A new white paper shares insights from 17 healthcare executives on strengthening organizational resilience and continuous improvement.
As pressures mount for health system leaders nationwide, ECRI convened four virtual roundtables with 17 C-suite healthcare leaders to capture insights into what drives patient safety and continuous improvement. The discussions brought together executives from integrated health systems, children’s hospitals, rural providers, and national associations.
The findings have been published in a white paper released on World Patient Safety Day, Sept 17. The paper is the first in a series of articles that will feature insights from the executive discussions, which were moderated by ECRI president and CEO Marcus Schabacker, MD, PhD, and ECRI chief medical officer Dheerendra Kommala, MD.
“This is a tumultuous time for healthcare leaders and frontline providers in our nation,” says Schabacker in a release. “We launched this roundtable series to dive deeper into the issues they’re facing, and how they elevate patient safety despite these challenges—from shrinking resources to medical misinformation to persistent causes of preventable harm. Only by learning from one another and sharing best practices can we break the cycles that have long held our industry back.”
The roundtables also addressed challenges slated for future publications in the series, including integrating new technologies and building workforce resilience. According to ECRI, there was broad consensus among participants on the challenges and the path forward for the industry.
Key findings from the roundtables include:
- Proactive systems prevent harm. Leaders are shifting from reactive models to proactive approaches by hardwiring learning into daily operations and embedding human factors into workflows.
- System design and standardization saves lives. Safety issues can cause longer stays and liability. Well-designed, standardized systems make the safe choice the easy choice and ensure consistent outcomes across sites.
- Safety is a sound business strategy. Health systems that embed safety and create reliable systems can reduce extended stays, boost staff engagement, strengthen payer negotiations, increase patient satisfaction, and improve margins.
Participants included:
- Rick Bassett, MSN, RN, APRN, ACNS-BC, CCRN, FCNS, LSSGB, President of the National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists, and Adult Critical Care Clinical Nurse Specialist at St. Luke’s Health System
- Richard Bates, MD, Chief Executive Officer, Thunder Bay Community Health Service
- Dana Bledsoe, DHA, MBA, MS, RN, NEA-BC, FACHE, Chief Executive Officer, Ochsner Children’s Health
- Matthew Davis, MD, MAPP, Executive Vice President, Enterprise Physician-in-Chief, and Chief Scientific Officer, Nemours Children’s Health
- Mindy Dunkerley, MBA, MSN, RN, Chief Quality Officer, Independence Health System
- Michael Fiorina, DO, FAAFP, Chief Medical Officer, Independence Health System
- Jonathan Gleason, MD, EVP and Chief Clinical Officer, Prisma Health
- Djana Harp, MD, MS, MBA, Chief Medical Officer, Norwalk Community Health Center
- Omar Hasan, MD, MS, MPH, Chief Quality Officer, MaineHealth
- Mark Leahey, President & CEO, Medical Device Manufacturers Association
- Kristie Lenze, CEO/CFO, Keystone Rural Health Consortia
- Tara Jo Manal, PT, DPT, FAPTA, Vice President of Scientific Affairs, American Physical Therapy Association
- William G. Morice II, MD, PhD, CEO, Mayo Clinic Laboratories
- Michael Seim, MD, Chief Quality Officer, WellSpan
- Anne Marie Watkins, DNP, MSHCA, RN, CENP, Chief Nursing Executive, UCI Health
- Jacqueline Webb, CPNP, Quality, Risk, and Lab Director, Tri-Area Community Health
- James Werth, Jr., PhD, ABPP, Chief Executive Officer, Tri-Area Community Health
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