SHS is a professional association that focuses on the needs and resources of health systems professionals and leaders who are charged with improving health care processes. SHS offers the latest in process analytics, tools, techniques and methodologies for performance improvement.

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blog Healing Health Care: 24/7 or dead?  My CEO copied me on an email today, as she responded to a friend who had written, "The patient’s wife] would like 10-15 of us to commit to visiting once per week for 30 minute visits, both to give him the company and so that the staff can see that he is frequently visited. I understand if you don't get a lot of visitors, you don't get such great care." How unfortunate. Or is it unfortunately true?  

Discharge Process Improvement: A Case Study by Barnes-Jewish Hospital of St. Louis Discharging a patient is an activity common to every hospital - small, large, community, inner-city, teaching or non-teaching. The discharge process can have an impact on numerous factors, such as patient satisfaction, bed availability, timely tests and procedures needed for discharge, home health equipment and service availability, social worker and therapist coordination, transportation, and nursing home arrangements. No matter what type of patient is being discharged (maternity, medicine, orthopedic, neurologic) numerous activities must be completed for each before the patient can be released. This work toward discharge day should begin upon admission.

Interview: How Lean Changes an Organization - Lewis Lefteroff This interview is reprinted by permission from the Spring 2008 issue of ValuMetrix® Services ProcessExcellence Advantage newsletter.” 

Radiology Operations Redesign at Mendocino Coast Regional Hospital
In a pilot effort to improve the delivery of healthcare services at California Safety Net Hospitals, the California HealthCare Foundation provided funding to the University of Southern California for three demonstration projects.  In the third part of this three part series, we look at how management engineering methods were used to enhance the delivery of imaging services at a Safety Net hospital in a small coastal community in Northern California.

Get more information on the California Healthcare Foundation.

Models for Improvement: Lean Sigma at Columbus Regional Hospital (CRH)
This is the second installment of the SHS Models for Improvement Series.  Columbus Regional Hospital (CRH) is a 325-bed hospital providing care to a 10-county service area surrounding Columbus, Indiana. For the past two years, CRH leadership has been dedicated to the integration of Lean Sigma performance improvement into the way they normally do business. This case study describes the hospital’s experience in the first two years of implementation and the initial results of their efforts in the areas of patient safety, satisfaction, and financial benefit. 

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