Getting to Health 2.0: Strengthening Our Core
The future of health care is evolving in many ways, and the leadership team at Swedish recognizes that our organization needs to adapt to this transition so that we will continue to meet – and anticipate – the needs of our patients. During the past few months, we have been sharing our new strategic plan with our caregivers and community partners, which will provide direction for Swedish during the next several years.
The plan will serve as a road map for leading Swedish into the next phase of health care, which we call “Health 2.0.” This requires us to continue our excellent hospital-centered, acute care model with more focus on an integrated system of care that provides the right patient and community health care at the right time, in the right place. In a Health 2.0 model, care becomes more community-based, accessible and seamless, with more use of ambulatory care centers, virtual visits, and other methods of delivering care close to home.
The transition to Health 2.0 requires a strong infrastructure, a focus on the social determinants of health, a commitment to community partnerships and the integration of new technologies. Our strategic plan addresses these priorities in three key areas. In this blog post, I will focus on the first area: Strengthening the Core.
Strengthening the core is a commitment to creating an optimal work experience for our caregivers, who play an integral role every day in ensuring we provide high-quality care to our patients. We want to ensure that our caregivers feel fulfilled and inspired to carry on our mission at Swedish. To that end, we are providing more support to develop and foster the relationship between caregivers and their managers while continuing to work toward a culture that is inclusive and focused on diverse practices.
We will also work with our key community partners to help develop the talent pipeline from within Seattle and to create training and workforce strategies to help us transition to a more integrated system of care.
Strengthening the core also means we will continue to strive for excellence in clinical care. I am proud that The Leapfrog Group recently awarded “A” grades to Swedish First Hill, Ballard and Issaquah, and “B” grades to Swedish Cherry Hill and Edmonds, in recognition of our work to protect patients from harm and meet the highest safety standards in the country.
Finally, strengthening the core requires maintaining a focus on opportunities for improved operational and financial performance. For more than a century, Swedish has been the reliable health care provider in this community. We proudly treat all those who come through our doors, regardless of their ability to pay. I am confident that our strategic plan will position Swedish for success so that we can continue to provide members of our community the care they expect, while continuing our mission well into the future.