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Narrator: Welcome to VHA Excellence in Health Care with
Dr. Carolyn Clancy, VHA Deputy Under Secretary for Health for
Organizational Excellence and Jacob Gadd, VHA/VSO Liaison.
Today’s edition “The Road to Excellence”.
Jacob Gadd: Hello, I’m Jacob Gadd, VHA/VSO Liaison joining
me this morning is Dr. Carolyn Clancy, Deputy Under
Secretary for Organizational Excellence. Good
morning Dr. Clancy.
Dr. Clancy: Good morning.
Jacob Gadd: Thank you for being here.
Dr. Clancy: My pleasure.
Jacob Gadd: So you’re in charge of VHA’s Office of Organization
Excellence? Tell us a little bit more about the office –
when it was founded and what some of your goals and
priorities are.
Dr. Clancy: The office was formally established in early
2016 but the components are not new. What the office does is to
bring all of these together so that we’ve got a consistent and
very strong focus on making sure that Veterans have timely
access to safe high-quality care wherever they seek our
help. So, that includes focus on improving quality and
safety; working with our colleagues in the field so that
they understand how to access their own performance; and also
test different approaches to improve that performance. It
includes a very strong and exciting focus on sharing best
practices; promoting health equity; and addressing the
really important issues that are essential to restoring
trust and public integrity in our system. So, none of these
functions are new. What’s new is the integration and bringing
these together for bigger impact.
Jacob Gadd: Um hum. And so when you say the word “excellence”
how do you define that in the VA system as well as a Veteran?
Dr. Clancy: Excellence sounds like a score you got. I got a A
minus to that’s excellent; or a B plus. And really how we’re
thinking about excellence is it’s what we do every day so
that we’re constantly looking for ways to improve. And
frankly, ways to make it easier for the Veterans we serve and
for the people who are doing the work. That’s a pretty tall
order. But, none the less we’re not going to rest because we’re
constantly looking for how to be better. And that’s really
what excellence is all about. Now, Veterans have a huge roll
in this. Many of the Veterans we serve have chronic illnesses
and effectively managing those conditions requires a strong
partnership between the individual and the clinician or
care team they’re working with. Otherwise, it just can’t be as
successful. One example of that is something called “The Daily
Plan”. Now, The Daily Plan is instituted in a large number of
our facilities for every in-patient and will be spread
across the entire system over the next year. Essentially the
care team and the Veteran sit down together and go over what
the plan is. The Veteran can ask questions and then gets his
or her own copy. So, they’re clearly part of the process.
They understand it; they get it; they can ask questions. And
sometimes they even remind us that maybe we forgot something.
Like, “Doc, I thought I was getting an X-ray today?” Right,
you’re getting an X-ray today. So, that when it’s time to
leave the hospital that individual is in much better
shape cause they’ve understood the whole process. They’re not
listening to a lot of rapid information that sounds like
“What?” So, we think that’s hugely important. We also have
terrific information for Veterans on our website. A lot
of detailed, quantitate data (score cards and so forth).
But, also probably more important, hearing from other
Veterans. What does it mean to have diabetes, and so forth?
This really puts the Veteran in a terrific position when
they’re discharged. Whether they’re going home or to a
skilled nursing facility or something like that. They know
what they have to do because they’ve been engaged throughout
the course of their treatment. After all it’s about them.
Jacob Gadd: It is and it’s do important that it is part of
Excellence to include Veterans in such a plan like a daily
plan cause they’re the ones that are ultimately getting
care and this provides them the opportunity to be part of that
treatment care team.
Dr. Clancy: Right. A really famous, historical figure in
medicine once said that “good doctors treat the disease and
great doctors treat the person who has the disease”. That’s
our goal in the Veterans Health Administration.
Jacob Gadd: Great. Well, Dr. Clancy, I certainly have a much
better sense of the office and I really appreciate your time
this morning and telling us about some of the great work
that your office is doing.
Dr. Clancy: My pleasure.
Jacob Gadd: Thank you very much.
Narrator: Join us for our next edition of VHA Excellence in
Health Care when our topic will be “Sharing Best Practices. VHA
Excellence in Health Care is produced by the US Department
of Veterans Affairs.
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