Transparency Rules at Mountain States Health Alliance

Can transparency improve a hospital's quality of care?

Johnson City, TN-based Mountain States Health Alliance has been awarded the 2012 National Quality Healthcare Award by the National Quality Forum. A critical component of that success is transparency contends a quality leader.

Tamera Parsons, MSHA's vice president of quality and patient safety, says the award is an acknowledgement of the years of hard work that the not-for-profit health system has invested to improve quality and enhance patient-centered care for the patients it serves at 13 hospitals in 29 counties in the mountains of Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia.  

"When we first designed our patient-centered care culture we identified 10 guiding principles and we use those principals to guide behavior and form the foundation for all the processes we put in place," Parsons tells HealthLeaders Media. "Number 8 on the list, and not in order of importance, is 'Transparency is the rule in the care of the patient.'"

It starts at the bedside.

"We solidify that transparency by being open and honest with all the information patients need to make the right choices for their healthcare," Parsons says.

"That includes involving them in the discussion, having report out and exchange among caregivers at the bedside so the patient is involved and can participate in that exchange of information. Whoever they designate as their very important person in their care is involved as well in the information exchange."

From the bedside, MSHA's transparency efforts expand to engage employees and improve outcomes.

"We take the transparency to a different level within the organization by giving everyone at Mountain States access to our results at the system and facilities and service line levels," Parsons says.

"Results are posted on our Intranet and anyone can see those results for any facilities in the system. We also post them on walls and bulletin boards and they are very visible."

MSHA also shares outcomes data "outside the walls of the organizations so we can compare results and practices so we can all improve together and we take it to an Internet level by placing our results on our Web site," Parsons says. "We were one of the first organizations in the country to do that in 2007."

Rather than throwing out reams of data that might otherwise confuse and frustrate healthcare consumers and their families, Parsons says MSHA uses simple graphics to illuminate findings, puts data in comparative context nationally, by state, and by region, and explains what the data means in plain English.

"Our goal is to be transparent, but there is so [much] conflicting information on Web sites on healthcare, and scores and results and some of it is competitively driven, [that] it can't help but make it difficult for people in our region to understand where they need to go for information," she says.

"So our main motivation was to be transparent to our patients in a way that is easily understood. We gave it the 'mom test.' We figured if our moms could understand it and they aren't healthcare executives, it's at the right level for folks to get the information they need without having to work too hard."

MSHA's success is more evidence of the good things that happen to healthcare providers who share their data—both warts and wonders—with patients, staff, and the outside world.

It's all common sense. When you provide people with healthcare data you provide them with the opportunity to make choices on critically important decisions. It's a buy-in. If patients and their families understand and have a voice in their care regimens they will more likely follow those regimens when they leave the hospital. 

If you want engaged and accountable staff, share your data. Brag on the successes but don't shade the problem areas. When staff see data that clearly demonstrates you have a problem they will rally to fix it. Data provides accountability and empowerment for everyone from the CEO to the environmental staff.

"An environment of transparency not only makes information available for people but also creates an environment where folks can ask for information and challenge and ask questions. It is that challenging of our status quo that takes us on the steps to improvement," Parsons says.

"We want people who are engaged with the mission and vision of Mountain States—where they are not only intellectually tied to delivering healthcare but they are also emotionally invested in the work we do.

Transparency allows us to further the engagement as well and the sharing of information allows us to break down silos so we can work together and integrate what we do and truly put the patient at the center of everything we do."