Cedars-Sinai Community Clinic Initiative:
Building a Culture of Quality

Overview

IHQC, home of the BCCQ program, has expanded its curriculum to help clinics address the growing demands on safety net providers to demonstrate efficiencies and achieve high-quality outcomes. “Building a Culture of Quality,” IHQC’s newest learning community, explores how Quality Improvement methodology is applied and embedded on an organizational level. This 18-month program is sponsored by Cedars-Sinai and is offered free of charge to participants.

Informational Webinar Materials

Below, you may access the recorded webinar and slide deck from the Informational Webinar held on August 8, 2017.

Participants will engage in workshops, webinars, peer-to-peer exchange and up to 100 hours of individualized coaching across two stages of participation:

Stage 1: Design and Planning

August 2017- December 2017

  • Design a system-level QI project from the ground up. Teams do NOT need to identify a project prior to participation in Stage 1.
  • Identify multidisciplinary and interdependent teams to carry out quality improvement efforts across the organization.
  • Leverage an extended planning period to establish the foundational elements that increase the sustainability of QI efforts.
  • Recorded webinars and the October workshop will explore topics related to human-centered design, prototyping, project management, building effective teams, strategy development and organizational analysis.

Stage 2: Pilot and Implement

January 2018 – December 2018

  • Approved projects will advance to the next stage, where the project team will actively work to pilot and implement their project.
  • Explore improvement strategies to advance project efforts and build your organizational capacity for QI.
  • Content builds on concepts introduced in Stage 1, and further emphasizes accelerating, implementing, and sustaining change ideas throughout the organization.

Participants will also gain priority access to IHQC events and programs scheduled throughout the year, including “Fundamentals in Quality Improvement” – a short-course available to staff and administration who need an introduction to or refresher of basic quality improvement methodology and tools.

Multidisciplinary teams will attend workshops and trainings, where they will review strategies and tools that they can apply directly in their improvement project.  Topics and content will be tailored specifically to the improvement projects and needs of the participating teams, and may include:

  • Quality and Process Improvement: improvement tools and methodologies (Model for Improvement, Lean, Human-Centered Design); accelerating and spreading improvement; team-based care and proactive care models; and building and sustaining QI systems and infrastructure
  • QI Support Structures: the essential elements that support and enable a Culture of Quality Improvement, including obtaining leadership buy-in and support, forming QI committees, implementing evidence-based guidelines, leveraging community engagement and linkages, considering socioeconomic factors, and the use of visual management.
  • Staff Capacity Building and Continuous Learning: promoting physiological safety; how to operate at full scope; gaining clarity on staffing models and roles and responsibilities; providing opportunities for skills building and job growth and development
  • Data and Decision-Making: standardizing data collection; dashboards and report generation; data analysis and communication
  • Change Management and Communications: defining and socializing an organizational culture of quality; managing and leading change; team and leadership communication; supporting high-functioning teams; motivational Interviewing; and communication to promote a culture of quality
  • Program Design and Project Management: human-centered design concepts, leading large-scale initiatives, team-building, meeting facilitation, time management

Learning Objectives

  • Increase staff and organizational knowledge and expertise in improvement strategies from the Model for Improvement, Lean, and Human-Centered Design.
  • Improve your organization’s capacity to address the social aspects of change – change management, communications, management and leadership skills.
  • Create hubs of QI expertise to enhance your organization’s QI infrastructure and internal capacity to spread improvement knowledge across the organization.
  • Build a network of local QI leaders.

Participant Expectations

  • Although it is not required to identify an improvement project prior to participating in the design phase, organizations must dedicate the resources necessary to analyze the current state that informs the design of an improvement project.
  • Teams moving on to the implementation phase must also make available the necessary staff time and resources to pilot and implement their improvement project
  • Teams must have the support of, and be in regular communication with, a senior leader.
  • Teams must fully engage in all elements of the learning community, including monthly check-ins with IHQC-sponsored coaches and/or staff, and attending webinars and in-person workshops.

Participant Eligibility

Teams who wish to enroll must meet the following criteria:

1) Designated nonprofit community clinic organization based in Cedars-Sinai’s Community Benefit Planning focus areas:

-SPAs 4, 5, 6 and select ZIP codes in SPA 8: Inglewood (90301, 90302, 90303, 90304) and Lennox (90304)

2) Organization has a health information technology (HIT) system (e.g., electronic health records, disease registries, practice management systems, etc.) that is capable of generating population-level data reports.

3) Dedicated, multidisciplinary team that includes quality lead, clinician lead, and operations lead, that are actively engaged in leading design efforts and accountable for project deliverables. Teams must be supported by organizational leadership, whose members are granted time and resources to design and implement an improvement project over the course of the program.

Enrollment

To enroll in the Design and Planning Phase for “Building a Culture of Quality,” please complete the Organization Overview Form (Download Here), and submit it to thofer@ihqc.org by August 16, 2017. If you have any questions about this program or services provided by IHQC, please contact Teresa Hofer (thofer@ihqc.org).

 

Join us for an Informational Webinar on August 8th, 2017, 12:00pm-1:00pm, to learn more about the program elements and conditions of participation (Register Here).

You may have already identified a project or know what your team will be working on in 2018, but you do not need to identify your team’s project in order to register for this initiative.  Participating teams will spend time in the Design and Planning phase reviewing your organization’s current strategic and priority goals, analyzing the current state, and researching effective practices to ultimately identify an improvement project. The following examples are areas of focus around which a project may be designed.

Building a QI Infrastructure and a culture that embraces Continuous Improvement 

  • Increase knowledge among staff, management, and leadership in improvement tools and strategies, update job descriptions to include quality improvement, and identify/build appropriate infrastructure to support staff in QI efforts

Population Health Efforts or Current Patient Trends 

  • Create a diabetes care management program that includes standing orders, updated guidelines, and spreading motivational interviewing and health education strategies to improve health outcomes for our diabetic patients
  • Develop strategies and community linkages/collaborations to help address the Social Determinants of Health

Pay for Performance

  • Improve front and back office operations and care team roles to help improve cycle times, patient experience, and staff satisfaction.
  • Build a comprehensive patient outreach and education program to improve pediatric immunization rates, well-child visit completion rates, and timeliness of perinatal care.

PCMH Efforts

  • Optimize team-based care strategies to improve preventative cancer screening rates
  • Empanel patients and use panel data and other strategies to improve health outcomes for hypertensive patients.
  • Build/Expand the role of health educators and care coordinators to help proactively support patients with complex health needs.

Design and Planning Phase Key Dates

  • August 8: Information Webinar (Register Here)
  • August 16: Last Day to Enroll (email Organization Overview Form to thofer@IHQC.org)
  • August 22, 12:00pm: Introductory Webinar
  • August 31: Introductions to your IHQC-sponsored coach
  • October (TBA): Design Phase Workshop at Cedars-Sinai
  • December: Announcement of Projects Advancing to Stage 2

Pilot and Implementation Phase

  • February (TBA): Workshop #1
  • April (TBA): Workshop #2
  • July (TBA): Workshop #3
  • October (TBA): Workshop #4

How to Register and Enroll

The enrollment period for this program is now closed. If you wish to participate in the learning community, or are interested in other available IHQC programs, please contact Teresa Hofer (thofer@ihqc.org).

IHQCCedars-Sinai: Building a Culture of Quality