Linda Ollis talks about how a rich history and continuous process improvements have enabled this medical center to thrive.

Creighton University Medical Center is the longest continually operating hospital west of the Mississippi River and the longest healthcare provider in the city of Omaha, Neb., according to Linda Ollis, CEO. The $300 million, 340-bed medical center’s strong legacy within the community went hand in hand with the development of Creighton University, an award-winning private university in the city.

“We have a strong foundation that is based on Jesuit values, and that provides a structure and a mission statement that permeates everything we do here. I stepped into a hospital system two years ago that is rich in history, culture, and community partnership,” Ollis said.

Linda Ollis

That blend has enabled the organization to enjoy several positive years of financial and quality accomplishments. “It’s a shared sense of commitment, using the five-pillar approach for all of our activities. We have a balanced scorecard, which includes quality expectations, service, people metrics, cost, and growth. That balance and the commitment of our organization enable us to travel along the same path and stay in sync,” Ollis said.

Fine-tuning
Two years ago, Creighton University Medical Center implemented a process improvement methodology, Commitment to Quality (C2Q), in which six teams look at major core processes in the hospital to strive for continual improvement in outcomes in accordance with balanced scorecards. Physicians, house staff, residents, and employees serve on interdisciplinary committees to jointly establish the targets and work together to make improvements.

C2Q has led to Creighton University Medical Center having one of the lowest rates of patients leaving without being seen in the ED compared to Tenet Healthcare Corporation (its parent organization) and national standards. Many months, that figure runs under 1%, explained Ollis. On average, it hovers around 1.5%.

“We focused on capacity management and the continuum of care,” said Ollis. “We designed a way to move our patients through the ED appropriately into the nursing units using effective bed assignment principles. We also review, on a continued stay basis, the appropriateness of our patients in the ICU and assess when they are ready to move to the next level of care.”

The group focused on fine-tuning that process to help expedite decisionmaking at each point so the medical staff in the ER could not only reduce patient stay in the ED, but also reduce the number of decisionmakers. According to Ollis, Nebraska and Iowa are among the top states in the US in terms of reducing the length of time in emergency rooms.

Technology upgrades
Creighton University Medical Center is embarking on several major technology upgrades. A service-line structure in the hospital matches the departmental and organizational structure at the School of Medicine to enable the hospital to review all the technological needs by service line to make certain it’s an inclusive planning process.

Last year, the medical center put in a sophisticated PACS and opened the first state-of-the-art endovascular suite in the city of Omaha. This has enabled Creighton to conduct sophisticated stenting procedures. “We can bring any patient into the endovascular suite with the assurance that it can be immediately converted to an OR if necessary,” said Ollis.

The medical center is also in the process of installing a new 64-slice CT to strengthen its cardiology program, which, according to Ollis, has been the number one ranked cardiology program in the city of Omaha for several years.

But Creighton University Medical Center’s high quality outcomes are just not about technology, explained the chief executive. As an academic medical center, Creighton is home to highly tenured and experienced faculty physicians who are available 24/7. “We’re distinct in that when patients come to our organization, they don’t have to worry about whether it’s an evening or weekend—all experts are there on hand to take care of them.”

The center of it all
Currently, Ollis and her team are evaluating several joint venture opportunities, one with an ambulatory surgery center in an outlying community with which it has a strong affiliation. The organization is also looking at a joint venture with its physicians to develop a stereotactic radio-surgery facility as well as an expanded community cancer center.

“Fortunately, we’re right in the center of the Creighton University campus, and we have access to an array of resources. Anyone in our community can come to us and know we’ll be applying the latest treatment methods ’round the clock so we can return them home as quickly as possible,” Ollis concluded.