Health Care Reform in Utah
A bit from colleague, John Kesler, with whom I have worked a bit to support the evolution of health care in Utah...
The overview is here. The large change priorities follow...
Vision 2010 Sub-Committees
“Large Change” Priorities
Quality and Safety
• Support the IHI 5 million lives campaign. The Campaign’s goal is to protect patients from 5 million incidents of medical harm from December 2006-December 2008. The effort aims to enlist 4,000 hospitals in a renewed national commitment to improve patient safety faster than ever before.
Seamless Technology
• Support the creation of a universally accepted and accessible clinical records exchange tool
• Reduce “fragmentation” in the system and simplify exchange of clinical data.
Access and Affordability
• Link the various conversations related to access and affordability in the State of Utah—the Governor’s Plan, UMA’s committee, Healthcare Coverage Coalition, Salt Lake Chamber, Michael Leavitt plan, other conversations, etc.
• Support a Shared Values Model for a New System:
--A strong public health system
--A reformed insurance market that delivers essential core coverage
--A reformed healthcare delivery market that creates incentives for increasing value
--Systems that fully support the delivery of high quality care
--Transition bridge for existing community and volunteer clinics
Engaged Workforce
• Continue to support and pursue initiatives to support academia. Work in partnership with the Utah State Office of Education and Dept. of Workforce services to promote health sciences careers and “fill the pipeline” for future healthcare needs. Work in partnership with UONL and academia to initiate the USPIN proposal to streamline clinical placements for nursing students.
• Increase interaction with other sub-committees in the areas of safety, wellness and diversity. Focus on efforts to improve employee wellness in our hospitals, both physicially and emotionally, working toward the goal of “Treating the employee better than they treat the patient.”
• Further define levels of professional competence in the healthcare workforce.
Coalition for Civic, Character and Service Learning
November 8, 2008
A couple of weeks ago I watched my colleague and friend John Kesler honored for a lifetime of commitment to community engagement. He was awarded the Civic, Character and Service Award at the 5th annual Dialogue on Democracy event in
I love John’s fierce commitment to engagement. I’ve seen it many times in our shared work through the
One of those anchors is translocal learning communities, communities of place that act locally while connecting regionally and learning globally. The SLCEC is a budding example. Our local action includes “Creating a Culture of Connection” in which we are supporting dialogues on creating welcome. This work includes local school districts, neighborhood community councils, university students, and community immigrants. I don’t know to what level this initiative will become a translocal learning community, but I love the starting points that we are at and how this is inspiring many.
Another anchor is the cross-fertilizing among people of similar interest and imagination. One example of this through our center is a recent Sustainability Summit. At this half-day event, 85 people from various organizations in the
I appreciate John for his steady focus on the community – the tending to the whole – while at the same time supporting the action of the individual. It is a leadership that is so needed, and one of the qualities that many see in John. I am grateful to learn with him about keeping my eyes and heart open to the global, while at the same time, keeping my feet firmly committed in the local.
John spoke it well and with deep passion as he announced a statewide call for improved civic discourse in
Center for Engaging Community
John Kesler is my patner in work with the Center for Engaging Community. He is a man of great vision. He attracts incredible people around him. He is very humble. And a great catalyzer of efforts. Together we co-direct the Center.
Last week, John and I were checking-in. Projects. Imaginations. Plans. A central point of our efforts is an initiative called Culture of Connection. We launched this effort in many ways with a large community event last spring. Today it lives in many people, committees, and community relations.
I wanted to name this initiative because last week John and I had one of those moments where we revisited purpose and a few agreements. We weren't trying to per se; but it became clear that in our phone conversation, that is what was happening. These all spoke to me...
- Bring capacity of conversation
- When we find competence and passion, help to catalyze the self-organizationt that manifests flourishing community.
- We can look through multiple lenses.
- Be a trusted neutral convenor, not an advocate.
- Grassroots community engagement.
This also spoke to me, three anchors. We support flourishing community by...
- Convening, training, connecting, practicing in conversation.
- Supporting technology that connects, both in content and social community (this a project that we are just starting to imagine)
- Grounding our work in specific domains -- currently feeling the biggest need in a bipartisan legislative dialogue project, and, and exploration into supporting and integrating immigrant and refugee communities in the Salt Lake Valley.