Yale New Haven Health launched a major initiative four years ago to reduce variation in care at the health system's four acute-care hospitals and outpatient sites.
Yale New Haven Health is seeking to reduce variation in the delivery of care with the health system's Care Signature Initiative.
Decreasing variation has been a central goal of quality improvement since W. Edwards Deming pioneered the concept in the Toyota Production System in the 1970s. In care delivery, research has shown the consequences of inappropriate variation include underusing needed services, overusing unwarranted services, higher costs, and worse clinical outcomes.
Here is how Yale New Haven Health is reducing variation in care delivery.
Click here to read the accompanying article, which features comments from Thomas Balcezak, MD, MPH, chief clinical officer for Yale New Haven Health.
Christopher Cheney is the CMO editor at HealthLeaders.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
At Yale New Haven Health, a Care Signature Pathway is a standardized model for evaluating, diagnosing, and treating a medical condition that is integrated into the health system's EHR.
The first Care Signature Pathway developed at the health system was for COVID-19 in early 2020.
The health system now has more than 600 Care Signature Pathways.