Quality care is Doctors Hospital’s primary aim.  In Augusta’s robust healthcare community, Doctors Hospital is a leader when assessed by indicators of quality care. The facility has received The Joint Commission’s recognition as a Top Performer in Key Quality Measures.  Dr. John F. Farr, III, M.D., hired earlier this summer as Doctors Hospital’s new Chief Medical Officer, states, “We apply evidenced-based medicine to continually improve the quality of care we deliver.  We apply the principles and facts we’ve learned from sound medical research.  We don’t guess.”

Since June 23, Dr. Farr has overseen the clinical operations of the hospital and the processes for providing services to patients.  A 354-bed hospital with 1,300 employees requires attention to detail. “How do we provide the highest quality medical care and make that cost effective?  That’s the biggest challenge we’re facing in medicine right now,” explains Dr. Farr. “It’s important to be a good steward of assets and resources, including personnel, medical supplies and equipment.  Compared to the Military Health Care System, You’re resourced to more readily make changes in a civilian environment, but you’re held accountable for those changes.”  Every facet of patient care must be efficient, effective and utilize the best available technology while also maintaining the human interaction that is so essential to healing.

Dr. Farr says, “Medicine, at its core, is a relationship business based on building relationships with families and staff.”  His background in Family Medicine – he comes to Doctors Hospital from his former post as Chief of the Department of Family Medicine at Eisenhower Army Medical Center at Fort Gordon – and his experience in the U.S. Army have prepared him for the rigors of senior level management requiring interpersonal skills and leadership acumen.

As Chief Medical Officer of Doctors Hospital, Dr. Farr is charged with multiple responsibilities all geared toward achieving the best possible patient experience and outcomes.  The position requires him to initiate clinical and quality initiatives that support the provision of high quality, safe and consistent clinical performance and practice standards across the hospital.  He must attend to performance improvement, risk management, hospital safety and medical staff credentialing functions while ensuring the collaboration and coordination of all stakeholders.

Dr. Farr facilitates hospital-wide medical staff integration.  At the same time, he has to ensure that all medical practices followed within the hospital comply with local, state and federal regulatory requirements as well as nationally recognized standards of care. To keep Doctors Hospital on the cutting edge of medicine, he has to be an innovator of products and practices.

“My major job as CMO is to be the clinical voice of the hospital,” he summarizes.  The short version of Dr. Farr’s job description is thus: To maintain an environment in which providers know that everybody’s goal is the same and to operate a hospital in which patients have access to the highest quality of care for a reasonable cost.  “That is challenging,” concedes Dr. Farr. “These aren’t easy tasks.  Medicine is in such an interesting time right now.”

With the 70-bed Joseph M. Still Burn Center – the largest inpatient burn center in the U.S. – and specialties in Women’s Services, Orthopedics, and Cancer Care, Doctors Hospital is poised to compete well in the CSRA’s healthcare market.  Doctors Hospital is certified as a Primary Stroke Center and as an Accredited Chest Pain Center.  The facility was recently named one of America’s Best Hospitals for Emergency Care by the Women’s Choice Awards.  And Doctors Hospital continues to grow to meet the needs of the community and the demands of the market.  Dr. Farr says, “We need more space.  It’s a healthy problem to have.”