About Partners With The Baldrige Foundation On A Leaderdialogue

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One challenge faced today is the many barriers preventing hospitals and health systems from operating as one system of care, Sawyer said. The pandemic has magnified operational siloes. For example, early in the pandemic, many states were unable to facilitate care access for patients with COVID-19, load balance facilities, deliver visibility and control resources. As a result, some hospital beds sat empty while others were overwhelmed with demand due to the inability to coordinate resources and orchestrate access to care. Even during the 2021 surge of cases due to the delta variant of the virus, some health systems have continued to face the same care access and orchestration challenges for their patients with COVID-19.

“America’s healthcare institutions are challenged by an ever-changing environment, most recently the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Al Faber, president and CEO of the Baldrige Foundation. “The Baldrige Performance Excellence framework enables hospitals and healthcare systems to leverage organizational learning with a systems approach, to create greater agility and effectively respond to these challenges. ...
... The LeaderDialogue thought leadership forums provide an important opportunity for executive leaders and boards of directors to engage and share their key insights and learnings.”

In addition to care access and orchestration and patient navigation issues, health system leaders have described several challenges to overcome in order to grow with resilience in this environment of uncertainty, including workforce shortages, costs exceeding revenues, post-merger integration, competition from new players, lack of digital health strategy, and operating as one (i.e., “systemness”).

“ABOUT is the ideal partner to support healthcare organizational leaders in these issues as it serves more than 900 hospitals and health systems, including some of the largest for-profit and non-profit organizations in the country, as well as Veterans Affairs Medical Centers,” ABOUT CEO Angie Franks said.

Recently, ABOUT helped create and execute the Arizona Surge Line, which connects more than 100 hospitals and health systems across Arizona to load balance surges in healthcare demand to ensure that every patient with COVID-19 has access to care when resources become scarce.

“Our values have guided us when the need is presented,” Franks said. “We have used our determination, courage and passion to help enable one of the most complex systems of care in the country. In addition to the Surge Line, we have orchestrated access to care for millions of patients nationwide across the continuum of care. We help clients manage acute patient transfers, coordinate care to the next best setting of care, and leverage our intelligent transportation solution for emergent and non-emergent transport. All of our clients are different, but all are positively impacting patient lives. That’s why it’s our turn now to give back and help them do what they do best through our LeaderDialogue program with Baldrige.”

About the Company

ABOUT offers a flexible, purpose-built solution that empowers hospitals and health systems to operate as one connected network of care. We enable easy access for clinicians to move patients into and out of the acute care setting—getting them to the next, best care setting faster and easier. Complemented by our clinical experts and best practices, we provide health systems the necessary controls and insights to grow with resilience, drive clinician effectiveness, and improve patient outcomes.

The Baldrige Foundation

The mission of the Baldrige Foundation is to ensure the long-term financial growth and viability of the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, and to support organizational performance excellence in the United States and throughout the world. The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award is presented annually by the United States President to role-model organizations that demonstrate quality and performance excellence.