ASQ Healthcare Division Newsletter

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September / October 2010

Visit the Heathcare Division Web site at www.asq.org/health

Message from the Chair:
News from the Healthcare Division

Here’s a brief update on what’s going on in the Healthcare Division (HCD) and what we have been doing for you lately:

1. The HCD Officers Retreat was held in late June in Chicago. We agreed to use the HOSHIN Matrix tool to help us develop our Divisional Quality Management Plan (QMP). A fall retreat of the HCD Leadership Council is anticipated.
2. To improve HCD committee accountability and productivity, we have divided the committees into four groups each led by one of the HCD Officers:

a. Administration (Bob Burney) consists of the Nominating, Quality Management Plan, and Audit Committees as well as the Historian.
b. Membership (Laura Kinney) consists of the Voice of the Customer and Membership Committees and the Student Branch Chair.
c. Communications (Pierce Story) consists of the Newsletter, Website, Social Marketing, and List-serve Committees.
d. Education (Joe Fortuna) consists of the Annual Conference, Education, Examining/Award, and Nightingale Scholarship Committees.

3. Planning for the Division’s Annual Conference, Quality Institute for Healthcare (QIHC), in Pittsburgh from May 16 to 19, 2011 is well underway! The QIHC format will offer a number of different learning experiences including short case study sessions and daily hands-on half-day workshops. Because the conference is held in conjunction with the ASQ World Conference on Quality and Improvement (WCQI), QIHC attendees can also take advantage of the full WCQI program at no extra charge. The final program will be published in November. CME credit, nursing CEUs, and ASQ recertification units will be available for all sessions.

4. Certification Exam: The ASQ Certification Board approved the HCD’s proposal to develop a healthcare quality certification exam. There is a very active HCD committee meeting on that regularly and they are now in the process of developing a detailed evidence-based body of knowledge for such an exam. More on this process as it progresses.

5. There are many differences in the jobs/tasks of workers in healthcare. There are two HCD special projects now underway to identify and formally describe the status of and the needs in/for PI and QI for sub-populations of workers in the healthcare industry. One is in the area of behavioral health and the other is among those now actively working to make meaningful IT users out of health providers under the Regional Extension Program funded by the Stimulus legislation. Once vetted, these papers will assist the HCD in deciding how to best serve the needs of these healthcare workers. Please let me know if you would like to do something similar in an area of healthcare familiar to you.


I am devoting this year of my Chairmanship to strengthening and rationalizing the infrastructure of the HCD to insure its current functionality and future sustainability to meet your needs as members and the needs of the other HCD customers (sections and the ASQ HQ) in the future. That is why I have devoted so much time and effort on the HCD Committees, what they are doing, and to attracting as much membership participation in and on them as possible!! With your help and that of the HCD Officers and Committee Chairs I think we can and will be successful in these pursuits.

As always I invite your comments, criticisms, suggestions, and – most of all – offers to become involved!! Please contact me anytime via email (jaf@prism1.org) or by phone at 248-731-7528 x100 [office] or 248-709-6669.

Joe Fortuna

ASQ Healthcare Division Chair
248/709-6663

Is Your Organization in Good Health?

By Glenn Bodinson and Kay Kendall

The medical community generally accepts that regular check-ups help prevent many health problems and may detect potentially serious conditions of which the patient is unaware. How many of us prescribe the same type of check-up for our own organizations? Are they healthy?
What constitutes organizational health? We’d characterize it as having loyal customers, engaged employees, alignment throughout the system, and exceptional results sustained over time. But what kind of exam or series of tests could you order to make that determination? We recommend a Baldrige-based self-assessment. The Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence are a holistic set of questions that use a systems perspective to look not only at one specific “disease state” of an organization but to assess the health of the integrated whole.
And the tools for conducting an organizational self-assessment are free and readily available! They’re available on the Baldrige National Quality Program’s web site: http://www.nist.gov/baldrige/enter/self.cfm.
Two different options are available. The easy Insight assessment tool offers a version specifically tailored for health care: http://patapsco.nist.gov/eBaldrige/HealthCare_Profile.cfm. It even automatically generates comparisons of your responses with other health care organizations.
The second option is a downloadable database of 40 questions with two versions, one for the senior leaders of the organization and one for the workforce: Are We Making Progress and Are We Making Progress as Leaders: http://www.nist.gov/baldrige/publications/progress_leaders.cfm. You can even customize the two survey instruments to use the language common to your organization.
Obviously, the self-assessment is only the first step toward putting your organization on a healthy regimen to improve its fitness. Analyzing your strengths and opportunities for improvement requires a willingness to accept the good and the not-so-good news and to make a commitment to change bad organizational habits and adopt healthy ones. There are many ways to seek help with this part of the process. Many states have Baldrige-based programs that are happy to work with organizations on their journey. Healthcare organizations in the Department of Veterans Affairs can utilize the Robert W. Carey Award Program. Nursing homes and assisted living facilities can participate in the ACHA/NCAL Quality Award Program. And many experienced consultants provide coaching to organizations trying to achieve exceptional results in a workplace that motivates employees and builds patient and stakeholder loyalty, the hallmarks of a healthy organization.
Another way to assess your progress is to compare your organization’s performance against recent Baldrige recipients:
Heartland Health (HH)

  • Heartland Health (HH) has achieved 90% ratings in overall outpatient satisfaction and in key drivers of outpatient satisfaction between 2006 and 2009.
  • Members have rated HH’s Community Health Plan above the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) 90th percentile for healthcare and specialists’ care.
  • HH is ranked in the top 15% of hospitals nationally for patient safety according to the HealthGrades (an independent healthcare-ratings organization) “Best Hospital Scores.”
  • In promoting quality improvement and deploying its core competencies as part of the organizational culture, HH applies Six Sigma methods within its Process Improvement Model to control costs; prevent rework and errors; and minimize the costs of inspections, tests, and audits. Cost savings as a result of process improvements have increased from approximately $8 million in fiscal year 2005 to more than $25 million by fiscal year 2009.
AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center (ARMC)

  • ARMC achieved Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services national top-10% performance in 2008 for patient care measures related to congestive heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, and pneumonia.
  • AtlantiCare was recognized in 2008 by the American Nurses’ Credentialing Center as a Magnet nursing organization, receiving the nursing profession’s highest honor for the second time.
  • For the past 4 years, AtlantiCare Home Health has been awarded HomeCare Elite™ status by OCS (formerly Outcome Concept Services), based on quality outcomes, quality improvement, and financial performance. This designation places AtlantiCare Home Health in the top 100 nationally out of 8,222 Medicare-certified home healthcare agencies.
  • From 2000 to 2008, system revenues grew from $280 million to $651 million, reflecting an 11% compound annual growth rate, compared to a State of New Jersey average of 5.6%. During this time period, AtlantiCare’s medical center volume increased from about 34,000 to over 56,000 discharges—also more than twice the state average.


Implementing best practices is a proven short cut to excellence. If you would like to receive a copy of a one-page assessment based on Baldrige best practices, send Glenn an email at Glenn@Baldrige-Coach.com

Every journey starts with a single step. Are you ready to begin yours?

Glenn Bodinson
ASQ Healthcare Division Editor
glenn@baldrige-coach.com

Kay Kendall
National Director on the Board of ASQ
kay@baldrige-coach.com