UMass Memorial Health Care
Cost Containment Corner - An ideal hospital
June 03, 2016
By Eric W. Dickson
The UMass Memorial Health Care management system is built on the foundation of engaging every one of our caregivers every day in improving the quality and efficacy of the care we deliver. All of our caregivers huddle regularly with management to discuss performance in their business unit and provide leadership with valuable feedback on problems they are experiencing and ideas for how wecan improve results. This is embodied in our mantra: “Everyone, Every Day.”
Idea System
To drive innovation and process improvement we leverage our organizational Idea System to engage everyone in the process of problem-solving as it relates to their individual work areas. All of our caregivers have the ability to raise their hands and tell us how we can work smarter and more efficiently through this system. Over the past 30 months, our caregivers have submitted and had implemented more than 25,000 ideas to help improve not only their day-to-day work situation, but collectively operational efficiency across the health care system.
Elements
There are essentially five components to our Idea System: the idea board; idea card; metrics; team huddles; and celebrations. It is essentially a grass-roots program that starts at the unit or departmental level. Each of the 400 business units across the health system have an idea board that serves as the center of its idea program. It also serves as a visual management system where performance metrics are posted so they can see and discuss how they are doing, and their ideas for improving performance.
Our caregivers use the idea card to submit a new idea to the system. The card must contain an explanation of the proposed idea and how it is an improvement over a previous practice. The submitting caregiver’s name and date of submission are also included on the card. Some units number their idea cards for ease of tracking.
Ideas can also be submitted to improve a process beyond the caregiver’s work area and those ideas will be given strong consideration. However, it is important that departments submit ideas that are relevant to their work area because those ideas will have the greatest impact. Each submission should advance the department closer to its team goals or metrics.
We use metrics to measure how well the department is doing in accomplishing its annual goals. Is the department on track or a little behind? Ideas should address ways to stay on target and eliminate barriers in pursuit of reaching departmental metrics for the year. The team huddle is the opportunity for each caregiver to engage colleagues to offer up and discuss new ideas, give updates on ideas in process and discuss barriers, if any, to idea implementation. Teams generally huddle around the idea board and the discussion is designed to be free-flowing and less formal than a staff meeting. Each caregiver is encouraged to participate in the discussion and offer their feedback during the huddle sessions.
As an organization we celebrate the many ideas and contributions to operational efficiency by our caregivers on a monthly basis. The celebrations are announced in advance and are held on one of our numerous campuses in central Massachusetts.
Leadership support and commitment
Each week, our senior leaders perform executive rounding for one hour in areas they don’t oversee in their daily responsibilities. This is an opportunity for them to directly engage with our front-line caregivers to see firsthand the challenges they face on a daily basis. We want our executives to make decisions based on what we learn when we are on the floors with our caregivers, not just from the pile of spreadsheets and reports that come across our desks. When our senior leaders round they have three objectives:
Listen and learn: Find out how our caregivers do their work and the problems they face.
Coach: Support and encourage their use of idea boards to drive innovation.
Answer questions: Find out what’s going on with their department/teams and how it impacts our health care system. Our executives are also there to aid their rounded departments with “ideas needing help.” Some ideas are large in scope and may need another level of approval or additional funding before being implemented. Executives can work with organizational leaders to make sure the department’s ideas are heard and acted upon. Last year we employed a $1 million Innovation Fund to allow our departments to leverage additional resources to bring their ideas to implementation.
Innovation supports change
UMass Memorial Health Care is an organization on the move. We have made giant strides to become a more integrated system and increase our services to the community. We have seen numerous improvements in our operating and financial performance. None of this would be possible without the support of our caregivers and their 25,000- plus ideas on how we can work smarter and more efficiently in order to focus more of our time providing quality care to our patients.
About the author: Dr. Eric W. Dickson is president and CEO of UMass Memorial HealthCare, a four-hospital, fully integrated health care delivery system with over 1,000 acute care beds and 1,100 employed physicians. Dr. Dickson is also a practicing emergency medicine physician and professor of emergency medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.
