Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com June 5, 2017 • Hartford Business Journal 21 www.HartfordBusiness.com June 5, 2017 • Hartford Business Journal 13 SPONSORED CONTENT F ollowing an 18-month whirlwind of crafting partnerships with seven hospitals in Connecticut and Massachusetts, Trinity Health Of New England is now tackling the task of building its enterprise to deliver operational excellence that will ultimately result in better patient care. Trinity Health Of New England's People- Centered 2020 Strategic Plan has six main focus areas. Operational excellence represents the third objective which is aimed at "building an enterprise that uses our strengths as a national system to deliver operational excellence." Myriad functions from human resources and finance to purchasing and food services are in the process of being regionalized across all facilities to achieve the triple aim of lower cost, higher quality and a better patient experience. The focus is about 80 percent non-clinical and 20 percent clinical, covering 1,000-plus departments, 3,500 vendor contracts, 400 locations/leases and 13,000 colleagues within Trinity Health Of New England's ministry. By examining processes and procedures across its system, Trinity Health Of New England will call upon the national strength of its parent Trinity Health in Livonia, MI., to leverage contracts and existing policies and procedures to centralize decision making and reduce or eliminate redundancy. Trinity Health Of New England brings together the strengths of Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center and Mount Sinai Rehabilitation Hospital in Hartford, Saint Mary's Hospital in Waterbury, Johnson Memorial Hospital in Stafford Springs, and Mercy Medical Center in Springfield, Massachusetts, into an integrated people- centered health care delivery system. "Our goal is to lower health care costs, eliminate duplication and streamline operations by thinking regionally first and what is in the best interest of the region," said Chad Wable, senior vice president of operations and chief transformation officer at Trinity Health Of New England, and president of Saint Mary's Hospital. "At the same time, we are also focused on making sure we maintain our commitment to our people-centered strategy and what we can do to improve the health of our patients." According to Wable, every function – from administration to risk management – will be assessed for duplication of services. This non-clinical integration will transition each hospital from an individual network to a regional health care system that works as one. "The task to overhaul our current operations is Herculean," said Wable, who has served as president of Saint Mary's Hospital for the last nine of his 15 years with the organization "We know we have to work differently or we're not going to get the results we want." Across the system, integration is underway and Trinity Health Of New England associates are focused on capturing opportunities and synergies that will benefit the system. For instance, Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center recently closed its in-house laundry service and outsourced the project to Unitex, a company that Continued > Kathleen Luczyk, chief operating officer for Collaborative Laboratory Services and regional executive laboratory director for Trinity Health Of New England, oversees the consolidation of all routine and outpatient testing at one regional lab and develops robust Rapid Response Labs to improve turnaround times at each hospital. Photo / J. Fiereck Photography

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