A Mother Knows

I was honored to join the Chair of our Behavioral Healthcare Partnership, Teresa Pasquini, on a webinar with the National Association of Public Hospitals yesterday to discuss the importance of patients and family members as equal partners in our system. Paul Levy, former CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, author of "Goal Play! Leadership Lessons from the Soccer Field" and advocate for patient-driven care, eliminating preventable harm, transparency of clinical outcomes, and front-line driven process improvement was also in the room. Paul is an avid blogger and wrote about Teresa's comments. Here is an excert from his blog post:

"Nothing is scarier than the health system when your child is sick. Please, don't be afraid of an an angry mom or patient. Invite family members like mine to tell you our experiences and let us help you create solutions. Nobody comes to work to harm others. We are the expert system navigators and we will help you design a better system for all."  Click here to read his full post.

If you're interested in learning more about our work with patients and families you can find more information on our Patient and Family Partner webpage. I've also included a short video below so you can hear from some of our Partners about how they are improving CCRMC and the Health Centers. We welcome your perspective and hope you will consider joining our team.

More very soon,
Anna

Patient Centered Health Home Value Stream Mapping Report Out this Friday

How can we make the clinic experience better for our patients and staff?

Strong Primary Care = Patient and Family-Centered Care
 
You are all invited to join this Friday's Primary Care Value Stream Mapping Report Out Presentation on March 1, 2013.
A multidisciplinary team from across the health centers came together this week to critically observe and analyze the current state of our clinic system experience, identify the gaps and design the ideal future state to guide our improvement work moving forward.

This is complex work. We are reaching far outside the walls of the medical center (CCRMC) into the health centers (clinics) and the health plan (CCHP). This is not easy work. It takes willingness, courage, caring and honesty to engage in a change effort. Additionally, it takes constancy of purpose and discipline.

Please join me in support of our colleagues and our partners for their hard work this week. This is an important opportunity to hear about the plan for future rapid improvement events to improve primary care at our health centers for patients and staff.  

Report Out Locations/Times:

Friday, March 1, 2013

West County Health Center Conference Room: 7:45-8:15am
CCRMC Lobby: 10-10:30am
Pittsburg Health Center Cypress Room: 12:15-12:45pm

I look forward to seeing you there!

More very soon,
Anna

CCRMC welcomes Paul Levy

We have a very special guest speaking on the CCRMC campus Tuesday, February 26.

Paul Levy, author and former CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, will be sharing his insights on the principles of servant leadership and their application in building high-performance teams. He is an internationally recognized advocate for patient-driven care, eliminating preventable harm, transparency of clinical outcomes, and front-line driven process improvement.

Mr. Levy’s 2012 book, Goal Play! Leadership Lessons from the Soccer Field, offers insights from sports, health care, business and government to help leaders get better outcomes. As a practical guide to improved leadership, his book highlights unconventional thinking and actions that can be used to bring about outstanding results. He also is an avid blogger.

Please join me for his presentation at noon Tuesday in the Building One Conference Room, Martinez Health Center on the CCRMC campus.

Anna

CCRMC welcomes Tom Bodenheimer, MD to discuss Primary Care Redesign

Dear CCRMC Community:
I'm delighted to announce that one of the world's thought leaders and demonstrated experts in primary care redesign, Dr. Tom Bodenheimer, will be joining us at CCRMC this Wednesday for noon conference. See details below. We will open lines for those dialing in. Please join us for this important event as we continue our planned efforts in the redesign of our primary care system.
More very soon,
Anna

Click on the image

5S in action at CCRMC's West County Health Center

CCRMC’s, Lean Promotion Office (LPO), has been partnering with our West County Health Center managers and staff to implement 5S throughout the Family Medicine Clinic suites since late October, roughly a month after they first opened the new clinic. Here are the slides from their efforts.

 

It was noted that like many areas of our operation, there is a need to create a standard way of organizing supplies or rooms and work areas.  The WCHC manager and charge nurse, Caroline and Lolly, requested help implementing 5S in the clinic. With the input and efforts from front line staff,  standard templates for exam rooms, dirty utility rooms, equipment rooms, EKG Rooms and treatment rooms were developed.  5S is planned for the treatment room, EKG room, nurse’s station and triage room. Standardize templates –checklists on “how to” 5S -  will support spread to all other suites (with some customization for specialty clinics), train staff in 5S and support the process as needed to create a sustainable system. After maintaining a standard and sustainable 5S system, the next planned step is to roll-out 5S in other clinics across our system.

