Have you used Lean to improve processes in your hospital? Whether you have used internal resources or a consulting group, it can be easy to get started and hard to sustain. What are some of the things that are part of an effective Lean improvement initiative?

You have developed a formal linkage between your strategic goals and your improvement program. Your executive team receives periodic reports from your Lean leader(s) about activities and accomplishments. You have an effective “pipeline” set up for improvement project requests. You have incorporated improvement goals into your leaders’ performance evaluation criteria. You have a plan in place for continuing to develop process improvement capability within your current leadership team. If you do not have these basic elements in place, it can be difficult to maintain momentum for your process improvement initiative.

Take a closer look at a couple of the most important items:

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Do you have patients that you and your hospital staff know by name because of their frequent visits? Does your Emergency Department see some patients multiple times a month? Caretenders can help. Caretenders has established a care delivery model specific to High Risk Hospitalization (HRH) patients. Once you contact them, their transitional care nurse will come to the hospital, meet with the patient and family, obtain all necessary information on the patient and complete an HRH assessment.

Caretenders will then work to transition the patient from your hospital, every step of the way, until they return home. At home, they will admit your patient within 24 hours. They will also have our Medical Social Worker make daily phone calls to the patient for at least 7 days. Caretenders utilizes CardioCom telehealth system to support their efforts in the home. CardioCom takes the patient’s vital signs and transmits them daily to their monitoring system. This provides reassurance that any slight change in the patient’s health will be detected quickly and effectively. The Caretenders team can then work with the MD to adjust medications, O2 levels or even administer diuretics in the home.

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Republic Bank, KHA's Platinum Sponsor, headquartered in Louisville, with 40 banking centers across five states and $3.7 billion in assets, is one of the largest locally owned community banks. And as a locally owned bank, Republic truly understands the needs of Kentucky hospitals.

With a full range of commercial account products, from commercial lending and leasing, analysis checking and treasury management services to payroll processing, merchant services, business credit card and online banking services, Republic can provide whatever your facility needs to succeed.

For further information, go to www.republicbank.com or visit with their representatives at the KHA Convention, May 12-13 in Lexington.

An estimated 70% of all decisions regarding a patient’s diagnosis, treatment, hospital admission and discharge are based on laboratory test results.

LabCorp believes a true Laboratory partner should provide more than reference testing services. In the face of declining reimbursement rates and increasing focus on patient outcomes, LabCorp offers partnership models that go beyond the traditional reference testing arrangements.

LabCorp provides non-traditional laboratory partnerships with a focus on cost savings and/or revenue generation for the hospital system. Examples include:

Revenue generation through a Cooperative Testing Arrangement or Outreach Acquisition Cost reduction through a Technical Support Arrangement or Laboratory Outsource Arrangement Revenue generation and cost reduction through a Joint Equity Venture Arrangement Population health management through ACO/ACE/CIN Exclusive and Preferred Provider Arrangements Declining...

KHA Silver Sponsor PHI Air Medical, Inc. has many services available for Kentucky hospitals:

PHI Patient Navigation is a natural extension of PHI Air Medical’s core values to always provide the right care at the right time to their patients. While transfer center services everywhere are providing one-step, quick solutions to hospitals’ transfer needs, Patient Navigation provides so much more beyond just one phone call.

PHI has developed high-level solutions to ensure optimal patient care, clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction. PHI Patient Navigation offers four unique services for their customers’ patient navigation needs:

SwiftAdmit, - A solution that streamlines admissions and facilitates transfers, cutting the typical admit-and-transfer time in half. PHI’s experienced clinicians answer the phone as representatives of the customers’ hospital — 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. DischargeDirect - With DischargeDirect, PHI Patient Navigation facilitates...