Lewis Earnest, MD, emergency physician and medical director of Athens-Clarke Emergency Specialists, has been named Georgia's Emergency Department Director of the Year by the Georgia College of Emergency Physicians.

Athens-Clarke Emergency Specialists is the physician group that provides medical direction and patient care in the emergency departments of St. Mary's Hospital in Athens and St. Mary's Good Samaritan Hospital in Greensboro.

"Under his directorship, our practice has excelled in every aspect imaginable," the ACES physicians write in a unanimous nomination, going on to cite specific areas such as "patient care, patient satisfaction, employee satisfaction, employee health and well-being, and overall respect of our practice in our hospitals and community."

"Dr. Earnest is an outstanding director — creative, responsive, compassionate and passionate, and super intelligent," writes Neal Priest, MD, a member of ACES and former ACES medical director, in a supporting letter. "Dr. Earnest has made phenomenal improvements in the quality of patient care and the quality of life of every person who sets foot in the Emergency Department at St. Mary’s."

Key accomplishments listed in Dr. Earnest's nomination include:

• Close collaboration with St. Mary's leadership to redesign the ED check-in process and reduce patient wait times. The result has been rapid triage at registration, direct bedding, faster throughput and enhanced patient satisfaction, even with rapidly increasing patient volumes.

• Transformation of the Good Samaritan Hospital Emergency Department from a low-volume rural ED into a bustling critical access emergency department serving a multi-county area of middle Georgia.

• Improvement of Press-Ganey patient satisfaction scores from good to excellent. Under Dr. Earnest's leadership, scores for "Likely to Recommend" consistently reach the 95^th percentile in Press-Ganey's national database.

• Greater physician and mid-level involvement to improve functionality and the appearance of the department. Dr. Earnest's Practice Advancement Projects give ACES staff a platform for suggesting improvements. Results have ranged from improved pediatric care through age-specific printed guidelines to faster response for stroke patients.

• Collaboration through personal engagement. Once a month, Dr. Earnest hosts dinner at his home for everyone in ACES and their significant others. And twice a year, he hosts gatherings at larger venues to which he invites the entire emergency department staff and/or other physician practices. These events create personal connections that promote dialogue, relationship-building and finding shared solutions to common problems.

• Combatting burnout. Providing 24/7/365 coverage at two hospitals means emergency physicians face enormous emotional and physical stresses. Burnout is a significant problem nationally, especially for ED physicians. Under Dr. Earnest's leadership, ACES has created a sabbatical program that allows physicians to take time off to be with family, take trips, or enhance their skills and knowledge.

"As Chief Medical Officer of St. Mary's Hospital, I have worked closely with Dr. Lewis Earnest over the last several years and have had many first-hand opportunities to observe his admirable work," writes Dr. Bruce Middendorf in a supporting nomination letter. "He is a team player displaying a collaborative, thoughtful approach to all he interacts with. He has my highest recommendation to be recognized as Emergency Department Director of the Year."