On sunny Tuesday morning in Orlando, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) kicked off its annual conference.
The keynote remarks were delivered as usual, and for his last time, by Kedar Mate, M.D., outgoing IHI president and CEO. After stepping down at the end of the year, Mate plans to co-found a generative AI company focused on improving healthcare quality, efficiency and value. Joining Mate during the keynote was Thomas Lee, M.D., internist and chief medical officer at Press Ganey.
Mate called out the rise of toxic individualism, eliciting murmurs of agreement from the packed hall of attendees. This arrogant mindset has come at the expense of communities, he said. But humanism is at the core of healthcare.
“We are becoming more and more disconnected from one another and finding it harder to hear each other, but within this community of improvers, we have leaned hard into deepening human relationships,” Mate said in his remarks.
Both speakers highlighted the idea of social capital: building value and connections through principles like trust and respect. Lee authored an upcoming book on the concept. Social capital is about building a habit of respect and reciprocity until it becomes second nature. “Social capital cannot be bought or sold … it has to be created from within,” Mate said.
Social capital is not something abstract. Rather, it is variable, observable and can be measured, Mate and Lee argued. In fact, for Lee, social capital is even more important than financial capital. Lee explained a few measures that can indicate the state of social capital at an organization: how strong safety culture is, how respected patients or workers feel, how well communication is going and how much trust there is.
The concept of social capital should be a new aim for quality improvement work, Mate said. Improving relationships is foundational to sustaining all other improvements, like technical ones. “Ultimately, the secret of quality is love,” he concluded. “If you have love you can then work backwards to improve the system.”
To put this into action, it’s crucial to involve front-line teams, Lee said. Leaders should communicate to all managers the urgency around having a plan to strengthen connections and develop social capital for each unit. “Like someone managing a mutual fund portfolio, you’ve got to be looking at that,” Lee said.
Also on Tuesday, the IHI—a 2023 Fierce 50 honoree—announced a new offering known as the IHI Care Operating System. This is an integrated suite of services and products that connects clinical care, operations, informatics and analytics to improve care for patients and providers. This approach was built on the philosophy that the current healthcare system was not designed to achieve optimal health and that the solution is fixing the system, not the people working in it.
In collaboration with the National Steering Committee for Patient Safety, IHI has also released an updated self-assessment tool and user guide as part of its National Action Plan to Advance Patient Safety. The tool now aligns with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' Patient Safety Structural Measure and the goals of the National Action Alliance for Patient and Workforce Safety. The first reporting period begins in January.
The IHI also unveiled a new toolkit for nursing leaders to redesign care delivery and promote a thriving nursing workforce. A workshop at the forum that explored this topic demonstrated how virtual nursing presents a promising avenue to relieve the burden on bedside nurses while enhancing patient outcomes. Case studies were shared from five healthcare organizations that tested various approaches to improve nurse well-being.
The IHI has begun the process to select a permanent CEO with Spencer Stuart, a search firm.