Thursday, July 21, 2011

Jeff Selberg and Mike Rona to join CCRMC Access Kaizen Report Out this Friday, July 22

Greetings,

I'm excited to have joining us this Friday at the CCRMC report out, Jeff Selburg, Executive Vice President and COO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, and Mike Rona, President and CEO of Rona Consulting. Please support the work of your colleagues and our patient and family partners as they draw on science and the energy and creativity of each other to continuously improve our health system.

As a reminder, in June a team of representatives from across our system and the community mapped the appointment process to observe and quantify how much time is seen as “value” for the patients when they are seeking an appointment. Ideas were then generated from the team about improvements that could be made to create an ideal “future state.”
Using the future state as a guide, three one-week long rapid improvement events (Kaizens) were planned. A recurring premise throughout the three planned improvement events (Kaizens) is creating a system that delivers the right care, in the right place, at the right time. The plan is presented on the A3 here. You should be able to click the A3 to better view it.

This week, your colleagues have been working with the Advice Nurse Unit. They are testing alternative models of service. One idea being tested is an Advice-Nurse-referred phone call from a virtually-embedded physician using evidence-based, national standards. Teams are also testing a revised message for incoming callers with clear direction for calls that are unrelated to the Advice Nurse Unit. A third area of work is focused on the Patient-Centered Medical Home model. In one clinic, the team will test a virtual liaison for a number of roles. These roles include; primary care providers, advice nurse, medical social worker, appointment unit representative, and care coordinator. Several other possible roles are also being considered for testing.

In summary, your colleagues are bringing together ideas from across our system and from science to test alternative models of care with three aims;

Better Care: Improve the overall quality, by making health care more patient-centered, reliable, accessible, and safe.

Healthy People and Communities: Improve the health of the population by supporting proven interventions to address behavioral, social, and environmental determinants of health in addition to delivering higher-quality care.

Affordable Care: Reduce the cost of quality health care for individuals, families, employers, and local government.

You are invited to attend one of the three Kaizen Report Outs that will take place on Friday, July 22, 2011, as follows:
7:45 am Richmond Health Center lobby
12:15 pm Pittsburg Health Center lobby
1:45 pm Contra Costa Regional Medical Center lobby

Hope to see you there.
Anna