Educational Sessions

The Summit will include educational sessions focused on the following tracks:

• Defining and Meeting Consumer Expectations
  Engaging consumers in their health and medical decisions may encourage improved health status while potentially controlling rising costs. Yet, how do consumers want to be actively involved in their care or the care of their family members, and what sorts of clinical and service information do they need to make their health care decisions? What is the role of the hospital versus that of the employer, the insurer or the policy-maker to engage consumers? This track will address the actions that providers are taking to empower patients and their families to make proper use of health care services, pursue a healthier lifestyle and become more educated, responsible consumers of health care.
  
  
• The Leadership and Organizational Strategy for Physician Engagement
  Improving the quality of health care and containing costs relies on the active participation and commitment of caregivers working at every level of the delivery system in a coordinated fashion. Evidence suggests that clinicians must own quality and performance improvement initiatives and embed them into daily practice, rather than see them as the responsibility of designated quality personnel. And yet, gaps remain between current and best practice. This track will address the latest thinking around the critical issue of physician engagement.
  
  
• New Models of Physician/ Hospital Collaboration
  Hospitals must collaborate with clinicians and other care providers to identify areas in need of improvement, partner on the development of systems to spur improvement, and promote the tracking and reporting of progress over time. This track will explore strategies for engaging clinicians in systemic efforts to coordinate care delivery for improved quality and financial outcomes.
  
  
• Best Practices in Quality and Patient Safety
  Hospitals that seek to enhance quality and safety improvement have numerous proven strategies and methodologies to choose from. Leaders must determine what will work best for their organization, taking into account the organization’s external environment including national health care quality priorities, payer concerns, community needs and regulations, as well as its own culture. This track will feature successful hospitals and health systems and national leaders offering guidance on how to establish priorities and implement the methodologies that will have the greatest impact on improvement.
  
  
• Transforming the Workplace for a Changing Workforce
  At its core, health care delivery is about people taking care of people. And yet, numerous pressures – a shrinking workforce, an aging population, increased demand and other stresses – are challenging today’s health care worker. This track will explore the changing workforce, offering strategies to better meet the needs of hospitals, their employees, and the patients they serve. It will offer insights into best practices for redesigning systems of care that engage employees in all aspects of change, and which transform the workplace for greater employee, as well as patient, satisfaction. You will learn how a commitment to improvement that permeates the values, behaviors, and priorities of staff and leadership is critical for stimulating even greater progress.
  
  
• IT Advances for Clinical Improvement and Better Business Performance
  At the bedside, in the lab, at the operating room table... across the hospital, demands for improving quality and safety have taken center stage. At the same time, information technology—the most disruptive new technology to enter hospitals is challenging traditional processes. Hospital executives and clinical leaders have recognized the power of linking these forces for dramatic change. In this track, we’ll examine the dynamics of information technology, clinical quality and business performance improvement efforts, highlighting the best IT technology practices and innovations that will help participants make significant advances in care coordination and business processes.