Adding Value Through My Summer Vocation

Pardon my hiatus from blogging as I’ve been working on several conference presentations, including one I gave this week at the 2010 QCHF Institute and CAHF Summer Conference in South Lake Tahoe. (I’ll tell you more about that presentation in an upcoming blog.)  I’ve also been developing new ideas and tools that both synthesize and expand my thinking about compliance and quality. I've decided to write a book on quality improvement in long-term care, and my summer respite has allowed me the space to think very broadly about compliance and quality in terms of the real world, day-to-day challenges that face all of us in long-term care.  Hence my thesis:

"How can long-term care companies meet their business imperatives while adding value in all of its forms and, as a result, not only be successful, but thrive as never before?"

I believe that addressing this question will spark the single most important conversation we need to have in our industry.  And so as I prepare for upcoming presentations, develop new tools, work with my clients, and try to enjoy what's left of summer, I am making time for reflection to take a fresh look at some of the basics of our business with a more critical eye and asking myself:  How can long-term care organizations get better and better at doing what we do and meeting the imperatives we face?  How can we improve, how can we simultaneously add value for all those we serve as well as for those who work with us to provide the services?   And how can we improve and add value in such a way so that our organizations can truly thrive?

Some Perspectives on Adding Value.
Excellence in clinical quality is part of value for employees as well as residents. Physical and emotional comfort is part of value for both residents and employees. A sense of belonging and making a difference is part of value for employees, and there are related aspects of value for residents. And high value delivered for residents and employees produces the kind of value every organization wants in its marketplace and allows the company to be in an expansive mode even in these challenging times.

Long-term care has never been an easy business; perhaps it shouldn’t be since it provides services to some of our most vulnerable citizens. But there certainly are proven methods that can be applied to make it all flow more effectively and efficiently and get us out of our fire suits. This would be a tremendous accomplishment for an industry that has spent most of its existence in crisis mode. It is time to do something radically different that creates a win-win-win for everyone involved. I’m putting out the call.