This time last year, we presented the need to reinvent our hospital. Over the past year, we have taken the necessary steps from rethinking service lines to forging a stronger relationship with UCSF. We just updated the hospital’s three-year strategic plan, which reflects the plans for the future now that SVH is being reinvented, with the vision of becoming An Outstanding Regional Center for Healthcare.
The road ahead is not an easy one. We face strong competition, especially from Kaiser, which now serves close to half of the residents in our service area. Yet most residents, including Kaiser patients, still depend on us for emergency services, and many, especially Medicare patients, depend on us for essential healthcare services. The regional center vision is an appropriate and necessary response, providing much needed services locally while attracting patients who would otherwise drive to the city or to larger hospitals, to use our more convenient, accessible and efficient hospital.
Our new strategic plan, which we call Vision 2020 And Beyond, identifies four core initiatives that support this reinvention.
- Exceed Community Expectations In Emergency Services
Emergency care remains the foundation of our mission and we continue to focus on excellence in this area; we’ve reduced wait times and recent patient surveys report high satisfaction. We continue to increase services in our ED, such as recently receiving Acute Stroke Ready certification that supports our ability to provide quick treatment and medication that can save lives and limit the long-term disabling effects of a stroke.
Given our community’s recent experiences with natural disasters, we also want our community to understand how carefully we prepare for disasters, especially in providing essential medical services in coordination with first responders.
- Create UCSF Health Outpatient Center
Thanks to generous donors, we are close to completing fundraising for a new Outpatient Diagnostic Center which will bring 21st century diagnostic services to Sonoma Valley. This will allow us to better serve our community and provide an accessible and convenient location that will draw UCSF Health patients from throughout the North Bay. Other services are being planned in partnership with UCSF, and our Acute Stroke Ready Certification ties our ED more closely to their neurological services through telemedicine.
- Become A 5 Star Hospital
We remain committed to the highest standards of quality and safety, and our goal is to move from our current Medicare 4 Star rating to become one of the few 5 Star hospitals in the Bay Area. We pride ourselves on the high quality of our care and this initiative, combined with our reputation for committed staff who treat patients like family, will ensure continuation of a culture of excellence in patient care.
- Provide Access to Excellent Physicians
Our physicians are essential to our future and we are working to ensure we have not just enough primary care and specialist physicians to serve our community, but excellent physicians as well. We continue to bring access to highly respected specialists offering clinics in Sonoma. Our relationship with UCSF Health is also creating opportunities to access some of their specialist physicians as UCSF starts to expand their footprint throughout the Bay Area over the next few years.
Healing Here At Home
A fundamental fact driving the strategic plan, and one that is often overlooked, is that the hospital is the foundation for local healthcare in Sonoma Valley. Healing Here At Home is more than just a hospital slogan, it is a commitment to our community to provide the best services locally so patients do not have to leave the Valley for care. This is why becoming a strong regional center is so important. It will allow us to meet our important community commitments while strengthening our ability to compete more broadly as we move toward our goal of achieving financial sustainability.
I encourage you to take a look at our new strategic plan, which is available here on our website, and welcome your comments.
In good health,
Kelly
Kelly Mather
President and Chief Executive Officer
Sonoma Valley Hospital