Bayfront Health St. Petersburg announces improvements in patient care

Six months after Bayfront Health St. Petersburg was acquired by Orlando Health, hospital leaders are optimistic they’re moving in the right direction and say they’ve made “significant gains” in the quality of care provided to patients.

In a statement released Wednesday, Bayfront Health president John Moore said the feedback he’s received from team members over the last six months has played a major role in helping administrators determine the areas in most need of improvement.

“As soon as we took over operations, we conducted listening tours as part of our full assessment of healthcare quality and identified several areas that we felt needed immediate attention,” Moore said. “We have learned from our most important resource, team members and physicians, on how to improve. With their guidance, we have worked with our clinical teams, coordinated and strengthened processes and enhanced the workplace environment – all of which have an impact on patient care.”  

Since Orlando Health took the helm on Oct. 1, 2020, Bayfront has focused on making improvements in a variety of areas including timeliness and efficiency of care and the reduction of infection rates. Additionally, administrators have made supporting team members a top priority by providing them with enhanced pay, benefits and assistance in helping them achieve a better work-life balance. In terms of improving the health of the community, Bayfront also played a key role in fighting Covid-19 through its vaccination program.

As a result of the changes that have been implemented, Bayfront has seen improvements in a number of areas, including:

• A 16.4 percent reduction in hospital acquired infections
• A 5.3 percent improvement in patient safety
• Improvements in several key measures related to patient experience such as physician communication, responsiveness, willingness to recommend the hospital and nurse communications

Internal improvements aren’t all that’s happening at Bayfront Health. At a February city council meeting, Moore shared plans and renderings for a new façade for the hospital’s main building.

Moore said that while he’s pleased with the early results, there is still more work to be done.

“We know our quality improvements won’t be fully reflected in national hospital quality measurement services for several years,” he said. “But we will continue to work as quickly and as thoroughly as possible to improve quality for patients, the hospital and the community.”

In addition to internal improvements, the exterior of Bayfront Health will be getting a facelift. At a February St. Pete city council meeting, Moore shared plans and renderings for the proposed façade for its main building, which will feature a new color scheme and modern coastal design. To create the plans, a multidisciplinary team made up of Bayfront leadership and the health system’s asset strategy team collaborated with local design firm HDR architects. HDR is also working on a master plan study to assess numerous aspects of the facility, including operational efficiency and areas where the patient experience can be improved.