The Client: A 900-bed trauma hospital with teaching and research responsibilities and 7,000 employees

The Situation: After 35 years of stability the hospital replaced a number of key leaders (CEO, COO, CFO, VP Nursing, etc.) over a short period of time. At the time, the hospital was involved in a very public and negative examination of its quality by the state Health Department. The new COO realized that he had to improve quality and customer service, increase two-way communications with employees and begin to eliminate organizational silos in order to jump-start an effective outcomes improvement plan, and begin to correct the public and state perception of poor quality.

The Results:

• Guided by Focus 5, hospital executive leadership, along with other formal and informal leaders, designed an approach to reach and involve every employee every month in generating improvement ideas, carrying out appropriate interventions and measuring success.
• 100+ departmentally based teams were established. These teams are led by trained managers and guided by full-time, management level Process Facilitators. Hospital Focus 5 developed the training for both the “change agent” managers and the Process Facilitators, utilizing just-in-time techniques and incorporating Lean and Six Sigma methods.