Intermountain Healthcare Essay

Continuous improvement in quality and productivity work ates is inhering for any commercial enterprise that wants to be profitable but more so for wellness c atomic number 18 organizations due to the constant changing nature of their practice. The philosophical carcass of continuous improvement is captured in the plan-do-check-act (PDCA) cycle proposed by W. Edwards Deming (Fitzsimmons et. Al. , 2013). The three principles that remains the foundation for Demings t individuallying argon Customer satisfaction, Management by Facts, and Respect for people.Health c ar deli genuinely must focus on satisfying patients needs and this principle must be incorporated into the estimate of every employee of a health care organization. Scientific thinking (collecting and statistically analyzing selective information) must also be merged with administrative analysis before finishs are made by the quality improvement teams. For quality improvement to be established in an organization, there must be mutual revere amongst employees where everybodys ideas on up borderes are solicited. By applianceing these principles, the idea of higher(prenominal) quality could lead to lower cost, can be manifested.How well is Intermountain Health boot performing? From the case study, intermountain Health care is performing very well. As of 2001, the intermountain healthcare (IHC) Health plan was the largest in Utah which coer about 460,000 individuals and a market share of 40%. The closest contention being Blue Cross and Blue Shield, covered 425,000 individuals. IHC started with fifteen hospitals in 1975 and after 27 years grew it to 22 hospitals, 25 health centers and over 70 outpatients clinics all across Utah and Southeastern Idaho.IHC is a vertically integrated Health care organization that has won some top awards in the industry. In 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005, Intermountain health care was bedded No. 1 (among nearly 600 evaluated) integrated healthcare clays in the U . S. by Modern health care magazine and the Verispan research firm. The rankings measured efficiency, communication cost and quality of care. As of 2013, Intermountain Healthcare is internationally recognized, has a nonprofit system of 22 hospitals, a Medical Group with more than 185 physician clinics, and an affiliated health restitution company, SelectHealth.It currently has 33,000 employees serving patients and plan members in Utah and Southeastern Idaho. at a lower place is a list of other awards that IHC has received as a system Hospitals & Health Networks recognized Intermountain Healthcare as one of Health Cares Most Wired 2013 in the nation. This was the fourteenth year Intermountain has been listed. Forbes magazine named Intermountain Healthcare to its list of 21 Most Admired Companies Making IT a Competitive Advantage in 2013.American College of Medical Quality gave the institutional Quality Leadership Award to Intermountain Healthcare, the sole recipient of this award in 2013, for Intermountain longstanding commitment to clinical quality programs and innovations in healthcare pitch shot. The Gallup constitution again presented Intermountain Healthcare with its Great Workplace Award for 2013 Intermountain Healthcare ranked No. 3 overall in the U. S. and No. 1 in the western U. S. on the 2012 list of the nations Top light speed Integrated Health Systems compiled by IMS Health and Modern Healthcare magazine. matter Research Corporation presented a 2012/2013 Consumer Choice Award to Intermountain Healthcare for its hospitals, clinics, and business units having been selected by locally served consumers as having the best quality and image. What is Intermountains advancement to the management of health care delivery? Intermountain uses Clinical integration as its approach to healthcare delivery. This involves twain an organizational restructuring as well as the use of different set of tools (mainly technological tools).With this approach of healt hcare delivery, both the administrative and medical staff (physicians, nurses and pharmacist) col laborate to implement the perfect system of gathering, storing, and making accessible medical data on each patient. Analyzing this data gathered enables the medical team to create protocols or use decision support tools that focus on improving medical intervention for each patient as well as removing inefficiencies from their service process. Its core use was to establish quality and extend full management accountability to IHCs Clinical Function.IHC health services was divided into four areas Clinical conditions, clinical support services, service quality and administrative support processes. IHC also uses Demings PDCA Cycle and Lean Service to ensure continuous quality improvement. why does Intermountain do it this way? Intermountain tries to continually improve its Quality improvement process by adopting the PDCA cycle. They plan by selecting clinical problems for Hospital based pro cedures. These processes are documented and data collected. By the top managers brainstorming, they are able to finish up the root causes of the problems.The Do in the PDCA cycle is used to implement solutions or processes to solve the Clinical problems on a Trail basis. (The implementation process is monitored and documented). The Check in the PDCA cycle is used to review and evaluate the outcomes of implementing the solution. The dally in the PDCA cycle helps the company to reflect and act on the study experience. The changes in the processes that were successful are standardized and communicated to the employees. IHC also uses a biannual advanced Training program in Health care spoken language Improvement (ATP) to come out with best practice protocols.Here, they use the cant dimension empowering those who do the work in continuous improvement or human development which is a very important part of the proclivity process. Since the ideas are generated by the employees themse lves, there is a lot of motivation to implement it. Why dont all heath care delivery organizations do this? The implementation of information engineering systems like Health rating through Logical processing system (HELP) and Electronic medical (EMR) are very expensive. The cost of training the staff and maintenance of these systems can be very expensive.Some health care delivery organizations also unwrap the clinical integration system as a loss of handed-down physician autonomy, prestige, power and income. Some health care organizations also bed having inefficiencies in their systems so that they can exploit unsuspecting patients. We go to the hospital now and are requested to do all kinds of unnecessary lab tests, just to increase our medical bills. Conclusion Intermountain has adopted the strategy of improving continuously by adopting the PDCA cycle and it seems to be working for them since they are the largest Healthcare providers in Utah and Southeastern Idaho.Its clinical integration approach to delivering care has resulted in the company winning numerous awards. The internalization of information technology plays a crucial role in the quality improvement of their services. The incorporation of Demings idea that nobleer quality could lead to lower cost, has precondition the IHC Health plan a competitive edge over other insurers in Utah. References Fitzsimmons, J. A. , Fitzsimmons, M. J. , & Bordoloi, S. K. (2014). Service Management Operations, Strategy, Information Technology. New York, NY McGraw-Hill/Irwin. http//en. wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermountain_Healthcare http//intermountainhealthcare. org/about/overview/awards/Pages/home. aspx http//www. beckershospitalreview. com/strategic-planning/back-to-basics-understanding-the-5-performance-dimensions-of-lean-in-healthcare. hypertext markup language Bohmer, R. M. J. , Edmondson, A. C. , & Feldman, L. R. (2013). Intermountain Health Care. Boston, MA Harvard Business School Publication Roger, R. (2008). Commentary Intermountain Healthcare. High Performing Healthcare Systems Delivering Quality by Design. 179-184. Retrieved from http//www. longwoods. com/content/20147