Mountain States Health Alliance
Quality Awards Program
Recognizing and Rewarding Improvement Initiatives at MSHA
MSHA Quality Awards Program
• Purpose
– Encourage improvement within Mountain States Health Alliance
• Recognizing participation in improvement initiatives
• Rewarding successful improvements
• Currently in the 8th year
• Sponsored by President/CEO, Dennis Vonderfecht
• Coordinated through the Quality Department
• Three primary components
– Project entry
– Judging
– Recognition
You are invited . . .
Meadowview Marriott Resort & Convention Center
Quality Awards Project Exhibit and Reception
Where the recognition begins
Quality Awards Banquet
Project summaries
SCIP Colon Surgery Physician Order Sets – IPMC – Surgery: The team
implemented standard order sets to improve application of SCIP
guidelines for reducing complications related to colon surgery. Use of
guidelines was 79.3% in March and 94.6% in September.
Susan Fannon
Juli Hughes
Dan Kimmel
Stephanie Reed
Gina Roller
Kim Rapcan (Project Leader)
Seeing is Believing – JCMC – Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: Improving
the process of caring for premature infants reduced the rate of
Retinopathy of Prematurity from 75% in 2006 to less than 20% in 2008.
Mike DeVoe, M.D.
Renee Lowe
Jill Naylor
Lisa Carter (Project Leader)
Quality Awards Program
Agenda
Program
Invocation
Larry Easterling
Director of Pastoral Care
Mountain States Health Alliance
Welcome
Maureen MacIver
Board Chair
Mountain States Health Alliance
Opening Remarks
Dennis Vonderfecht
President /CEO
Mountain States Health Alliance
Presentation of Awards and Recognitions
Rob Adams
Tamera Fields
Monty McLaurin
Jamie Parsons
Tom Tull
Lindy White
Dennis Vonderfecht
Closing Remarks
Dennis Vonderfecht
PI Champions
Individuals within the system who have demonstrated dedication to creating a
culture of quality by promoting and using the MSHA performance improvement
model.
Levels of Recognition
Level I: Quality Interest
Recognition of an opportunity for improvement
Allocation of time and resources toward developing a solution
Level II: Quality Initiative
Use of data to drive the improvement effort
Use of PDCA to some degree
Level III: Quality Improvement
A successful project with improvement beyond the baseline level
Achieved via the utilization of the Plan-Do-Check-Act methodology
Level IV: Quality Implementation
At/near target
Strong likelihood of continued success / mechanism in place for continuous monitoring
of the new process or problem solution.
Level V: Quality Impact
Significant measurable improvement
Impacting more than one department / facility / Quality Pillar or all of MSHA
Participants at all levels receive a certificate
Levels IV and V projects receive a trophy
Awards
Hold-the-Gains Award
Most Innovative Project
House of Quality Awards
- Stakeholder Safety
- Service Excellence
- Clinical Effectiveness
- Operational Effectiveness
- Patient-Centered Care
Best Individual Project
Best Team Project
President’s Award
Best Team Project & President’s Award
7th Annual MSHA Quality Awards

116 projects entered (59% increase from last year)
 14 Returning projects entered Hold-the-Gains
 102 New projects or Previous Level 1-3
 Level 1 – 10
 Level 2 – 27
 Level 3 – 47
 Level 4 – 16
 Level 5 – 2

21 judges

745 project participants (95% increase from last year)

89 Project Storyboards on exhibit (25% increase from last year)

Cash and awards = $12,000
Recognition continues after the event
Write-ups
– MSHA publications
– Area newspapers
– MSHA Moment
MSHA Intranet
– Quality projects library
• All projects
• Best practice sharing / Lessons learned sharing
– Images
• Quality Awards banquet
• Project photos
• Storyboards
Best practices sharing events
Presentations at Board Meetings
Entering a Project
Entering a Project
The process
• Totally electronic project entry
• Entry period approximately 10 weeks
• Quality Department resources available
– In-person
– Online
• Optional storyboard entry
Intranet Resources
Entering a project
Judging the Projects
This is where YOU come in!
Judging the Projects
Qualifications
• Quality expertise
• Healthcare experience NOT required
• Familiarity with PDCA
• Outside Mountain States Health Alliance
The process
• Totally electronic
• Estimate 0.5 – 1.0 hour per project / 10 – 15 projects
• Guidelines for consistent scoring
• Nomination of projects for awards
21 volunteered their time and expertise last year!
Judging Screen
This could
be you
Some feedback from our judges
• “I have thoroughly enjoyed this opportunity and am highly impressed in
general with the MSHA Quality Awards program and the quality of the
submissions.”
• “As last year, I am impressed with the scope and level of effort from so
many teams. It speaks well of the cultural drive towards
institutionalized continuous improvement at MSHA. Keep up the good
work! “
• “It was a very rewarding experience, and I look forward to doing it
again.”
• “What a learning experience even for someone who has been in quality
for many years.”
Lessons Learned and Improvements
Each year is the best one yet!
Learning and Improving
Listening and learning

Debrief after banquet – What worked and what could be better

Customer feedback via online survey
Improvements over the years

All participants recognized

Judges are external quality experts from various industries

Online entry and judging processes

Criteria for judging now available to team members

Scoring Matrix for judges to improve standardization and reduce inconsistency

Information/education now a part of the online entry page

Streamlining processes
-

Reduced the length of the program
Eliminated the keynote speaker from recognition program (based on feedback)
Increased the number of recognitions
Feedback now available online to project participants immediately after banquet
Year One
Year Two
Years 3-7
Entering projects
Storyboard entry
Typed entry
Online entry
Judging projects
3 external / 6 MSHA
All external judges
All external judges
On-site
Electronic
Online judging
Handwritten
Emailed documents
Several hours
Two week period
4+ week period
Tri-Cities area
Statewide
NYC to Panama
3 awards
10+ awards
Only winners invited
to awards program
All participants invited, with guest
Recognizing
projects
All projects recognized
No recognition for
other projects
Integration
• MSHA House of Quality
– Pillars of excellence
– Patient Centered Care
• Impact on Blueprint goals is considered in scoring
• Use of PDCA improvement model is considered in scoring
Thank You!