Society for Health Systems Newsletter

February 2015

ACOs make progress in using big data to improve care

Only a handful of the largest and most sophisticated ACOs have established a "big data" warehouse that will let them pull together information from a variety of sources to help optimize care for individual patients and for their overall enrolled population. But many ACOs are developing the capacity to track patients in real time when they go to the hospital or the emergency department so they can intervene quickly to improve cost and quality outcomes.

For many of these ACOs, accessing, sharing and analyzing these smaller pools of data, then figuring out what to do with the results, present their most formidable information challenges.

SHS Election Results

The results of recent election are in and all newly-elected members have accepted their new roles.


Joyce Siegele President- elect	Karl Kraebber Board Member	Isaac B. Mitchell Board Member

Congratulations to Joyce, Karl and Isaac and thank you in advance for your service to the Society.

2015 Health Systems Process Improvement Conference - Only a few weeks away!

SHS strives to bring in up-to-date topics that can help your organization stay on the cutting edge. The Healthcare Systems Process Improvement Conference is the crown jewel of SHS and one of our biggest events.

The 2015 Health Systems Process Improvement Conference held at the Rosen Plaza Hotel in Orlando, Florida, is only a few weeks away. You still have time to register to attend this annual gathering of current and future healthcare process improvement practitioners and academicians.

Read highlights from events occurring during the conference

Labor and delivery nurse staffing as a cost-effective safety intervention

Numerous studies have identified a relationship between staffing levels and nurse-sensitive outcomes for medical and surgical patients, but little has been published on the impact of nurse-sensitive outcomes for the childbearing family and even less that examines the relationship of intrapartum staffing on adverse perinatal outcomes.

Upcoming Webinar!

Feb. 10

2 p.m. Eastern time

Choosing Wisely: A Program to Reduce Unnecessary Medical Care

Presenter: Dr. Susan Haas

Register now!

Time is running out to register for IIE conferences at discounted rates

Healthcare Systems Process Improvement Conference

Coming up Feb. 18-20 in Orlando, Florida, the Society for Health System's Healthcare Systems Process Improvement Conference will equip you with the tools you need to influence process improvement at your healthcare or healthcare-related organization. Advanced registration is open until Feb. 8 and will save you $100.

Why for-profit hospitals are poised for a strong 2015 (and not-for-profits aren't)

Investor-owned hospital chains are enjoying momentum under healthcare reform that isn't sweeping along their not-for-profit counterparts. Analysts expect another strong year from the for-profit operators because they've cut costs and adopted new initiatives to bring in more patients.

Healthcare Environmental Survey

Hello SHS Members!
Please take a moment to participate in our joint survey with HIMSS ME-PI Community. The purpose of this survey is to gain a better understanding of our members within the healthcare performance improvement community. Your responses will be anonymous and will not be tied back to an individual person. The results will be used to plan educational offerings and inform other SHS and HIMSS activities for the upcoming year. In addition, you'll note that this time we are asking more about the type of rule you have and basic salary information. This will be used to help create content focused on IE-ME-PI careers and other opportunities where this expertise is needed. Again this survey is completely confidential.

Click here to participate in the survey.

This survey will open until Monday, Mar 2. Once results are final, we will share your input with the SHS community. Thank you in advance.

IOM urges vast changes in clinical trial data sharing

The Institute of Medicine on Wednesday released four recommendations to address practices that often have left relevant medical research unpublished and useful data unattainable by independent researchers. The guidelines could represent a sea change in how the research enterprise is thinking about its responsibilities, say advocacy groups, ethicists and academic researchers.

Hospital re-engineers ED processes to cut wait times

Dr. Richard Zane quickly spotted huge waste and inefficiency soon after he was hired to head the University of Colorado Hospital emergency department in 2012.