U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
No change is too small to deliver improvement
Participants are coached by our collaborative improvement professionals to develop and choose the tools that best fit their organizations and processes. In the journey to advance transplantation and donation, small changes have the potential to drive improvement and deliver meaningful impact.
- Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s pediatric liver transplant program used improvement methodology to decrease time from referral to waitlisting.
- Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center used collaborative improvement to enhance the efficiency of the referral and evaluation process.
- The University of Iowa Organ Transplant Center developed a checklist item for patient consent, increasing the percentage of patients listed for high-KDPI kidneys.
- Thomas Jefferson University Hospital reactivated 34 patients on their waitlist during the nine-month collaborative experience.
In a previous OPTN transplantation collaborative that targeted increasing kidney utilization and reducing kidney discards, the Collaborative Innovation and Improvement Network (COIIN) explored:
- Reducing the risk-avoidance behaviors associated with the current monitoring system
- Developing and testing an alternative, data-rich quality monitoring framework
- Supporting a collaborative approach toward performance improvement and effective practices
Collaborative improvement resources that drive innovative change
Data and resource sharing
Discussion boards & virtual workspace
Monthly collaborative calls and learning webinars
Access to performance improvment coaching
Key driver/effective practice analysis
“We face similar challenges across the country. It was great to be able to work together as a transplant community to discuss these issues—what might not be a problem for your center is something you could help another center work through. The collaboration was priceless.”