CEOs and leaders from 11 prominent hospitals and health systems designed a 10-item checklist to improve healthcare quality while reducing costs, published by the Institute of Medicine.
The leaders — including the CEOs of Cleveland Clinic, Geisinger Health System in Danville, Pa., and Boston-based Partners HealthCare System — say the checklist is not intended to be a "one-and-done" set of tasks. Instead, it includes elements that must become core components of an organization's DNA.
"In some ways, they represent more of a credo of commitment than a simple checklist, but each checklist item is every bit as vital as the items on the checklists routinely used by pilots taking complicated aircraft into quickly changing conditions," according to the white paper.
Foundational elements
1. Governance priority — visible and determined leadership by the CEO and board
2. Culture of continuous improvement — commitment to ongoing, real-time learning
Infrastructure fundamentals
3. IT best practices — automate, reliable information to and from the point of care
4. Evidence protocols — effective, efficient and consistent care
5. Resource utilization — optimized use of personnel, physical space and other resources
Care delivery priorities
6. Integrated care — right care, right setting, right providers, right teamwork
7. Shared decision making — patient-clinician collaboration on care plans
8. Targeted services — tailored community and clinic interventions for resource-intensive patients
Reliability and feedback
9. Embedded safeguards — supports and prompts to reduce injury and infection
10. Internal transparency — visible progress in performance, outcomes and costs
The leaders — including the CEOs of Cleveland Clinic, Geisinger Health System in Danville, Pa., and Boston-based Partners HealthCare System — say the checklist is not intended to be a "one-and-done" set of tasks. Instead, it includes elements that must become core components of an organization's DNA.
"In some ways, they represent more of a credo of commitment than a simple checklist, but each checklist item is every bit as vital as the items on the checklists routinely used by pilots taking complicated aircraft into quickly changing conditions," according to the white paper.
Foundational elements
1. Governance priority — visible and determined leadership by the CEO and board
2. Culture of continuous improvement — commitment to ongoing, real-time learning
Infrastructure fundamentals
3. IT best practices — automate, reliable information to and from the point of care
4. Evidence protocols — effective, efficient and consistent care
5. Resource utilization — optimized use of personnel, physical space and other resources
Care delivery priorities
6. Integrated care — right care, right setting, right providers, right teamwork
7. Shared decision making — patient-clinician collaboration on care plans
8. Targeted services — tailored community and clinic interventions for resource-intensive patients
Reliability and feedback
9. Embedded safeguards — supports and prompts to reduce injury and infection
10. Internal transparency — visible progress in performance, outcomes and costs
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