This is part three in a series of blog posts sharing insights from CipherHealth’s first annual User Conference on Excellence and Innovation, which highlighted clients who have achieved excellence in outcomes and deployed CipherHealth solutions in innovative ways.
At CipherHealth’s User Conference on Excellence & Innovation, Nancy Yates, MSN, RN, RN-BC, GVP and Chief Nursing Informatics Officer at Providence Saint Joseph Health, gave an insightful presentation on how her organization – spanning dozens of hospitals across seven states – leveraged purposeful rounding, leadership rounding, and post-discharge follow-up to deliver the highest quality of patient care and to benchmark progress towards Quadruple Aim goals.
System-Wide Implementation of Digital Rounding
With 50 hospitals, 829 clinics, 106,000 caregivers, and over 23 million admissions and/or visits per year, Providence Saint Joseph Health is an industry leader in delivering accessible, high-quality, and compassionate care to improve the health of all.
Providence Saint Joseph Health launched CipherHealth’s digital rounding solution in 22 sites, in addition to launching CipherHealth’s KLAS #1 ranked patient outreach software in five sites. As part of the program design, Providence Saint Joseph Health defined rounding goals and expectations, tailored rounding templates, determined the device strategy, and developed alert and service recovery workflows. After implementation, ministries evaluated the impact of rounding on patient satisfaction – and found that patients who were rounded on had higher HCAHPS top box scores than those not rounded on.
The Evolution of Digital Rounding
Throughout her presentation, Yates underscored the importance of evaluating the quality of rounds, rather than the sheer number of rounds. Addressing patient concerns is the key to developing credibility. To illustrate her point, Yates provided the tale of two patients who both had multiple rounds throughout their stay. In one case, the staff performed immediate service recovery to address the patient’s concerns. As a result, the patient felt seen and valued, resulting in top box scores on the HCAHPS survey. In the other case, the staff did not address the patient’s ongoing concerns over a four-day length of stay. In the end, the lack of follow-through resulted in a poor patient experience, which was reflected in the HCAHPS survey.
Developing a deep understanding of point-of-care experiences through real-time rounding data provided a springboard for Providence Saint Joseph Health to implement targeted, system-wide improvements. While standardization across the system has proved to be a cornerstone of the rounding program, leaders wanted flexibility in the rounding scripts. Ministries now utilize six system-level questions that can be compared across all ministries, as well as four custom questions selected from the Providence Saint Joseph Health question bank. This approach allows for benchmarking and standardization, while also empowering each organization within the system to track their own internal initiatives. Limiting the questions also ensures that rounds are completed in a timely manner. Yates explained, “We found that if they asked only three questions, the ministries weren’t getting into the core components of identifying the patient experience issues. In addition, we have found that we need to pay attention to it every day. Now, we’re looking at how we can incorporate the dashboards into their daily huddle to take action.”
In its ongoing evolution, Providence Saint Joseph Health will incorporate alerts into the rounding scripts, use CipherHealth’s point-of-care technology in outpatient settings, and leverage the dashboards for real-time decision making.
Yates provided an inspirational presentation that framed the importance of an effective implementation strategy in the context of ongoing adaptation. Participants were interested in learning how Yates utilized CipherHealth’s patient engagement and care coordination platform to advance ongoing strategic priorities at Providence Saint Joseph Health. The audience members were impressed with the thoughtful planning and implementation of the digital solutions, as well as the ongoing evolution in how front-line staff and leaders alike are leveraging technology more effectively to meet organizational goals.
For more information on proven strategies to optimize patient engagement throughout the healthcare continuum, access our resources and reach out to your Strategic Advisor.
