Step Right Up

SPPI gives you a chance to step into the spotlight and share your successes

Early on a hot and humid Friday morning, every seat inside LVH–Cedar Crest’s auditorium was filled. Colleagues who couldn’t find a seat stood along the back wall. The atmosphere was electric. Colleagues chatted among themselves, all awaiting a most important announcement.

Was it the unveiling of a major award or a visit by a presidential candidate? Not this time. Instead, the stars of the show were our own colleagues—the people who told us about our health network’s very first Rapid Improvement Event.

One by one, nurses, physical therapists and other colleagues talked about the steps they had taken over the prior four days to help make physical therapy services more efficient on 6 Kasych. Some colleagues were a bit nervous; others seemed totally at ease. Together, they were driven to make a meaningful difference in the way we deliver health care, all for the good of our patients.

This Rapid Improvement Event—the key component of our System for Partners in Performance Improvement (SPPI)—marked a significant milestone. It’s clear that from this point forward, our lives here are going to change. By closely examining the work we do every day and finding ways to make it more efficient, we will be accountable to create a health network that continuously exceeds expectations.

Colleagues who work on 6 Kasych—along with therapy colleagues and colleagues from outside their work areas—took the first bold step. For four days, they thoroughly evaluated their current work processes, mapped out a new, better way to work, then talked about their accomplishments in the auditorium. You can read their results on page 8 of this edition of CheckUp.

Over the next few months, we’ll all have the chance to share in such dramatic improvement. Rapid Improvement Events are scheduled monthly, and soon we’ll be performing several a month. Whether or not you’re directly involved in an event, I encourage all of you to attend the monthly reports at 8:30 a.m. in the LVH–Cedar Crest auditorium. (The next two are Sept. 12 and Oct. 10.) One by one, we’ll tackle some of our toughest challenges together.

In a time when hospitals nationwide face decreases in government reimbursements and serious financial concerns, your work with SPPI will help us protect our mission to heal, comfort and care for the people of our community. The end result will be a stronger, better and more efficient health network that’s squarely focused on
helping our friends, neighbors and relatives live healthier.

We’ve taken a significant first step. Now is the time to embrace SPPI and continue our evolution toward a culture of continuous improvement. I thank you for your hard work, and look forward to joining you on each step of our journey.

Elliot J. Sussman, M.D.
President and Chief Executive Officer

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