Continuous improvement is a necessity in healthcare. Meeting the essential needs of patients while rising to the challenges and expectations of an evolving industry means healthcare providers and facilities should keep a sharp focus on innovation and growth. However, implementing programs that stay on the leading edge can be difficult for busy healthcare administrators, who must maintain focus on the day-to-day operations of a healthcare facility.
Growth in Healthcare
You may think, “What if I don’t have time to implement programs… or create them in the first place?” If this is you, know you’re not alone. These tasks can not only place more burden on executives and administrators but there are also often hidden costs associated with creation and implementation. Yet, strengthening clinical and operational performance remains essential. That’s where an outsourced clinical services partner can help.
TeamHealth partners with hundreds of healthcare facilities across the country to implement innovative and proprietary strategies that improve care and efficiencies. Our clinical strategic pillars reflect these efforts: clinical quality and safety, clinical operations, patient experience and leadership development. In a previous article, I discussed our focus on our clinicians, leadership development and powerful recruiting. To further illustrate, I’ll turn to the remaining pillars.
Clinical Quality and Patient Safety
Quality is a crucial driver of healthcare, and the shift to value-based care has further highlighted the need for enhanced quality. Organizations must emphasize quality care, safety standards and patient outcomes. Yet, defining, communicating, implementing and sustaining customized and effective strategies is complicated. An outsourcing partnership in this space can open doors to advanced quality and safety that may otherwise be cost- or resource-prohibitive.
TeamHealth’s strategic focus on quality and safety means we have innovative best practices to address improvement. For example, our specialty service lines mitigate patient safety concerns due to coverage and timely access to care with enhanced, on-site presence for acute or unassigned women’s health and surgical cases. This coverage reduces risk, but we also implement specialized tactics – led by local, regional and national clinical experts – to enhance patient safety. For example, infection control tactics implemented by our clinicians reduce hospital-acquired infections. Likewise, we are proud to employ world-renowned clinicians who pioneer clinical techniques, such as our work to develop patient blood management approaches.
Clinical Operations
Beyond the foundational need for quality and safety, healthcare facilities should also consider enhanced clinical operations. Operational performance can have far-reaching impacts. Poor performance could lead to suboptimal patient experiences, lack of clinician engagement, poor outcomes and more. In contrast, exceptional performance can drive standards and improve care delivery.
As a nationwide clinical services provider, we have the depth of experience in diverse hospital settings to create customized programs. For example, our proprietary Cognition platform enhances emergency department performance, matching facilities with peer groups to provide tailored benchmarks and recommendations. In addition, dedicated committees and workgroups tackle universal challenges with tailored solutions, such as our hospital medicine team’s Productivity Redesign Project Committee. Our world-class Performance Improvement Consultants (PIC) team, which includes masters-prepared process improvement specialists, also optimizes operational performance. Whether building a fast-track protocol to enhance ED flow or creating tactics around specific metric goals, the PIC team’s expertise and resources enable advancement in clinical operations required in today’s evolving landscape.
Patient Experience
Finally, facilities should consider patient experience a fundamental driver of successful care delivery. Patient retention and facility reputation are crucial in the digital age. As digital footprints grow and experiential testimonies are increasingly accessible, facilities should devote attention to experience. Not only that, though, but it’s the right thing to do. Studies show that patients with better experiences have better outcomes.
To address patient experience, TeamHealth’s experts created a proprietary program called APEX, which centers on education, analytics, rounding and mentoring. With proven results, the program utilizes these innovative techniques to strengthen patient experience. Recently, our anesthesia team formally implemented APEX into their service line, with strong results. Our teams also have other advanced methods and touchpoints, such as CME courses, HUM20 and other resources.
Building Effective Clinical Partnerships
Of course, innovation doesn’t end here. We’re constantly evolving to meet growing demands and changes in the industry. From advancing telehealth capabilities and engaging with new value-based care models to confronting implicit bias in healthcare, we’re dedicated to improvement. Our depth of experience and knowledge in hospital-based services means we have the expertise and resources to build and sustain clinical and operational programs to meet your facility or system’s needs. Connect with us to discover how we support your goals.