2 systems with trailblazing operating models: AHA

Sustainable health system operating models are those that abandon the traditional top-down hierarchy, according to two case studies recently highlighted by the American Hospital Association.

In an industry experiencing permanent disruptions, an AHA Market Scan Trailblazers report states that hospitals and health systems need to restructure their operating models to achieve sustainability.

Two case studies:

Main Line Health

After several hospitals in the Philadelphia area closed or reduced services, Radnor, Pa.-based Main Line Health is facing high capacity levels. 

"There are no short term solutions," Barbara Wadsworth, executive vice president and COO, told AHA. "Back then, we had seasonality. You could adjust. There is no seasonality now. We're busy all the time and getting busier."

To mitigate this challenge and other national trends in healthcare, including staffing shortages and an aging population, the five-hospital system revamped its operating model. 

The new model created a virtual care operations center to oversee staffing, bed availability and patient transfers, and to centralize scheduling for surgical and diagnostic procedures. Other changes include a virtual buddy program, which connects one virtual staff member to up to 12 patients; a hospital-at-home program; and virtual programs for nurses, physicians and advanced practice providers. 

SSM Health

The St. Louis-based system, which operates 23 hospitals, formerly used a top-down, "traditional command-and-control management style." In 2017, several factors forced the system to evolve its operating model, including financial strains, increased demand for behavioral health services, climate change and the goal of sustaining equitable access to care. 

The new model involves a "catch ball" approach where a goal is "tossed" among its four regions, bouncing among individual care sites and ending with frontline staff. After gathering buy-in and feedback, leaders launch the goal throughout the system. 

SSM Health's operating model also features transparent performance metrics by department, daily tiered huddles and a schedule for system, regional and local leaders to routinely visit with staff and departments.

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