One of the core benefits of members with WSHA is access to problem solving, whether it’s working with peers through the policy and advocacy team to maintain insurance coverage for our most vulnerable residents or picking up a best practice to prevent infections.
Working with members to find solutions to their challenges is one of my favorite parts of my job. I love when I get a call from a member and can connect them with a solution through Washington Hospital Services. Sometimes the requests are very specific to one hospital’s operational needs, like the member that wanted to increase efficiencies in their accounts payable department by adding automation and moving away from writing paper checks. We connected them with Commerce Bank, which helped them streamline operations, and now their AP department is generating revenue through the Visa card program. In fact, it’s generated enough revenue that they funded new FTE for the department.
Other challenges are bigger and impact many members. One of these bigger challenges was how to prepare new managers and leaders for success in their jobs. Our answer was to bring LEAD Academy to Washington State. We’ve had emerging leaders from 29 hospitals ranging in size from our smallest critical access hospitals to large systems participate in the program. This spring, we’ll add Advanced LEAD Academy for those seasoned leaders who want to learn a few new tricks.
As we look ahead to 2018, we’re excited to partner with WSHA’s Decision Support team in developing new data resources and the tools needed to interpret that data.
Whether it’s a question of specific operational issues or broader challenges, Washington Hospital Services is proud to be part of the support structure that allows our members to deliver great care to their communities every day.
