North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System Teams with GE and Harvard
to Launch Center for Learning & Innovation
Nation's 3rd Largest Non-Profit Health System Applies "Corporate University" Concept to Healthcare
NEW YORK - – Taking its cue from the successes of "corporate universities," the North Shore-Long Island Jewish (LIJ) Health System today announced the creation of a new learning initiative to foster growth and lifelong learning among its 30,000 employees and advance the organization’s strategic and business goals.
North Shore-LIJ -- Long Island's largest employer and the nation's third biggest not-for-profit healthcare system with 18 hospitals -- is teaming with GE Medical Systems, a unit of General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), and Harvard University's School of Public Health to launch a Center for Learning and Innovation, the largest of its kind in the healthcare industry.
Jeffrey R. Immelt, chairman and CEO of GE; Paul J. Mirabella, president and CEO of GE Medical Systems Healthcare Services, and David A. Shore, executive director of the Harvard School of Public Health's Center for Continuing Professional Education, joined North Shore-LIJ CEO Michael J. Dowling at a news conference to announce the project -- the first learning initiative ever undertaken by a healthcare organization in cooperation with these two internationally renowned organizations.
A major goal of the center is to enhance the health system’s ability to deliver services in a consumer-focused, competitive marketplace. With GE’s business leadership and Harvard's unparalleled academic programs, the Center for Learning and Innovation aims to transform North Shore-LIJ's organizational culture, invest and develop new groups of leaders at different levels in the health system, and create a world-class learning organization.
"For organizations to succeed in a consumer driven marketplace, they must be able to change rapidly. Learning organizations will lead the pack in this new era,” said Dowling. “North Shore-LIJ is taking a proactive approach by building a new model for management that will establish the health system as an employer and provider of choice throughout the Northeast. Through the Center for Learning and Innovation, the health system will be investing in our greatest asset – our employees – by providing superior education and leadership. To achieve our goals, we have turned to GE and Harvard to harness the best expertise from the private-sector, academia and healthcare.”
As part of the Center for Learning and Innovation, GE Medical Systems Healthcare Services will lead a 36-month initiative to bring GE’s approach to leadership development and change management to North Shore-LIJ. Specifically, GE will provide courses on "fast track decision making" for solving organizational problems, "change acceleration" processes for breaking down barriers to change and helping employees embrace new concepts, and "Six Sigma" management processes that have been widely recognized in the corporate sector for more than two decades.
“At GE, we view the Center for Learning and Innovation as a crucial, ground-breaking initiative that will help transform the delivery of healthcare," said Mirabella. "These learning initiatives will build a solid foundation for cultural and operational performance changes that will further North Shore-LIJ's emergence as one of the nation's preeminent healthcare systems."
Over the next three years, the Harvard School of Public Health's Center for Continuing Professional Education will assist North Shore-LIJ in designing and developing the health system's Center for Learning and Innovation, and preparing educational courses that would be taught by school faculty, including customized physician executive programs.
"As part of our goal of helping to make the nation's health systems more effective and responsive to the needs of people, we are pleased to work with North Shore-LIJ to build a world-class learning organization," said Barry Bloom, dean of the Harvard School of Public Health.
"In response to the changing demands of patients and other constituents, organizations and technology are evolving so rapidly that health care professionals must continually seek new insights, perspectives and skills that enable them not only to respond to change, but also to anticipate it," added Shore. "Through its executive education programs, the Harvard School of Public Health will assist North Shore-LIJ's professionals with their strategic planning while providing new information and techniques for immediate implementation."
One of the approaches the health system will use to improve processes, manage costs and increase employee satisfaction is the Six Sigma quality methodology, which has proven effective in other areas of the healthcare industry. The Six Sigma methodology can enable healthcare providers to measure how many errors or defects occur in the existing processes, so that a systematic approach can be taken to reduce or eliminate them, getting as close to “zero defects” as possible. These benefits are eventually seen by patients in terms of lower costs and enhanced services.
At the completion of the GE partnership in three years, North Shore-LIJ will establish its own Six Sigma organization. By that time, about 175 key health system employees are expected to be proficient in Six Sigma management skills. In addition, the health system will have completed about 60 Six Sigma projects devoted to improving process efficiencies in areas such as patient wait time, billing, admissions and bed availability.
Kathleen Gallo, RN, PhD, the health system's chief learning officer, said other initiatives of the new center will be phased in over three years. “We want all employees to rediscover the benefits of learning and be a part of our vision in transforming the health system into a world-class learning organization to meet our business and strategic goals,” she said.
The North Shore-LIJ Health System includes 18 hospitals, four long-term care facilities, three trauma centers, dozens of ambulatory care centers, and seven home health agencies throughout Long Island, Queens and Staten Island. Its facilities house more than 5,600 beds and are staffed by about 30,000 employees, including more than 5,000 physicians and 7,000 nurses. With a $3.2 billion operating budget, the health system provides about 3.4 million patient visits per year and has a service area of more than 5.2 million people.
About GE Medical Systems Healthcare Services
GE Medical Systems Healthcare Services provides clinical, operational and financial solutions for healthcare. Its portfolio provides a broad range of solutions including asset services, business services, clinical services, IT services and financial services.
For more information, visit the GE Medical Systems web site at gemedical.com.
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