Healthcare providers seek alliances, accreditation, awards to bolster quality improvement efforts

Lean Management programs continue to gain popularity in the global healthcare industry, particularly in stressed markets such as the U.S. With industry reform underway, healthcare administrators and service providers are seeking new ways of controlling costs, improving performance and broadening care.

For that reason, a number of institutions have joined healthcare alliances to leverage market-wide standards of improvement. Premier healthcare alliance is one such example. The performance improvement collaborative boasts membership of more than 2,500 hospitals and some 81,000 healthcare sites in the U.S. The alliance uses the power of collaboration to lead the transition to quality, cost-effective care.

Other health organizations are turning to independent accreditation initiatives to establish competitive legitimacy in driving operational performance. Florida Hospital, for example, recently achieved a quality-based national accreditation from DNV Healthcare. The program will survey Florida Hospital annually, focusing on the improvement of processes throughout the organization.

“The DNV program is consistent with our long-term commitment to patient safety and total quality,” said Lars Houmann, president and CEO of Florida Hospital. “The ability of the DNV approach to integrate ISO [International Organization for Standardization] with our clinical and financial processes is a major step forward. We value the annual review and evaluation process with a consistent team of surveyors, allowing Florida Hospital to continually improve our care and processes.”

Still, healthcare alliances and accreditation services are not the only ways to establish legitimacy in quality improvement. There are also awards.

This week, for example, The National Quality Forum and The Joint Commission granted the Society of Hospital Medicine [SHM] with the 2011 John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Award for Innovation in Patient Safety and Quality at the National Level. The award acknowledges the medical association for its mentored implementation model.

“[SHM's] innovative contributions to healthcare quality and safety will have a lasting impact for years to come,” said Janet Corrigan, president and CEO of the National Quality Forum. “These efforts save lives, inspire leadership and serve as a beacon to other organizations that believe that the routine delivery of safe, effective care is not only possible, but achievable.”

All these trends reflect an industry-wide trend toward process improvement and Lean Management, especially as U.S. healthcare providers struggle to deal with rising costs and decaying public health.