Developing a 5S organization system could not have been accomplished without the incredible support and help from WCHC administration (Caroline, Lolly, Arturo), front line staff who participated in the 5S process (Nick, Armand, Sara, Cassie, Jami, Lu, Maria) and input from providers, nurses and other clinical staff. Staff has put in many hours labeling, rearranging rooms and supplies and standardizing the clinic in order to optimize work flow and create a better environment for everyone to work in and delivery the best care.

Many thanks to our WCHC team and the CCRMC, LPO for leading this important improvement effort.

More very soon,

Anna

Looking forward to a New Year: Welcome 2013

Dear Contra Costa Health Services employees and partners, 

2012 was one of the most challenging years our organization has ever been through. Transforming a health system is no easy task. The winter holidays have been a chance for many of us to take a breath and gain some perspective on the past 12 months. We have come a long way on a bumpy road and made significant progress in optimizing our ccLink EHR to meet the needs of our community with our integrated system and in laying the foundation for expanding patient access to care. I look back at the past year with a sense of amazement (and a sigh of relief) of all that we have accomplished. Though I know we have more to do – I look forward to the next year with anticipation, as the goal of health reform is in sight with full implementation of the Affordable Care Act in 2014. 

There have been some astonishing changes in our system this past year. In addition to the launch of ccLink, we opened the new West County Health Center in San Pablo, started expanding the Concord Health Center and began construction of a new primary care/behavioral health complex (Building 2) at CCRMC. This year we continued our improvement efforts, which included the critical work to meet the performance requirements of the Delivery System Reform Incentive Payments Program (DSRIP). Finally, we wrapped up the year saying goodbye to a record number of valued staff and wishing them well in their retirement. 

We’ve faced some public scrutiny this past year and we’ve had some disagreements about how things are done, but we all have been striving toward the same goal: to meet our mission to care for and improve the health of all people in Contra Costa County with special attention to those who are most vulnerable to health problems.

 

The coming year promises to be an exciting one during which we will continue to face challenges and see the fruit of our labors. We will be more able than ever to provide care on a larger scale, doing so in better ways than we ever thought possible. In the coming weeks, I will share the 12 month plan that will serve as our Bridge to Reform and carry us into 2014. This plan should not hold any surprises as it incorporates the Sustainability Study and the DSRIP, which together serve as a road map for where we are going and clearly outline the requirements we must meet to ensure our ability to serve our community. Additionally, to help guide us and provide us with a shared vision, we will begin the process to develop a formal 5-year strategic plan scheduled to be completed by the end of 2013.

I want to give special thanks to those among us who serve our community on holidays, after hours and on weekends – those whose commitment to our mission has them assisting those in need. I could not be more thankful for the privilege of working with such a dedicated and caring community of professionals and partners. Each day you bring your skill and spirit, contributing to our mission, making us one of the finest health systems in our nation. I am grateful to work with such an amazing team. I wish you and all your family and friends a safe and peaceful holiday and coming year. 

Thank you all for your tremendous work and dedication.

Happy New Year! 

Anna

On the front lines of making health reform a reality

As an integrated health system we are uniquely poised to implement health reform and it is exciting to be part of the transformation of health care in America. A recent story in the Contra Costa Times and San Jose Mercury News on our FamilyPractice Residency Program illustrates just one of the many ways we are helping make this transformation possible.

With health reform, an increased demand for just the type of doctors we train will rise dramatically. Our program, which trains residents to become multi-talented family physicians, has been recognized nationally for years. It attracts more than 700 applicants every year, eager to be considered for one of our 14 positions. Most of our residents - who come from across the country - stay in Contra Costa to practice medicine here. The success of the program is a credit to the amazing work of our doctors and staff who oversee the training of the residents.  

I’m always inspired by the dedication of our residents. The financial pressure to become a specialist is immense these days, yet our residents eagerly choose to be trained as family doctors in a safety-net health system. Why do they make that choice? As one of our residents explains in her profile on our program webpage, “I wanted to learn how to take care of patients, not just hearts or hernias or kidneys. I decided to come to Martinez for the people.”  

Her comment epitomizes who we are and what we do here. Health care delivery is more than treating an illness, injury or virus. The best health care involves ongoing relationships between patients and their providers and care team. In our system, we have many physicians– including Contra Costa Health Services Director Dr. William Walker – who have cared for the same patients for decades. 

It makes me proud to work in a patient-centered health system that is often called a model for health reform. But what makes me the most proud are the people who make our system work – they are the ones making health reform a reality.   

More very soon,

Anna