Green Bay Oncology Receives 2015 Press Ganey Guardian of Excellence Award

Outstanding Performance in Patient Experience

November 11, 2015 – Green Bay Oncology is pleased to announce it has been named a 2015 Guardian of Excellence Award® winner by Press Ganey Associates, Inc. The Guardian of Excellence Award recognizes top-performing health care organizations that have consistently achieved the 95th percentile or above of performance in Patient Experience.

The Press Ganey Guardian of Excellence Award is a nationally-recognized symbol of achievement in health care. Presented annually, the award honors clients who consistently sustained performance in the top 5% of all Press Ganey clients for each reporting period during the course of one year.

According to Dr. David L. Groteluschen, President of Green Bay Oncology, the award represents an important recognition from the industry leader in measuring, understanding and improving the patient experience. “Bottom line – everything we do has to improve the patient experience. It’s great to be acknowledged for how well we’re doing so far. But we’re pushing to exceed even this high mark for those we serve.”

  “We are proud to partner with Green Bay Oncology,” said Patrick T. Ryan, CEO of Press Ganey. “This award is a testament to the organization’s leadership in delivering patient-centered care. By achieving and sustaining this level of excellence, Green Bay Oncology demonstrates their commitment to reducing patient suffering and advancing the overall quality of health care.”

About Press Ganey:
Press Ganey Holdings (NYSE: PGND) is a leading provider of patient experience measurement, performance analytics and strategic advisory solutions for health care organizations across the continuum of care. Celebrating 30 years of experience, Press Ganey is recognized as a pioneer and thought leader in patient experience measurement and performance improvement solutions. Our mission is to help health care organizations reduce patient suffering and improve clinical quality, safety and the patient experience. As of January 1, 2015, we served more than 22,000 health care facilities. For more information, visit www.pressganey.com.

The goal of good health care communication is to build a trusting relationship between the patient and the health care team. A trusting relationship allows for sharing of information and defining of patient expectations. 

Cancer is a life-threatening illness. When diagnosed with cancer patients feel fear and anxiety about prognosis and treatments. A general sense of loss of control occurs for nearly all patients. Open communication with the patient and provider fosters many positive results:

 -More informed patients

-Patient’s expectations clearly defined to the health care team

-Patients more satisfied with care

-Patients and families with more control of medical decision making

-Better able to make the change from active treatment to palliative care

Patients and their families should define their expectations for communication to and with the physician. This allows the provider to tailor communication to that family’s and patient’s needs. Some patients and families want a lot of detailed information. Others want less detail. The need for information may change as the patient moves through diagnosis and treatment. There will be key times when information will need to be discussed in detail. These key decision times include:

 -When the patient is first diagnosed

-Anytime new decisions about treatment need to be made

-After treatment, when discussing how well it worked

-Whenever the goal of care changes

-When discussions about advance directives, such as a living will, need to occur 

Cancer is an overwhelming diagnosis. Patient-provider communication, for multiple reasons outlined above and more, is the basis for quality cancer care and cancer outcomes.

May 6th is National Nurses’ Day. Thank you to every nurse at Green Bay Oncology. You demonstrate our core values every day with your knowledgeable care and compassion for our patients.  I appreciate your dedication to our organization and for setting a standard we can all look up to.  Once again, thank you.

We are proud of our affiliation with the National Cancer Institute in bringing breakthrough treatments to patients throughout Northeast Wisconsin.

In recognition for his enrollment of patients to NCI sponsored clinical trials, congratulations to David Groteluschen, MD for receiving the Silver Certificate of Excellence.

Unity, leaders in hospice and palliative care, announced on October 14th, 2013, the selection of Green Bay Oncology as the 2013 Unity Guardian Angel award winner for its contributions to the organization. Green Bay Oncology was honored during a recent presentaion to President, Dr. David Groteluschen and Chief Operating Officer, Jenifer Kolar.

“Green Bay Oncology is proud to accept the Guardian Angel award. End of life care for patients and their loved ones is an essential component of quality medical care. Throughout the years, Unity has and continues to provide exceptional hospice and palliative care in northeast Wisconsin. We greatly value our relationship with Unity, and look forward to continued collaboration in the service of our Community,” said Dr. David Groteluschen, President of Green Bay Oncology.

Each year, since 1997, Unity has recognized as Guardian Angels an individual or group of individuals who have supported Unity’s patients and families through collaboration, monetary donations or the gift of time, knowledge and skills.

“Green Bay Oncology has a long history as the region’s largest group of cancer specialists who bring the world’s latest treatments to their patients,” said Alisa Gerke, Unity’s Executive Director. “We are grateful to them for their expertise and willingness to collaborate for the best patient outcomes possible.”

Green Bay Oncology shares the distinction as a Unity Guardian Angel with other noted community members and organizations. Past honorees include:  Cellcom, Kay Ferguson, Paul Koch, MD; Sue and the late Michael Mietzel, Dr. Bill and Sandy Schneider, Bill and Marge Galvin, James McGovern, MD; Carol Bush, Cornerstone Foundation, AXA Advisors/Voyageur Group, Howard and the late DeLane Hansen, Rick and Ginny Baer, Jack and Engrid Meng, Elaine Le Duc, Merrill Lynch, and Schreiber Foods.

About Green Bay Oncology

Our mission at Green Bay Oncology is to provide the best oncology care in the Midwest.  By building empathetic, caring relationships, we will enhance the physical, psychological, and social well being of our patients, our employees and the community we serve.  We embrace even the most difficult of cases because we are determined to partner with patients and their families, our employees and the community, to relentlessly battle cancer.

About Unity

Unity is a not-for-profit provider of palliative, hospice care and grief support in 12 counties in Northeast Wisconsin and has offices in the Green Bay area, Marinette, Shawano and Sturgeon Bay. A continuation of the former Bellin Hospice program founded in 1977, Unity is a partnership of Bellin Health, St. Mary’s Hospital Medical Center and St. Vincent Hospital. Unity is a member of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO). For more information call (920) 338-1111 or visit www.unityhospice.org.