“The disruption healthcare needs”
Clinical process improvement (CPI) is vital to improving financial performance and patient outcomes, according to a panel of leading healthcare executives interviewed by C-Suite Resources for a report released by LogicStream Health (@Logic_Stream). The report, “The New Healthcare Imperative,” details recommendations from top clinical innovators to overcome the common challenges of eliminating waste and reducing variation in care.
Noting that CPI is traditionally thought of as a one-off initiative, the clinical leaders emphasized provider organizations need to adopt a strategy of continuous improvement. New processes must be deployed in response to evolving best practices and regulatory changes.
“This report is important and relevant today because excessive variation in care delivery is an ongoing problem generating a tremendous amount of waste in healthcare,” said Brita Hansen, M.D., chief medical officer at LogicStream Health. “Provider organizations are facing unprecedented cost pressure while patients and payors are demanding greater value for their healthcare dollars. Continued focus on process improvement in the clinical space is the disruption healthcare needs, as it was for sectors like retail, transportation and financial services.”
One panelist, Amy Compton-Phillips, M.D., EVP and chief clinical officer at Providence St. Joseph Health, described the new imperative in healthcare: “We need to provide better healthcare at a lower cost. We can’t cut our way to excellence; we must improve our way to excellence.”
Dr. Hansen said the landmark report notes unanimous consent from leading clinical innovators that CPI decisions require real-time actionable insights from data contained in electronic medical records (EMRs) to affect meaningful change in clinical processes and workflows.
Another panelist, Nicholas Desai, M.D., chief medical information officer at Houston Methodist Hospital System, said “You can’t do process improvement without data. You need data to find out where the areas of opportunity are. Most of the time we are not even sure what to ask for – we don’t even have a good reference of where to start.”
The report identified “a culture of constant improvement,” as a key success factor in driving toward greater value. According to Diane Humbrecht, DNP, RN-BC, administrative director, chief nursing informatics officer, Virginia Mason Medical Center, “Change is constant and measurable. You need leadership to help facilitate the efforts and assist in getting to the right people,” where value is created. She also said focus is key: “By focusing on process, your efficiency will improve with lower costs, producing improved outcomes.”
These findings echo those of KLAS Research in its report, “Clinical Process Improvement 2018: Paving the Way for Improved Clinical Processes,” in which the research firm identifies CPI as an emerging focal point for the industry. KLAS examined the performance of vendor solutions designed to support CPI initiatives. It then ranked the solutions based on their ability to identify opportunities, leverage and analyze data, measure improvement and affect change.
“The healthcare industry remains in a constant state of change and the insights gleaned from this report shed further light on the need for health systems to disrupt the status quo,” said Dr. Hansen. “As a leading innovator in this field, we’re helping clinical leaders nationwide put actionable insights into the hands of those most capable of generating meaningful improvements to ensure patients receive the highest quality of care while reducing the burden of unnecessary costs.”
About C-Suite Resources
C-Suite Resources provides healthcare industry intelligence, education and executive advisory services to companies that serve the healthcare industry. The company’s services enable healthcare suppliers and vendors to improve their strategy, product/service, sales and marketing performance.
C-Suite Resources delivers healthcare industry intelligence via carefully selected “Faculty-Advisors,” including over 250 nationally recognized leaders such as CEOs, COOs, CFOs, CMOs, CQOs, CIOs, CMIOs and others from prominent healthcare delivery organizations.
C-Suite Resources has worked with companies specializing in information technology, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, real estate, revenue cycle solutions, post-acute care, healthcare consulting, and more. Clients span Fortune 100 companies to specialty companies to those entering healthcare from other industries.
About LogicStream Health
LogicStream Health is trusted by a community of high-performing healthcare providers across the United States. The company’s clinical process control and improvement software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform stands alone in its ability to help customers gain instant insights to improve vital clinical processes and patient care. As a result, customers reduce cost and improve outcomes. Healthcare customers are saving millions of dollars with the LogicStream Health platform, for example, by reducing high-cost medications, achieving significant reductions in catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) and reaching nearly 100 percent compliance with venous thromboembolism (VTE) protocols. The LogicStream Health SaaS platform is ‘must-have’ technology enabling clinical teams to quickly improve clinical processes in near-real-time and is designed for rapid implementation and easy adoption by end-user clinicians, informaticists, data analysts and executive teams. LogicStream Health, developed by clinicians for clinicians, today is supporting hundreds of hospitals on a scalable and sustainable technology platform to standardize process and deliver highly reliable healthcare.