It Takes an Alliance
More than 4,300 members, suppliers, employees and guests attended Premier’s annual Breakthroughs Conference and Exhibition in June in National Harbor, Md. The meeting encouraged networking, innovation, learning and sharing. More than 500 exhibitors demonstrated products, devices and services available to members through Premier contracts.
Don’t go it alone
Teamwork, patient-centeredness and leadership were important topics of discussion at the conference.
In his keynote speech titled “Lessons in Leadership,” Retired United States Army General Stanley Allen McChrystal – former commander of U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan and senior fellow at Yale University’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs – shared a key lesson he learned in his military career: Hierarchical organizations – which are slow to share information, make decisions and act – are no longer effective against today’s amorphous, highly networked, nimble opponent.
McChrystal said he transformed his leadership style to model a gardener. “A gardener doesn’t grow anything; the plants do it,” he said. “A gardener creates an ecosystem to allow the plants to do what they do and do it well.” McChrystal said he couldn’t be in the role of a “heroic leader” managing a top-down chain of command and micromanaging problems. “It’s better for decisions to be made by those closer to the problem,” he said. “If we’re going to be successful, we’re going to have to be a team of teams.”
Coach K
Duke University men’s basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski shared what he considers to be the building blocks of successful teams – principles, he believes, that are translatable to healthcare. Taking care of people is more important than basketball, he said. And success occurs as a team, rather than alone.
“You can’t do much damage with the fingers on your hand sticking out,” said Krzyzewski, using an analogy. “But with a five-finger fist, you can knock someone out. Everyone on the team must feel important.” Case in point: Duke freshman Grayson Allen’s performance in the 2015 NCAA championship victory over Wisconsin. “We were dead in the water,” Krzyzewski said. Allen made an unbelievable play and came up yelling “Let’s go!”
Patient’s at the center
Premier President and CEO Susan DeVore spoke of the need to make speedy breakthroughs while keeping the patient at the center. “The kind of leadership and innovation required to solve complex problems exists right here in our alliance,” she said.
“When we just stop and listen to the patient at the center, our purpose really does become clearer, our directions become more evident, and just watching you, I become so optimistic about the amazing things you will all make possible,” she said.
“As an alliance, in the midst of all this change and uncertainty, we want to ensure all of you can transform to meet your patients’ needs,” she continued. “It’s why our alliance exists. There’s an old African proverb I love: ‘If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.’”
Financial navigation
Jennifer Bass, CMA-AS, a financial navigator at the Charleston (WV) Area Medical Center Cancer Center, spoke about the role of financial navigators in improving quality and reducing costs. Bass joined the organization as a precertification specialist, where she saw patients’ devastating needs for financial support. In response she developed an assistance program for patients. Out of that program grew the financial navigation role, which has saved CAMC patients more than $8 million in out-of-pocket costs since official implementation in 2011.
Tipping point
At a plenary session, Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point, Outliers and other books and articles, told the story of North Carolina native Malcom McLean, who in the mid-20th century transformed the shipping industry – and ultimately, the world economy – by developing a system to transport standardized shipping containers.
McLean possessed three traits essential for all innovators, Gladwell said. Innovators must be:
• Highly creative
• Highly conscientious about following through to make an idea happen
• Disagreeable (not in the sense of unpleasant, but rather, in the sense of not needing a pat on the back to do what’s right.)
Speaking about the transformation necessary in healthcare, Gladwell said, “Don’t think this is going to be easy. You won’t win the applause of everyone in the world and all the interest groups you deal with. By necessity, you will have to step on some toes. And if you don’t transform it for yourself, someone else is going to come along and transform it for you.”
Premier award-winners
Premier recognized more than 120 hospitals, health systems and suppliers for outstanding work to improve community health and reduce costs. Following are supply-chain-related award winners.
Supply Chain Innovation Award
For introducing innovative, high-impact supply chain improvement ideas to the healthcare industry:
- Mission Health System, Asheville, N.C.
- North Oaks Medical Center, Hammond, La.
Supply Chain Excellence Award
For superior supply expense performance:
- Adventist GlenOaks Hospital, Glendale Heights, Il.
- Adventist Medical Center – Hanford, Hanford, Calif.
- Baton Rouge General Medical Center Mid City, Baton Rouge, La.
- Cape Fear Valley Health System, Fayetteville, N.C.
- Carilion Franklin Memorial Hospital, Rocky Mount, Va.
- Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, Roanoke, Va.
- Carilion Tazewell Community Hospital, Tazewell, Va.
- Central Iowa Healthcare, Marshalltown, Iowa
- Central Maine Healthcare, Lewiston, Maine
- Einstein Healthcare Network, Philadelphia, Penn.
- Florida Hospital Apopka, Apopka, Fla.
- General Health System, Baton Rouge, La.
- Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, Mich.
- Heritage Valley Sewickley, Sewickley, Pa.
- Kosair Children’s Hospital, Louisville, Ky.
- Marcum & Wallace Memorial Hospital, Irvine, Ky.
- McLaren Flint, Flint, Mich.
- Mercy St. Charles Hospital, Oregon, Ohio
- Methodist Charlton Medical Center, Dallas, Texas
- Methodist Health System, Dallas, Texas
- Methodist Hospitals, Gary, Ind.
- Norton Women’s and Kosair Children’s Hospital, Louisville, Ky.
- Olean General Hospital, Olean, N.Y.
- PeaceHealth Cottage Grove Community Hospital, Cottage Grove, Ore.
- PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center, Vancouver, Wash.
- Francis Medical Center, Lynwood, Calif.
- Helena Hospital Clear Lake, Clearlake, Calif.
- Takoma Regional Hospital, Greeneville, Tenn.
- The MetroHealth System, Cleveland, Ohio
- TriHealth, Inc., Cincinnati, Ohio
- Winthrop-University Hospital, Mineola, N.Y.
Supplier Legacy Award
The following suppliers received the Legacy Award for longstanding work to support Premier members through exceptional local customer service and engagement, value creation through clinical excellence and commitment to lower costs:
- ArjoHuntleigh
- CDW Healthcare
- Contec, Inc.
- Draeger Medical Inc.
- Fresenius Kabi USA
- FujiFilm SonoSite, Inc.
- Halyard Health
- Jennie-O Turkey Store
- Mannington Commercial
- Medical Action Industries Inc.
- Morris & Dickson Co., LLC
- Owens & Minor, Inc.
- Patterson Medical
- PaxVax, Inc.
- Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics
- Witt/Kieffer
- ZOLL Medical Corporation
Supplier Horizon Award
The following suppliers received the Horizon Award for displaying the same qualities as Legacy Award recipients, but with less tenure:
- Bob’s Red Mill Natural Foods, Inc.
- CooperSurgical, Inc.
- GE OEC Medical Systems, Inc.
- RightSourcing, Inc.
- Tarkett
- TESCO BUS
- Trinity Biotech
- Welch Allyn
- Zimmer, Inc.
Additional awards
In addition to supply-chain-related awards, Premier recognized members with the following:
- American Excess Insurance Exchange (AEIX) Risk Management Award, for creating practices to promote patient safety and enhance the quality of care.
- Culinary Cup Award, recognizing culinary talent and achievement.
- Diversity Award, for developing and nurturing diversity programs in their organizations and communities.
- Illuminating Excellence Award, for being outstanding foodservice professionals.
- QUEST® Award for High-Value Healthcare, for achieving top performance in all areas measured in Premier’s QUEST collaborative: cost and efficiency, inpatient and outpatient evidence-based care, mortality, safety, patient experience and appropriate hospital use.