Dear Team,

Good morning.  The following is an update on a major quality and safety initiative here at YKHC.  Three years ago we embarked on our journey towards high reliability.  According to The Joint Commission, leadership’s commitment to achieving zero patient harm, developing a culture of safety and robust process improvement are three elements that are hallmarks of any organization that is highly reliable and error free.

One critical long term initiative towards achieving high reliability is our implementation of Lean Healthcare.  Lean is a structured way of continuously exposing and solving problems to eliminate waste in systems that deliver value to customers.  Three years ago we established Lean as our chosen method of process improvement to prepare for the future state of healthcare.

We are making a long-term commitment to improving quality and safe patient care, staff and customer satisfaction, as well as our overall efficiency.  Another key goal is reducing the burden on our staff, while engaging staff to be a part of the process improvement.  Over the last three years, more than 300 trainings on Lean have occurred throughout YKHC.

We have begun building the components of a system to help everyone manage their work.  These components include: strategy deployment, standard work for leaders and staff, visual management, daily management and continuous improvement. 

We all have priorities of our own right now.  However, our ability to work together as an integrated system in order to prepare for the future depends on this.  This is especially true as we begin to move into our new hospital here in Bethel.  I understand we need to change how we work—not add more work—because we are all working as hard as we can right now.  We will support you through that change by providing you an environment where you can redefine processes and reduce waste in your daily work. 

This has already begun for all the departments that are moving into the new hospital as each observe mock customer flows, their associated problems and needed corrections.  Expect all of us on the leadership team to be more visible at the point of work, listening to you and looking for ways to help you.  Realize we are there to help and understand, and not to judge.  In return we respectfully ask for your candor and insight regarding the problems you encounter in your work. 

Here is what we need from you:  We need you to embrace this work and become coaches to the front-line staff around these methods.  You need to own the improvement.  This cannot be delegated to anyone else.  Just like the senior leadership team, we expect directors/managers to be more present at the front-line; not as a micro-manager, but as a supporter of front-line work.  If staff do not have something they need to do their jobs, you will need to provide it for them.  Managers need to actively help staff remove waste and bottlenecks from their work processes.

This is about making the right work easier to do for providers and staff.  Please surface problems so we know where to help you. 

Leadership and Ronnie Daughtry of Healthcare Performance Partners (HPP) are here as coaches and facilitators.  HPP is here to do this with us, not for us.  They will be supporting us to help all of us become self-sustaining.

Over the next year, you can expect more articles, notifications and success stories on our journey towards high reliability in the weekly Napartet News.  Specifically, you will learn how Lean Healthcare is implemented company-wide to help us achieve robust process improvement throughout the YKHC health system.

Sincerely,

Dan Winkelman