Integrated by Design: Southcentral Foundation’s Approach to Operational and Clinical Partnerships

Background: Effective operational processes can ensure that clinics run smoothly and that providers do not have to spend a lot of time on administrative tasks. Southcentral Foundation (SCF) is an Alaska Native customer-owned health care system responsible for providing health care and related services to approximately 70,000 Alaska Native and American Indian people in Alaska’s Cook Inlet region. To support its Integrated Care Teams in providing high-quality care, SCF uses a relationship-focused approach to clinical operations and management which is based on the organization’s mission and vision, and allows Integrated Care Teams to focus on providing care without having to worry about the logistics of clinic operations.

 

Audience: This session will be valuable for senior leadership, clinical managers, operational managers, logistics specialists, supervisors, improvement staff, and anyone else with an interest in clinical operations. Attendees will learn from an organization with over two decades of experience in maintaining and improving effective clinical management and operational support that supports high-quality health care and high customer and employee satisfaction rates.

 

Approach: This workshop will be taught in an interactive lecture format. Participants will be divided into small Learning Circles, and the presenters will provide regular opportunities for the circles to discuss the material presented. Afterward, the small groups will report out to the larger group so that a variety of perspectives can be shared. Slightly over half of the workshop time will be devoted to the group discussions, and the presenters will facilitate the sharing of information and ideas among attendees.

 

Outcomes: Attendees will learn about the various elements of SCF’s clinical operations, including:

• Operational Principles that stem from SCF’s vision and mission. SCF’s Operational Principles spell out RELATIONSHIPS, and are used to guide decision-making at SCF. New improvement initiatives are evaluated in part based on whether they conform to SCF’s Operational Principles.
• Accessibility for employee feedback. At SCF, all clinical employees, not just providers and managers, provide feedback on the way the clinic is operating. SCF maintains clear and direct pathways for employees to provide input to operations.
• Co-location and visibility of management. At SCF, operational employees and clinical leadership are located in the same physical spaces for which they are responsible. And it is not only the responsibility of employees to come to operations with concerns and feedback; rather, operations and clinical leadership are visible in the clinics and proactively consult with employees.
• Transparent data for data-driven improvement. SCF regularly collects data both on clinical performance and operational items such as customer and employee satisfaction. This data is used available to all employees and it is used to drive improvement initiatives. All employees are empowered to and responsible for making improvements.

 

In part due to SCF’s approach to operations, SCF has maintained high customer and employee satisfaction rates. 98% of customer-owners are satisfied with the care provided by SCF, and SCF has also achieved 90% employee satisfaction. SCF has also received the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, a prestigious recognition for performance excellence twice.