BW/F Strategic Planning Update: Patient Affordability
With health care reform on the horizon and ongoing declining payor rates, Brigham and Women’s/Faulkner Hospitals are in the midst of strategic planning efforts to help increase efficiency and reduce costs while continuing to deliver on the hospitals’ mission.
“As nurses, our contributions to the areas of patient affordability and care redesign are incredibly important,” said Senior Vice President of Patient Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer Jackie Somerville, PhD, RN. “Many nurses have already been involved on the Patient Affordability and Care Redesign committees and sub-committees, and many more will be involved as we go forward.”
The BW/F Patient Affordability Steering Committee, which is co-chaired by Mairead Hickey, PhD, RN, FAHA, executive vice president and chief operating officer, and Michael Reney, MBA, chief financial officer, is charged with ensuring that BW/F is providing high quality, cost-effective care.
The steering committee is working with representatives throughout the organization to find new ways to become more effective and efficient by: eliminating waste and duplication of work, smoothing patient flow, reducing costs and standardizing processes in care, all in an effort to ensure our financial health and ability to invest in the mission.
“The hospital is facing challenges including the slow-growing national economy, reduced rates for care and health care reform,” said BWH President Betsy Nabel, MD. “By engaging in a strategic planning process now, we have the opportunity to be proactive in planning for our future so that we can continue to meet the needs of our patients, visitors, community and each other.”
BW/F is also part of a strategic planning process within Partners HealthCare, which is examining Patient Affordability and Care Redesign across the system. The Partners process brings together leadership and staff from key areas of each Partners entity, including BWH, to discuss best practices and share ideas with each other. BW/F will implement some of these cost and care improvement ideas.
To help achieve these goals, BW/F is working with Wellspring + Stockamp, an industry leader in performance improvement, to help identify areas for improvement and increased efficiency. In addition, representatives from all areas of the institution are involved in generating ideas and implementing improvements.
“Our focus is on redesigning care and finding ways to provide the high quality, safe care that we currently provide for our patients in the most cost-effective manner,” said Hickey. “The Brigham has made a steadfast commitment to ensuring that patients will have the best care possible, and that commitment will not change as a result of this process.”
Somerville added, “The involvement of multidisciplinary teams, including nurses, is helping to ensure that we do not lose sight of providing optimal care.”
The assessment phase of the process with Wellspring + Stockamp concluded at the end of March. The BW/F strategic planning teams are identifying which opportunities to implement, and the organization will spend the next year implementing them.
Patient Affordability is one of four areas that BW/F is examining through the strategic planning process. Learn more about the other areas at BWHPikeNotes.org > About BWH