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Patients and virtue
Surgical Hospital at Southwoods’ CEO keeps the focus on ...
By Josh Stipanovich
BOARDMAN
Every Monday morning, Ed Muransky walks in his office and peruses a large stack of surveys that tell him how successful he’s running his business.
The survey, created by Muransky and his staff, is given to each patient who visits the Surgical Hospital at Southwoods.
“Thank you for taking such great care of me. I appreciate it. The waiting time was fair,” reads one comment.
Another patient suggests to Muransky that doctors visit their room more frequently.
Muransky smiles. He takes it into consideration no matter how subtle it is.
“Having that kind of relationship with our patients and their families has given us a chance to put ourselves in the position, from a hospital, to differentiate ourselves,” Muransky said.
Muransky, chief executive officer and majority owner of the physician- owned hospital in Boardman, examines and notes every survey each week.
By Monday evening, he has finished sifting through hundreds of responses.
Every Tuesday, he and his staff gather for their weekly meeting, where Muransky spends ample time addressing the concerns he’s noted.
“I am [the patients’] advocate,” Muransky said. “From the patients’ perspective, if there’s anything going on positively or negatively, it goes right to our management staff, [and it] gets implemented [the following day].”
That’s Muransky’s business approach.
Steve Davenport has observed Muransky’s work ethic every day for the past 22 years.
Davenport, Muransky’s chief operating officer, calls Muransky’s work “management by objective.”
“[Muransky] has a very healthy approach toward management,” Davenport said. “He doesn’t get caught up in the minutiae. He doesn’t micromanage.”
Muransky, who lives in Poland, graduated from Cardinal Mooney High School and was a member of the Oakland Raiders team that won Super Bowl XVIII in January 1984. He was a three-year starter as an offensive lineman at the University of Michigan, where he was an All-American.
Muransky also isn’t an email guy, Davenport added.
Instead, he makes his way around the hospital every week to talk to his employees.
“He really pays attention to the details, and his values are certainly remarkable for someone in his position,” said Angela Kerns, chief nursing officer. “We treat our patients here as if they were one of our favorite relatives, and he believes that wholeheartedly.”
Kerns, who Muransky hired in October 2008, was working at another hospital when she met him.
She recalled her first day at work three years ago.
“My first day was the day that they delivered the steel for the hospital side,” she said.
At the time, Southwoods was in the middle of a transition from an ambulatory surgery center to an inpatient hospital. Kerns was a part of that process — one that took nearly 10 months to complete. She helped rework policies and procedures and create surveys.
Southwoods was merely an idea 17 years ago that started with a conversation between Muransky and his longtime friend, Dr. Louis S. Lyras.
“[Muransky’s] a businessman. I know medicine,” Dr. Lyras said. “It was a good blend between two good people with a great idea.”
In 1988, Dr. Lyras was working long hours at St. Elizabeth Health Center, which prevented him from working to his fullest potential.
“It was just overloaded there,” Dr. Lyras said. “It was a hard time getting cases started.”
As a duo, Muransky and Dr. Lyras put their heads together and devised a plan to develop a surgery center. It turned out to be one of the best decisions they made.
“It flourished, and other physicians became involved,” Dr. Lyras said. “Now it’s turned out to be the best things in the [Mahoning] Valley. We have a place that people can go [to] and be proud of.”
After a certificate of need was processed and obtained, construction on the facility began.
It opened in June 1996 with 70 full-time employees, including 24 physicians who owned about 40 percent of the medical building.
Muransky decided to expand the facility.
“Why can’t you do more?” was a question Muransky was frequently asked by physicians and the community. So Southwoods expanded in 2004.
In April 2008, the board and doctors made a decision that Muransky admits scared him.
The facility was converted into a full-service, acute-care hospital, which meant larger cases and a larger complex.
That meant jobs. Nearly 60 more doctors were hired, increasing Southwoods’ full-time employee count from 70 to more than 300.
“That scared me,” Muransky said. “From a culture standpoint, I looked at that and said, ‘OK. Since we’re a surgery center, I kind of know all these people. Could we really take this next step?’”
Muransky had three more hires to make. Kerns was hired after several doctors’ recommendations.
Before she was hired, Muransky invited her to his home.
“I wanted her to meet my wife. I wanted people to get gut reactions about a person,” Muransky said.
That led to six more hires who work around Davenport.
“[A] new chief medical officer came in, and that now [has] mushroomed,” Muransky said.
All that work put in since 1996 has mainly gone unnoticed
Until recently.
Last fall, Muransky was home on his computer when he received a phone call. It was from CFO Gary Lockler, and he told Muransky that if he had his USA Today, he’d better open it.
On Page 17A, the paper published the “Top 100 Hospitals for Patient Experience.”
The survey, conducted by WomenCertified, broke the hospitals down by state. On the list were several large hospitals across Ohio, including The Cleveland Clinic, Aultman Hospital in Canton, The Christ Hospital in Cincinnati and Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus.
Sitting second to last of the list of top hospitals in Ohio, in a small font, was Surgical Hospital at Southwoods.
Muransky’s first stop, that fall day, was Southwoods, where he celebrated with his staff.
“Everybody knows what’s going on,” Muransky said. “I think I was more excited than they were. It’s pretty cool.”
“I was surprised,” Kerns said. “It was amazing that we got that recognition.”
WomenCertified, which surveys female customers to see what makes them happy, works through Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems, and the Medicare and Medicaid health-care bureau within the government.
The government sends surveys to patients staying overnight at hospitals across the country. Women-Certified then taps into the surveys to understand the patient experience.
This survey was the first gender-based customer- satisfaction study done by WomenCertified.
“[The survey] really let us understand the differences between what drives customer satisfaction and needs and preferences between men and women,” said Delia Passi, founder of WomenCertified.
WomenCertified asked 5,000 women what drives the patient experience.
They then overlaid their responses with the data received from the Youngstown-Warren Regional area, which allowed them to determine which hospitals provided the most loyalty among women.
Passi said smaller hospitals tend to have an advantage over larger counterparts.
“You reap the rewards of a stronger health-care unit,” Passi said. “This is their business.”
Muransky and his staff at Southwoods don’t have a formal public-relations team. Since Southwoods opened its doors, Muransky’s best promotion has been his doctors.
“My biggest advertisement,” Muransky said, “are my physicians, my employees and the people that have come to our place.”
TheNewsOutlet.org is a collaboration among the Youngstown State University journalism program, Kent State University, University of Akron and professional media outlets, including WYSU-FM Radio, The Vindicator, The Beacon Journal and Rubber City Radio (Akron).