My guest for episode #218 is Karen Kiel-Rosser, Vice President/Quality Improvement Officer at Mary Greeley Medical Center in Iowa. You can see her full bio below in this post. You might remember Karen from a recent post where she told a great story about putting patient safety first.
We're talking today about the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and how that framework and process is mutually supportive of Lean and quality improvement. In December, Mary Greeley Medical Center was named a recipient of Gold level recognition in the 2014 Iowa Recognition for Performance Excellence (IRPE) program – the state level Baldrige award. They previously received the Silver level in 2011.
In the podcast, we talk about why and when Mary Greeley decided to pursue the Baldrige award, what it was like to be reviewed at the state level, and their future plans for applying at the national level.
Karen also shares thoughts about how Baldrige (“the what”) and Lean (“the how”) fit together, some of their key quality outcomes measures, and how the recognition has helped internally with staff. She also talks about their safety huddles, the importance of “engaging those closest to the work,” and the need for a “systematic approach” to capture Rapid Improvement Events and daily improvement work and how their use of KaiNexus has supported those efforts.
The hospital was previously featured in episode #201: Ron Smith & Suz Kaprich, the KaiNexus WorkOut at Mary Greeley Medical Center.
For a link to this episode, refer people to www.leanblog.org/218.
For earlier episodes of my podcast, visit the main Podcast page, which includes information on how to subscribe via RSS or via Apple Podcasts. You can also subscribe and listen via Stitcher.
Video with Karen:
Karen's Bio:
Karen Kiel Rosser serves as the Vice President & Quality Improvement Officer for Mary Greeley Medical Center in Ames. In this role, Karen oversees the strategic development and implementation of a system-wide framework for performance excellence utilizing criteria from the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Program as well as the tools of lean and six sigma. Karen also has administrative responsibility for Information Systems including leveraging Mary Greeley's Electronic Health Record, Epic, in order to achieve high levels of quality and safety in the care delivery process.
Before joining Mary Greeley Medical Center, Karen held the position of Vice President of Performance Excellence and Managed Care at Agnesian HealthCare, an integrated health care delivery system in Fond du Lac, WI. She also worked as Network Development Director at Employers Health/Humana Health Plan in Milwaukee, WI.
Karen holds a Master's Degree in Health Care Administration from the University of Minnesota and a Bachelors Degree in Communications and Public Relations from the University of Wisconsin. She is a certified lean six sigma green belt and an examiner for the Iowa Recognition for Performance Excellence Program and the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Program. Additionally, she is a member of the Ames Morning Rotary Club, a board member for United Way of Story County, and a participant in Leadership Ames (class XXIV) program.
Feedback & Comments:
If you have feedback on the podcast, or any questions for me or my guests, you can email me at leanpodcast@gmail.com or you can call and leave a voicemail by calling the “Lean Line” at (817) 993-0630 or contact me via Skype id “mgraban”. Please give your location and your first name. Any comments (email or voicemail) might be used in follow ups to the podcast.
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Great stuff, Mark. Karen is an excellent example of why leadership matters in continuous improvement.