Friday, May 2, 2008

Pittsburgh-area hospital food gets tasty, convenient upgrades

Patients get room service, gourmet coffee, even cooked-to-order Asian food

Pittsburgh Business Times - by Kris B. Mamula

"Hospital food" may be losing its punch as a laugh line.

Taking a lesson from the hospitality industry, hospitals are paying closer attention than ever to meal preparation and service. The result has been increased patient satisfaction and, in some cases, lower costs.

"Hospital food doesn't want to be the brunt of jokes anymore," said Joyce Scott-Smith, director of food and nutrition at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, where the idea of maximizing variety in patient meals was pioneered in recent years. "My colleagues across the county are just making huge changes to meet patient demand."

Monongahela Valley Hospital began room service for patients last year, and St. Clair Hospital this month hired Homestead-based Cura Hospitality, a division of Eat'n Park Hospitality Group, to run its food service program.

Included in the deal is a shared $2 million investment in the cafeteria to provide such things as fresh dough pizza, cooked-to-order Asian food and gourmet coffee.

"Our driving force for going into this was patient satisfaction," said Joan Massella, administrative vice president and chief nursing officer. "We knew from direct patient feedback that food service was not where we knew it had to be."

The St. Clair contract is the result of a yearlong effort to reach the small and mid-size hospital market, according to Cura President Mitch Possinger.

Part of the strategy at St. Clair, Cura's fourth hospital contract, is to do more fresh and smaller-batch cooking to match meal selections to patient preferences while increasing retail sales to offset costs.

"There's enormous potential to develop retail sales in cafes," Possinger said. "There are also catering opportunities."

Meanwhile, Butler Memorial Hospital has earmarked $300,000 to improve its dining experience, making mealtime for employees and staff more like visiting a food court than delivering meal trays. Hospitals are taking a lesson from food retailers in making these changes, according to Rick Allen, vice president of clinical services and facilities development.

"We know a lot about nutrition, food and drug interactions," Allen said, "but what we don't know a lot about is the retail food industry. It's all about service now, in addition to nutritional value."

Increasing meal variety, a trend that has since caught on elsewhere in the country, was rolled out at Shadyside Hospital about two years ago, Scott-Smith said.

Last year, UPMC's St. Margaret and South Side hospitals introduced the idea of liberalizing diets as much as possible for patients, "with remarkable improvements in patient satisfaction."

UPMC hospitals, where dinner trays were delivered at 5 p.m. each day, now offer meals as late as 10 p.m., Scott-Smith said. "Putting your patient at the center really changes your philosophy," she said.

Like many institutions nationwide, Holy Spirit Hospital in Camp Hill, Pa., for years offered meals from a standard menu. Starting three years ago, patients could order what they wanted, according to Linda Lawrence, general manager of food and nutrition.

In part due to less wasted food, the result was a drop in the cost of a meal, from $1.88 to $1.35, and an increase in patient satisfaction -- from 38 percent to 71 percent, Lawrence said.

The government recently began asking patients to rate communications with hospital staff and other factors, and the results have begun to be posted on the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services Web site this month.

A memorable meal experience can help boost hospital ratings, said F. Nicholas Jacobs, president and CEO of Windber Medical Center, a 54-bed hospital in Somerset County and Cura's first hospital client. Today, frozen meals to go and outside catering are among the services Windber offers through Cura.

"It just worked out beautifully," Jacobs said.

Joe Wojcik

Cura Hospitality President Mitch Possinger and St. Clair Hospital administrative Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer Joan Massella in the Mount Lebanon hospital’s cafeteria. Cura Hospitality recently took over the hospital’s food services.