The UMass Memorial Health Care management system is built on the foundation of engaging every one of our caregivers every day in improving the quality and efficacy of the care we deliver. All of our caregivers huddle regularly with management to discuss performance in their business unit and provide leadership with valuable feedback on problems they are experiencing and ideas for how wecan improve results. This is embodied in our mantra: “Everyone, Every Day.”
Idea System
To drive innovation and process improvement we leverage our organizational Idea System to engage everyone in the process of problem-solving as it relates to their individual work areas. All of our caregivers have the ability to raise their hands and tell us how we can work smarter and more efficiently through this system. Over the past 30 months, our caregivers have submitted and had implemented more than 25,000 ideas to help improve not only their day-to-day work situation, but collectively operational efficiency across the health care system.
Elements
There are essentially five components to our Idea System: the idea board; idea card; metrics; team huddles; and celebrations. It is essentially a grass-roots program that starts at the unit or departmental level. Each of the 400 business units across the health system have an idea board that serves as the center of its idea program. It also serves as a visual management system where performance metrics are posted so they can see and discuss how they are doing, and their ideas for improving performance.
Our caregivers use the idea card to submit a new idea to the system. The card must contain an explanation of the proposed idea and how it is an improvement over a previous practice. The submitting caregiver’s name and date of submission are also included on the card. Some units number their idea cards for ease of tracking.
Ideas can also be submitted to improve a process beyond the caregiver’s work area and those ideas will be given strong consideration. However, it is important that departments submit ideas that are relevant to their work area because those ideas will have the greatest impact. Each submission should advance the department closer to its team goals or metrics.
We use metrics to measure how well the department is doing in accomplishing its annual goals. Is the department on track or a little behind? Ideas should address ways to stay on target and eliminate barriers in pursuit of reaching departmental metrics for the year. The team huddle is the opportunity for each caregiver to engage colleagues to offer up and discuss new ideas, give updates on ideas in process and discuss barriers, if any, to idea implementation. Teams generally huddle around the idea board and the discussion is designed to be free-flowing and less formal than a staff meeting. Each caregiver is encouraged to participate in the discussion and offer their feedback during the huddle sessions.
As an organization we celebrate the many ideas and contributions to operational efficiency by our caregivers on a monthly basis. The celebrations are announced in advance and are held on one of our numerous campuses in central Massachusetts.
Leadership support and commitment
Each week, our senior leaders perform executive rounding for one hour in areas they don’t oversee in their daily responsibilities. This is an opportunity for them to directly engage with our front-line caregivers to see firsthand the challenges they face on a daily basis. We want our executives to make decisions based on what we learn when we are on the floors with our caregivers, not just from the pile of spreadsheets and reports that come across our desks. When our senior leaders round they have three objectives:
Listen and learn: Find out how our caregivers do their work and the problems they face.
Coach: Support and encourage their use of idea boards to drive innovation.
Answer questions: Find out what’s going on with their department/teams and how it impacts our health care system. Our executives are also there to aid their rounded departments with “ideas needing help.” Some ideas are large in scope and may need another level of approval or additional funding before being implemented. Executives can work with organizational leaders to make sure the department’s ideas are heard and acted upon. Last year we employed a $1 million Innovation Fund to allow our departments to leverage additional resources to bring their ideas to implementation.
Innovation supports change
UMass Memorial Health Care is an organization on the move. We have made giant strides to become a more integrated system and increase our services to the community. We have seen numerous improvements in our operating and financial performance. None of this would be possible without the support of our caregivers and their 25,000- plus ideas on how we can work smarter and more efficiently in order to focus more of our time providing quality care to our patients.
About the author: Dr. Eric W. Dickson is president and CEO of UMass Memorial HealthCare, a four-hospital, fully integrated health care delivery system with over 1,000 acute care beds and 1,100 employed physicians. Dr. Dickson is also a practicing emergency medicine physician and professor of emergency medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.