Capital Medical Center celebrates one-year anniversary with MultiCare

Transitioning the ownership of a hospital is never a simple feat — it requires a significant amount of time, planning, investment and collaboration; however, what about acquiring a hospital in the midst of a global pandemic?

That was the situation in April 2021, when MultiCare Health System welcomed Olympia-based Capital Medical Center into the fold. Amid sharp spikes in patient volumes due to COVID-19, staffing shortages, supply chain issues and many other unforeseen challenges, approximately 700 Capital Medical Center employees became a part of the MultiCare family.

April 1, 2022, marks the one-year anniversary of the acquisition: a year defined by dedicated teamwork, creative problem-solving and unwavering perseverance.

Homecoming

Capital Medical Center, a community hospital that has been serving Olympia, Thurston County and the surrounding region since 1985, occupies a special place in the heart of its president, Will Callicoat, MBA. He started his career there in 2003 as a financial analyst, and he has the keepsake to prove it — his first paystub. After leaving Capital Medical Center to pursue other opportunities, Callicoat joined MultiCare in 2017. When MultiCare acquired Capital Medical Center, Callicoat returned to manage the transition of the hospital from its previous owner.

“It felt like a homecoming. When I came on board, there were still some team members here from when I had worked at Capital Medical Center 15 years ago,” says Callicoat, who also serves as MultiCare’s Thurston County market leader. “It’s been a blessing to be able to professionally marry the organization, the hospital and the community that I love through my role.”

Dedication to community is embedded deep in the history of Capital Medical Center. Longtime Olympia resident, medical researcher and women’s rights advocate Angela Bowen, MD, was instrumental in establishing the hospital. Prior to its founding, Olympia was a one-hospital city and Dr. Bowen staunchly believed residents deserved a second choice. On April 5, 2021, just days after the acquisition of Capital Medical Center, Callicoat and other leaders dedicated the hospital’s pavilion to Dr. Bowen to honor her legacy.

A transition of Epic proportions

By any measure, 2021 was a challenging time — the pandemic raged on for a second year, driving COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in the region and stretching both health care staff and resources near the breaking point. Transitioning the hospital from its previous owners to MultiCare against this backdrop of upheaval and increased demand for care was going to be no easy feat.

“When a hospital joins MultiCare, it’s not like flipping a switch,” says Bill Kriegsman, MD, chief medical officer (CMO) at Capital Medical Center — the first CMO in the hospital’s history. “The hospital doesn’t automatically assume all the same procedures, tools and processes as the rest of the system. They have to be rolled out one by one, and you have to teach people how to use them. There’s been a tremendous amount of learning over the past year and that has been amazing to watch.”

Perhaps one of the biggest opportunities for learning came when Epic, MultiCare’s electronic medical record system, was implemented across Capital Medical Center’s inpatient and outpatient services. The rollout entailed months of effort that included data migration, testing to ensure the accuracy of that data, staff training, and technology upgrades. For the hospital teams, the majority of this work took place at the same time that the delta variant was driving more patients to the hospital than ever.

“Installing Epic was a really heavy lift — if not done accurately and thoroughly, then you put patients at risk,” says Jennifer Weldon, MBA, the hospital’s chief financial officer (CFO).

Weldon joined the Capital Medical Center team in 2007 before moving on to other roles and facilities within the previous owner’s network of care. Weldon returned to Capital Medical in 2017 to serve as CFO and has played an integral role in the deployment of Epic and several other initiatives over the past year.

“The project management team at MultiCare is unmatched,” Weldon says. “I was in awe of the amount of shoulder-to-shoulder support, planning and investment that went into making sure the Epic rollout went as smoothly as possible.”

Critical investment, local support

Some challenging events, like the Epic rollout, were planned, but 2021 was also marked by plenty of surprises. Take last summer for example. Amid a record-setting heat wave in late June, the hospital’s chillers, responsible for cooling the building, began to fail. Temperatures in the emergency department (ED) were rising. Outside it was approaching 109 degrees. Non-clinical employees were sent home in order to shut down those areas and provide relief to the cooling system. Callicoat wondered if they would have to evacuate patients and remaining staff.

But access to local resources made all the difference. MultiCare’s Facilities Management and Operations Support team collaborated with the on-site facilities team to find a solution; ultimately Capital Medical Center was able to keep their doors open during these extreme weather conditions.

Support was not always in such close proximity. In Capital Medical Center’s 37-year history, the hospital has changed hands eight times, with all the prior owners — except for MultiCare — being for-profit entities based outside of Washington state.

“Local ownership has enabled us to be both more autonomous and more nimble, which ultimately means we’re better able to serve our community and our employees,” says Weldon.

In addition to now having in-state resources and support, Capital Medical Center has also benefitted from significant investment in much-needed infrastructure and equipment upgrades, from a new telephone system to imaging equipment, hospital beds, surgical instrumentation and more.

MultiCare’s commitment to investing in Capital Medical Center doesn’t just affect the facility itself — it has an impact on employees, too.

“MultiCare’s transparency and openness to listening to us about what we need to successfully take care of patients is huge,” says Elisabeth Hildebrand, RN, a nurse in the cardiac catheterization lab at Capital Medical Center since 2020. “Those behaviors foster an environment where down at the unit level we feel comfortable bringing issues forward — whether that’s a process that needs improving or a piece of equipment that needs replacing — and we can have confidence that those issues will be addressed.”

A forever home for a community asset

Much has been accomplished over the past year at Capital Medical Center, yet there is still more on the horizon. To improve access to emergency services in the community, Capital Medical Center is breaking ground on an off-campus ED in Lacey, set to open its doors in 2023. The hospital is also embarking on a renovation project for its central sterile department, which is responsible for sterilizing medical devices, tools and supplies used during surgery.

Beyond the many milestones reached and the continued improvements to come, what means most to some at Capital Medical Center is the fact that the hospital has found its final owner.

“Stable ownership is good for our dedicated staff — the hallmark of Capital Medical Center — and it’s good for the region,” says Stephen Snow, MD, a retired orthopedic surgeon who has served on the Capital Medical Center Board of Directors (now known as the Capital Pacific Regional Board) for more than a decade.

“MultiCare is the right long-term steward of Capital Medical Center,” he continues. “They have the vision that will allow this community asset to grow, flourish and meet its mission for years to come.”