Case 1 was beneficial to discuss right before this one. It gave us an opportunit

Question

Case 1 was beneficial to discuss right before this one. It gave us an opportunity to set up strategy and discuss issues that are similar to this Intermountain case. There are contrasts in the two situations, and both corporations are adopting TQM as fast and as fully as they can to meet the many and varied strategic demands of the marketplace. Both organizations have their programs captained by far-sighted leaders of the CQI movement. This week, discuss the following:

1. This organization has a long and effective history of success of continuous improvement. What has led to that success?

2. What do they do that is transferable to other systems? What is not transferable?

3. What investment does Intermountain Health make to support clinical integration?

Explanation / Answer

Intermountain case - Case not given in the question (Please note that by presenting the entire case, we shall be in a position to answer them aptly. This question does not have a case in it. Next time please make sure that you post the case in the question.

1) This organization has a long and effective history of success of continuous improvement. What has led to that success?

The main focus of the organization was continuous improvement by increasing the quality levels, reducing the costs and by integrating the clinical processes. The concept of improving the quality and reducing the cost is a core principle of the lean production management principles and the systems of Intermountain Healthcare is considered to be one of the most successful systems in the country at improving quality and reducing costs. Say for example, the organization has designed and implemented a protocol in order to reduce elective labor inductions. The system has significatly reduced unplanned surgical deliveries and neonatal intensive care (NICU) admissions. By implementing this protocol, the healthcare administrators have estimated that the health care costs reduce by $50 million a year. Today, Intermountain manages 60 clinical processes in this manner making up of almost 80% of the system's clinical activities. These activities constitute to the success of the continuous improvement in the organization.

2) What do they do that is transferable to other systems? What is not transferable?

They have balanced their focus between cost, technology and patient care and most importantly, they have integrated all the systems. The one that is transferrable to other systems are - Technology integration, knowledge sharing.

The one that is not transferable is - Patient personal information and their clinical history.

3) What investment does Intermountain health make to support clinical integration?

The investment Intermountain health care made was on structural integration, improvement of quality by the information systems, and value of investment in the clinical integration.

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