Reaching for Excellence
Community Vision and Voices for Western New York Health Care
Reaching Excellence
How to Reach Excellence Together
Western New York's health care leaders are already moving forward to advance system quality in the community's priority areas, as evidenced by numerous collaborative efforts among hospitals, health plans and other regional partners to improve patient-centered care. Building on these efforts, and as a framework for advancing system performance in priority areas, Reaching for Excellence offers the region's health leaders a series of strategic recommendations and local and national best practices. To guide the region's strategic efforts and related investments toward achieving measurable progress, recommendations focus on the top three priorities raised by Western New Yorkers (Make the Human Connection, Lose the Hassle Factor, and Help Me Understand).
Reaching Excellence Together
Embrace Patient Priorities
Leaders of health plans, hospitals and clinical groups in the region should continue to embrace the community’s priorities to provide compassionate and holistic care that accounts for a patient’s individualized needs, a more streamlined and efficient health care system and more open and effective communication with the patient at all stages of system interaction. Strong leadership backing, through vision and financial commitment, strategic development and staff training are the foundation for improvement efforts at all levels. This strategic vision should also be communicated to all employees at every level, from physicians to nurses to customer service representatives to billing staff and hospital custodians, with practical, simple recommendations for how their everyday tasks can be carried out with these overriding goals in mind.
NATIONAL BEST PRACTICE
Planetree Alliance
What if physicians and other providers had the opportunity to enhance their understanding and ability to incorporate the "human element" into relationships with patients, particularly in the most challenging of cases? Providing this service is the Planetree Alliance, a nonprofit organization committed to the transfer of best practices through annual conferences, access to experts, retreats for caregivers and more. Among the values of Planetree are that care is best delivered with compassion and a holistic approach to the patient, that friends and family are vital to healing, that information empowers and personal choice is essential.
LOCAL BEST PRACTICE
P2 Collaborative of Western New York
The P2 Collaborative of Western New York, the region's Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Aligning Forces for Quality community, is dedicated to improving the health of Western New Yorkers and advancing patient-centered care initiatives. Its Practice Enhancement Associates (PEAs) assist primary care physicians to increase their operational efficiency and improve patient experience and outcomes. The Consumer Engagement Associates (CEAs) motivate consumers to build patient empowerment skills through resources and supports, including My Health Counts, an online resource center and public education campaign. See www.thinkbright.org/myhealthcounts.
