Using a data-driven organizational improvement model to engage an interdisciplinary team in transforming a public women’s health clinic

Abstract

Gouverneur Health is the largest diagnostic and treatment center in New York State, and part of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC), a public benefit corporation with $6.7 billion in annual revenues. HHC is the largest municipal healthcare system in the United States serving 1.4 million patients, including more than 475,000 uninsured city residents.[1] Within Gouverneur, the Women’s Health department is committed to providing high quality services that improve patients' health and wellbeing, yet patient experience, flow, clinic access and education are in need of process improvements. To enhance patient experience and identify strategies replicable for other departments, an interdisciplinary 15-member team used an organizational improvement initiative known as a Breakthrough Value Stream Analysis (VSA) to analyze and improve a series of clinical and operational processes. Breakthrough is an organizational improvement model that HHC created in 2007 in collaboration with Simpler Consulting.

Keywords

• healthcare administration
• process improvement
• women’s health
• obstetrics
• gynecology