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When It Comes to Let’s Connect:

Patient Care, Get ACHE of South Florida Spotlight

the Mixture Right

I recently was asked to be a guest on a pod- The Benefits of Early Entry
cast. The topics ranged from successfully navi-
gating COVID-19, to customer service strategy Into ACHE Grooming
to employee engagement. During the discussion
I was asked how my company manages to do BY JAY JUFFRE
what we do in such a unique way as compared Students into Leaders
to the others in the industry. Without pulling
out a transcript, my answer was quite simple, that is because we rarely com-
pare ourselves to the industry we are in. It is a strategic question your ACHE of South Florida
organization should always ask itself: who do we want to be compared to?
Do you simply want to be the best as compared to your peers in the region Member Spotlight:
or business segment you are in? Or do you want to be seen as best in class Darrell Leggett II
across multiple industries. If companies outside of the healthcare space
adopted the former approach, Apple, Tesla, Starbucks, Chick-fil-A and
other giants would not exist in their current form. They may have evolved BY BARBARA FALLON
into very good computer, automobile, coffee shop and fast-food companies
in their space, but there is no way we would have seen their transformation- Darrell Leggett, II, has been associated with
al impact on the world. You see companies like this flawlessly mix customer the ACHE since his student days at Baylor
service, customer experience and overall employee satisfaction in a way that University, Texas. He credits mentoring, net-
it is nearly impossible to figure out where one aspect ends, and the others working and educational programming with
begin. These companies also implement key initiatives which thoughtfully grooming his evolution from initial clinical
“drive all three. So how is your organization’s current “mix?” Does your aspirations to an administrative healthcare
team enthusiastically deliver both the fundamentals and the above and career with a foundation in the sciences, along Darrell Leggett II
beyond patient experience? Are you perhaps settling for best of industry with a rich exposure to the humanities and
standards? If your mix is not where you’d like it, consider looking to the focus on relationships and experiences in the changing nature of healthcare in
companies who do it best in other industries. You’d be surprised what you the 21st century.
can learn from the best in class, even if it is a little different from what you As a student member, he found ACHE member executives willing to mentor
(and your peers) do now. him and share feedback on his goals. He also enjoyed participating in devel-
opmental programming and networking which was valuable to matching him
Jay Juffre is Executive Vice President, ImageFIRST. For more information on with his current four-year association and growth with HCA, America.
ImageFIRST, call 1-800-932-7472 or visit www.imagefirst.com. After earning a BA in Medical Humanities and an MBA with Healthcare
Administration specialization and serving as an HCA administrative resident,
then practice manager positions in Texas and currently Director of Physician
Services in Palm Beach, he learned the value of using listening skills from
ACHE guidance.
Leggett explained, “It turned my initial perceptions of organizational per-
formance upside down. I now think of an inverted triangle with the front-line
feeding info down to the CEO and, in turn, getting support for policy and pro-
cedural improvements that benefit staff, patients and the bottom line.” “I
found that listening to diverse points of view from front line patient care staff,
no matter their status in an organization, is vital to achieving patient satisfac-
tion. Establishing operational policies to support and not dictate change to
front line staff empowers them and builds a staff culture where procedures and
attitudes positively impact patient satisfaction scores,” he concluded.
Even before he entered health care, Leggett was always interested in cus-
tomer service. He was in the restaurant business and often dealt with rude,
cranky or dissatisfied customers.
According to Leggett, “In the health care arena that attitude may have a
legitimate cause, since patients may be in pain or families worried while wait-
ing for diagnostic or therapeutic outcomes. Physicians may be stressed by
financial constraints, bureaucratic policy, inefficient systems or any number of
operational aspects. My job is to listen to those concerns and participate in
ways to solve or alleviate the dissatisfiers. It’s not necessarily true that our cus-
tomers or providers are rude, it’s that we need to better appreciate and improve
the individual situations that feed their concerns.”
Now as he and his wife have settled into South Florida, he feels ready to give
back and volunteers on membership committees to spearhead initiatives, such
as topical symposiums dealing with marketing, ethics, finance, diversity and
patient centricity, with local business school students. He also serves as a
resource to attract local executives to participate and share experiential
knowledge during educational programs or learn through collegial network-
ing conversations.
Mentors’ advice he has followed in the early stages of his career remind him
to avoid complacency and always seek opportunities for worthwhile advance-
ment, not just a title. He embraces the maxim that learning should be a life-
long journey.
“Listen and collaborate with colleagues, read a book, earn the next certifi-
cation … these are all steps that build and support one’s ambition,” he said.
“Now that I am paying it forward, I share that when networking with the next
generation of leaders. I advise them to look for learning opportunities outside
of the classroom, such as networking through ACHE. Someone else has been
there before you and if you relate to golf; it is much easier to learn basics of a
good golf swing early than it is to correct a bad one later,” he said.

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8 July 2022 southfloridahospitalnews.com South Florida Hospital News