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1. Embedding a Culture of Improvement with Physicians AMGAOctober 02, 2009
J. Daniel Nelson, MD
Associate Medical Director, Specialty Care
Beth Averbeck, MD
Associate Medical Director, Primary Care
HealthPartners Medical Group 
2. 2 
3. 3  ______ Culture Jointly learned beliefs, values, assumptions
Shared amongst a group
Artifacts:  what you see, hear, feel as you’re around others
“It’s the way we do things around here”
We can choose to manage it or it manages us 
4. 4  ___ _ ___ _______ __ ____ ____________  What’s the culture in your organization? Mission
Goals and Strategies
Leadership
Structure
Systems Reward and Status
Discipline
Common Language
Group Boundaries
 
5. 5 
6. 6 Culture Process 
7. 7  ______  _____ Culture Change Case for change - environment
Will to change
Knowledge and resources
Skilled execution
Imbed and internalize the change – it’s the new way we do things around here
 
8. 8 HealthPartners Mission 
9. 9 HealthPartners Integrated Care & Financing System 
10. 10 A Merger of Mergers 
11. 11 HealthPartners Medical Group 
12. 12 Dyad Operational Structure 
 
13. 13 Environment and Culture Culture changes Environment 
or
Environment changes Culture 
14. Community Environment 
15. 15 Minnesota Community Measures HPMG Results 
16. 16 Minnesota Community Measures HPMG Results 
17. 17 Tiering Medical Groups and Hospitals
Quality
Experience
Cost
Patient Incentives 
18. 18 
19. 19 
20. 20 HealthPartners Medical Group Strategic Goals 
21. 21 Why Improve? Triple Aim
Competitive Advantage
Healthcare Reform
Recruitment and Retention 
22. Building A Culture of Improvement 
23. 23 Operating Principles Improvement is Local
Care is a Team Sport
Leadership
Accountability 
24. 24 Prepared Practice Teams 
25. 25 Improvement Process 
26. 26  “What gets measured, gets done.” 
27. 27 
28. 28 Transparency 
29. 29 
30. 30 Our Transparency Journey 
31. 31 Nested Data for Improvement 
32. 32 Optimal Diabetes Care Measure 
33. 33 
34. 34 Provider Specific Data 
35. 35 Patient Panel Data 
36. 36 Patient Specific Measures 
37. 37 HealthPartners Medical Group Strategic Goals 
38. 38 One Physician’s Journey 
39. 39 Transparency:Physician Specific Results What are high patient-satisfaction providers doing?
What are the key drivers of satisfaction for each question? 
40. 40 Patient Experience:Charm Matters Evidence based approach to the patient provider relationship
Charm is a set of clinical communication skills that can be taught and mastered
                                                                                                                                                                    Smith, Ann Intern Med 1998
                                                            Stein, Permanente J 1998
Charm is a culture that we create 
41. 41 435 Charm Masters Pilot  
42. 42 HealthPartners Medical Group Strategic Goals 
Stewardship- Meet budget target and maintain favorable total cost of care
Stewardship- Meet budget target and maintain favorable total cost of care 
43. 43 
44. 44 
45. 45 
46. 46 All Improvement is Local How do we accelerate the pace of improvement
at the frontline? 
47. 47 Methods of Improvement LEAN
Reliability Design
Plan-Do-Study-Act 
48. 48 GOAL:  Reliability        Standardize
Redundancy
 Redesign 
49. 49 Making a P & J Sandwich Open peanut butter jar
Open jelly jar
Open bread bag
Take out two pieces of bread
Lay them separated on table by 4”
Pick up knife
Use knife to take peanut butter from jar
Spread evenly on bread to 1/8” thick
Take knife and take jelly from jar
Apply jelly on other slice of bread to 1/8” thick
Put knife down
Pick up bread with peanut butter on it flip it over and place on bread with jelly on it
Put peanut butter cap back on peanut butter jar and screw shut
Put jelly cap back on jelly jar and screw shut
Close bread bag
Pick up knife and clean it
Place knife back on table
 
50. 50 Project Examples Forms – decrease MD time
Improve patient experience at a clinic
Standardize first OB visit
Improve efficiency of e-communication
Improve use of lower cost H pylori test 
51. 51 Improvement Project Choice Start Small
 
52. 52 “1st OB”  Physicians complain that they do not have all the data they need for the first OB visit readily available when they see the patient. 
53. 53 “1st OB”  
54. 54 “1st OB”  To increase the % of OB Providers that respond “Yes” to the question “Do you currently have everything you need for a 1st OB visit when you walk into the room?” from 36% to 50% by 6/1/08. 
55. 55 Asked 20 Questions - Top 3 Pre-Visit Planning Focus
OB History
Medications
Medical and Surgical History 
56. 56 Improvement Project Choice What’s important
to the team 
57. 57 Opioid Refills 
58. 58 Aim Improve efficiency and increase staff satisfaction with the Schedule II medication refill process. 
59. 59 Measure 
60. 60  ___  ____  ______ ___  ______ Time Spent Looking for Refills 
61. 61 Culture of Improvement 
62. 62 HealthPartners Medical Group 
63. 63 Physician Satisfaction Survey AMGA 2008 
64. 64 
65. BETH
At the end of the day, it’s about delivering value for patients and here is a summary of our journey – you can see we have improved in diabetes and patient experience while lowering their cost 
BETH
At the end of the day, it’s about delivering value for patients and here is a summary of our journey – you can see we have improved in diabetes and patient experience while lowering their cost 
 
66. 66 Key Learning’s You can only get better if you know where you started
 Involve and engage the team(s), share and steal
Use the available data
Conflict is opportunity 
67. 67 Key Learning’s Start small, spread fast (it’s OK to fail)
Common language is important
Identify and foster passionate physicians with aptitude
The journey never ends 
68. 68