Performance Improvement
VHA Georgia offers members products and services to assist them in their performance improvement needs. From state wide initiatives, to regional programs, to individualized hospital assistance, the Performance Improvement (PI) Department’s goal is to provide resources, support, education, and networking to members which helps to improve quality, costs, and efficiency in the daily operations of the hospitals.
Solutions are diverse and encompass a variety of performance improvements, including:
- Consulting
- While all VHA Georgia members are working on similar initiatives in their organizations, many times performance improvement efforts are impacted by unique qualities of an individual organization. VHA Georgia provides expert staff trained in Lean / Six Sigma to assist your organization in performance improvement projects. While all consulting projects are customized, examples include:
- Patient Flow / Throughput
- Productivity / Staffing Assessments
- Revenue Cycle Assessment and Improvement
- Patient and Physician Scheduling
- Department Specific and / or Service Line process improvements
- Non-Salary Costs Reduction Assessments
- Case Management / Quality improvement Efficiency Review
- Regulatory / The Joint Commission Mock Survey Assistance
- Data / Dashboards
- VHA Georgia understands that improvement must be measured. VHA Georgia provides a variety of data comparisons and dashboards to assist your organization in identifying opportunities and then measuring improvement.
- Glucomanager Comparative
- Users of the Glucomanager tool can monitor in-patient blood glucose levels by unit, shift, patient, and range. Stabilizing in-patient glucose levels results in shorter length of stay and higher quality outcomes.This report compares members against themselves and other VHA members, and allows the hospitals to visualize opportunities for better control of blood sugars, focusing on improved protocol use and education.
- Glycemic Control Pilot
- In partnership with Sanofi, VHA Georgia is working with four volunteer members to roll out a defined glycemic control program that will assist the facility in reducing and / or eliminating the use of sliding scale insulin in the acute care setting, establishing and implementing protocols using basal insulin, and maximizing education / training for the physicians, patients and staff. The program has been shown to decrease LOS by at least 2 days, while decreasing complications and improving mortality in the diabetes population.
- Glycemic Management (Glucomanager)
- Glucomanager is a data management tool that allows member organizations to monitor in-patient blood glucose levels by unit, shift. patient and range. Glucomanager is a web based product that requires minimal maintenance from the hospitals to use.
- Joint Commission / Regulatory
- VHA Georgia has expert Joint Commission mock surveyors ready to assist with your preparations for continued Joint Commission accreditation. These services are unbiased, collaborative, informative and cost-effective.
- Leading Practice Portal
- VHA Inc.’s portal for leading practice blueprints, VHA’s Clinical Education Series, and VHA’s Performance Navigator that reports and compares publicly reported data.
- Lean Program
- Equipped with green and black belts, VHA Georgia can not only facilitate lean projects in your organization, but we can train your employees and prepare your organization for a continuous improvement culture.
- Member Best Practices
- VHA Georgia provides a trusting environment for members to share their successes and lessons learned among the membership. In doing so, members can learn from one another, avoid “recreating the wheel,” and succeed more effectively and efficiently than they might on their own. This secure area highlights best practices in clinical and operational performance.
- Mortality Reviews
- Mortality Reviews contain a detailed chart analysis of a large sampling of patient records, comparing multiple quality indicators that assist with identifying opportunities to improve clinical processes and mortality scores. Improving patient care and reducing overall mortality rates are key to an organization’s success.
- Productivity
- VHA Georgia is currently developing a program to meet member productivity needs. Stay tuned for more details.
- Readmissions
- VHA Georgia offers members a comprehensive program to assist them in reducing 30-day preventable readmissions. Participants are able to choose one or more of five focus areas and VHA Georgia provides a forum for networking, best practice and information exchange, as well as facilitator assistance to keep your group on task.
- Value Based Purchasing
- As we move into a world of value-based purchasing, VHA Georgia is assisting members in their preparations to maximize their publicly reported measures to receive maximum reimbursements. Also, based on the final CMS ruling, VHA, Inc. is able to give members a report of their VBP score based on their current performance, enabling members to identify opportunities for improvement.
