ABOUT THIS EPISODE
On this episode of the LTC Heroes podcast, Mark Klyczek, President and CEO of Virginia Health Services, sits down with us to share his insight on creating predictable quality outcomes in LTC.
When it comes to improving quality, Mark highlights the importance of focussing on small incremental improvements that lead to big lasting change.
He notes that quality measures are much like an open-book test, meaning that there really shouldn’t be any surprises if you’re gathering and analyzing quality data correctly.
Quality Improvement ResourcesMark shares the important role that your administration plays in finding quality trends and organizing data for providers. This enables providers to stay focused on their patients while also gaining insight on where they can improve quality.
He suggests that if your organization doesn’t have data analyst resources, it can be helpful to partner with larger organizations for assistance—or you can reallocate the resources you do have to support this important role.
Mark also talks about how team engagement is a must for successful quality improvement initiatives. He says boosting engagement is a product of truly helping your staff grow in their work and personal life.
Learn more and sign up to be notified about future episodes at LTCHeroes.com
Rapid Fire Q/A
What kind of valuable and actionable advice do you expect we’ll cover in today’s episode?
What I'm really interested in getting across to the group is how predictable quality can be in the nursing homes as we're looking to be ever better in quality in long-term care, and how important it is to engage your team and the different strategies that people can use to engage their team.
What is one lesser-known resource, book, or newsletter that you go to when you want to be up to date on LTC info?
Sometimes looking outside of long-term care is great, to some things that are more universally applicable in long-term care, hospitals, or physician practices. One of those would be the “Checklist Manifesto” book. That is a really great resource, especially for LTC, because we're used to doing audits, not checklists, in long-term care.
The other one would be a book called “Good to Great”, which I believe a lot of people have read. Any business, including long-term care, is not excluded from any of the normal principles of running a good business.
The last one is a little obscure, and it's called “Extraordinary Relationships.” And that's a book about self and how to be a good leader, both in your family and in work.
Who is one mentor who has influenced the way that you do care in our industry?
A person that helped me early in my career is Aimee Gomlak. She taught me how to be fearless in a leadership role.
And then I've been very fortunate to have other leadership coaches. John Engels and Eric Thompson are a couple of other ones that have helped me. I've been surrounded by a lot of good people that have helped me get to where I am today.
What advice would you give your younger self starting in LTC?
I'd say one thing that's gotten me into trouble, but I think I'll accept the trouble, is to think big and always try to push yourself beyond what a nursing home should be able to do or what you should be able to do with your team inside of the nursing home environment. So whether it be improving quality, improving people for their careers, I think that's important.
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