaluate the skills required of our next CEO and work through the hiring process. We have an outstanding staff at BBGH and are confident we will continue serving the region as the best place to receive care.”
The Trustees made the decision at their regular board meeting held Monday, July 25. They appointed Ms. Mazanec as Interim CEO after going into executive session at 7:56pm to discuss personnel matters. Upon re-entering open session at 8:59pm, the Trustees passed three motions, all unanimously. The first motion was the acceptance of the July 11 resignation of CEO Dan Griess, FACHE. His last day will be Friday, July 29. The second was Ms. Mazanec’s appointment as Interim CEO. The third motion was to approve modification of the authorized banking signatures for banking purposes. Signatures authorized were David Briggs, Trustee John Annen and Ms. Mazanec.
Prior to making the announcement, the Trustees conducted the following business during their regular 7:00pm open session.
BBGH Board of Trustees Chairman David Briggs (at right) presented CEO Dan Griess, FACHE, with a gold watch as a parting gift for his 25 years of service at BBGH. “I can think of four major items that Dan made possible at the hospital during his tenure as CEO,” Mr. Briggs said. “The first was immediately after being appointed as CEO he obtained our Critical Access Hospital designation. Second he helped our hospital’s surgery services enhancement for inside our facility. Third he saw us through our $42-million expansion. Fourth, and most importantly, is that over his entire 25 years at BBGH he has been instrumental in the hospital staff he has put together to serve the people of Box Butte County. I think that’s been his greatest achievement.” Mr. Griess thanked the board for the gift.
The board recognized IT Department’s Nathan Fritzler, A+ Certified, as the July Employee of the Month. They also recognized Dr. Jessica Ott as the 2nd Quarter Provider of Choice; Physical Therapist Brandon Kiser, DPT, who obtained his Certified Orthopedic Manual Therapist (COMT) (a rare certification, Mr. Griess pointed out); and the successful survey completion of MQSA for the Diagnostic Imaging Mammography program. Diagnostic Imaging Manager Carolyn Angelesy made the announcement, reporting that the survey gave the Mammography program a Level 4 designation, the highest obtainable. She was accompanied by Amber Smith and Leslie Hulquist and credited the Mammography staff for their continued excellence. Trustee Chairman David Briggs took the opportunity at that time to present outgoing Mr. Griess with a parting gift for his 24 years of service to BBGH, the last 13 of which as CEO (see photo).
The board also welcomed the following new employees to the BBGH family: Rita Campos, Environ. Services; Allie Nicodemus, GNMSS Clinic Registration Clerk; Mike Stevens, PTA, Rehab Department; Anna Vogel, Rehab Tech; Erica Smith, RN, Jessica Brown, Temp Med Tech; Veronica Behm, RN; Mayra Perez, Temp Med Tech; and Amy Machado, LPN.
After unanimously approving the consent calendar, Mary Mockerman, Chief Quality Officer, presented her monthly Quality Management and Safety report. She reported on The Joint Commission (TJC) survey progress and plans for the coming year, including a mock survey that will provide valuable information going forward. She also reported TJC has announced a change in the Statement of Conditions (SOC) process that will affect the survey of Life Safety (LS) chapter requirements. The changes will occur August 1, 2016. The month’s Nebraska Coalition of Patient Safety event focused on a surgery procedure at a member hospital that resulted in the need to remove a sponge found to be still within the patient after the operation. The event identified causal factors in the error for other hospital’s to review. Ms. Mockerman reviewed the first and second quarterly quality data. She also presented the latest HCHAPS scores for the hospital, with all scores improving from the previous quarter.
BBGH Chief of Staff Vic Fattig, MD, mentioned that he has seen recent studies that Vitamin D deficiency may be a contributing factor in falls, and that boosting Vitamin D to nominal levels helps reduce the risk of falls. He asked if a regime or protocol could be developed at BBGH to help promote better Vitamin D levels for patients and the public. Ms. Mockerman suggested he bring the matter up in Medicine Committee to see if such protocols could be developed.
BBGH Board of Trustees Chairman David Briggs (at left) presented Emergency Department Nurse Larry Steele, RN, CED, with the signed resolution committing the hospital to supporting the ED by providing the resources and personnel for the continuance of designation as a Basic Level Trauma Center.
Emergency Department nurse Larry Steele, RN, CEN, was present to ask the Trustees to sign a Resolution that supports and is committed to providing resources and personnel for the continuance as a Basic Level Trauma Center, as awarded by the State of Nebraska. He said he knew the Trustees provide such support, but the State of Nebraska likes to see such support in writing as evidence of that commitment. The board unanimously approved the Resolution and was signed by Chairman Briggs (see photo).
Mr. Griess’ Governance Focus for the evening was the Employee Engagement Survey results using Gallup’s Q12 survey tool. This is the first year the hospital has used that tool to survey employee engagement, so he warned that this would be just the base line for future surveys. 175 out of 234 employees participated in the survey, which indicated 40 percent of employees are engaged at the hospital (satisfied with their jobs, and also going above and beyond their duties to improve hospital operations; 50 percent are not engaged (satisfied, but just performing their duties as required); and 10 percent actively disengaged (dissatisfied with their jobs). He said those levels are all much better than national workforce levels reported by Gallup. “This will provide our managers with valuable tools to engage their staff in dialogue to improve staff morale and performance going forward,” he said.
After unanimously approving all credentialing requests, the Trustees entered into executive session as reported above. After approving the motions reported, they adjourned at 9:05pm. The next regular board meeting will be held Monday, August 29 at 7:00pm in the Sandhills Room. As always the public is welcome to attend.
Box Butte General Hospital is an equal opportunity provider and employer.
