Annual reports are usually stationary objects, read from a print
format and held in one’s hands.
This year, the annual report from Bradford Regional Medical
Center lends itself more to one’s senses. This year’s report,
viewed for the first time online, allows the reader to view the
various aspects of the facility as well as hear from some of the
key players about BRMC.
“It just made sense, from a number of perspectives, to issue our
Annual Report solely through the Web,” explained Deborah Price,
senior vice president of Patient Care Services.
Based on themes presented during the hospital’s Annual Meeting
and Report to the Community in November, the document chronicles
BRMC’s achievements through the past fiscal year – July 1, 2005,
through June 30, 2006.
The title of the report – 116 – is reflective of the facility’s
past and future, Price said. The number is the hospital’s street
address on Interstate Parkway, an address that will be retained
even though the main lobby was reoriented to the North Bennett
Street access in January with the ribbon cutting of a new $15
million expansion.
“It’s a historic time for us – with the new Outpatient Services
Center and our new Centers of Excellence. The new format for our
annual report helps usher in this new era,” Price said. The
document is available at BRMC’s Web site, www.brmc.com.
The multi-faceted report focuses on the “Building the Future”
theme of the hospital’s ongoing capital campaign to raise funds for
the construction project.
The report is broken down into sections – “House,” “History,”
“Healing” and “Health Care.”
For instance, the history section includes photos of the Hamsher
House in its prime; the healing section shows photos of employees
as well as the latest technology featured at the facility. The
photos are not static, they either flow by or fade in and out,
depending on the section.
Viewers can read about BRMC’s strategic initiatives, learn about
its renovation plans during ’06 and ’07 and see a pictorial guide
to the latest additions to the medical staff.
Updates on a multimillion dollar Meditech Information Systems
upgrade, renovations and the relocation of the BRMC Auxiliary’s
HeartStrings Gift Shop and a report from the Bradford Hospital
Foundation are also among the document’s highlights. Among the
unique features of the online version is the viewer’s ability to
link to various parts of the hospital’s Web site and to watch video
clips embedded within the Annual Report.
“This is one of the most exciting features of an online Annual,”
said BRMC’s Communications Director Kimberly Maben. “To provide
ways for the viewer to delve further into subjects they’re most
interested in provides them with opportunities that just aren’t
available with printed materials.”
Testimonials on the video clips are provided by numerous
physicians, including Dr. Peter Delneky, obstetrics/gynecology; Dr.
Steven Herrmann, Ph.D., cardiology; Dr. Roger Laroche, psychiatry;
Dr. Jill Owens, family medicine. Also filmed are BRMC President and
Chief Executive Officer George E. Leonhardt, Auxiliary
representatives David Sheneman and Beverly Gallup and Bradford
Hospital Foundation Board Chairman Sandra McKinley.
Maben said that several key reports have been converted for
print format for viewers interested in having them in a more
traditional readable text style. Those include “Letter from the
Leadership,” “Report of Building Management” and “Report of
Bradford Hospital Foundation.”
Also, the “Report on Financial Operations” has been converted to
print format, although this year’s final audit figures are not yet
available.
Currently, that page includes pie charts of BRMC “payors,” or
where the facility gets its money for services. The largest part of
the pie – 45 percent – is paid by Medicare, according to the
chart.
It is followed by managed care at 21 percent; Medicaid at 16
percent; commercial insurances at 9 percent; Blue Cross at 7
percent; and private at 2 percent.
BRMC’s main expense is personnel costs at 50 percent. Goods and
services purchased comes in at 41 percent. The remainder expenses
are depreciation expenses at 4 percent, bad debt expense at 3
percent and interest expense at 2 percent.
Hospital financial officials said that while the hospital’s
audit report is traditionally completed in the early part of the
year for the prior year, the audit firm was awaiting additional
financial information from a third party, causing a slight delay in
the release of final figures.
“Another benefit of the online version is that we can add this
page in the online version when it becomes available shortly,
rather than delaying the release of all this material as we would
have to if this was in print,” Maben said.
The Annual Report is a production of the hospital’s Department
of Communications, with primary graphic design and technical
execution by protocol 80 Inc. of Bradford. The firm is an Internet
business and IT services consulting firm. The project was executed
with Web pages utilizing the latest Macromedia/Adobe Flash
animation and video technology, according to protocol 80
officials.
The videos and animations contained in the Web site are viewable
by most computer owners. Film clips in the document were provided
by Route 1a Inc. of Erie and Taverna Productions, Williamsville,
N.Y., with main still photography by Craig Melvin, Olean, N.Y., and
Ken Alter, Alternative Expressions, and some by Francie Long of
Long Art Photography.
The aerial photographs in “116” were taken by BRMC’s Chief
Information Officer Terry Palmer and Bruce Klein. Officials noted
that the hospital’s Web site – which launched in its third version
in July 2005 – is also formatted to be viewable easily with older
computers and printable in an easy to read format.
