Leading change

"Your organization will only make meaningful and sustainable quality improvements when people at every level feel a shared desire to make processes and outcomes better every day, in bold and even imperceptible ways."
~Robert Lloyd, executive director of performance improvement at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, founded by Don Berwick

As I talk with OHA staff around the agency, there are two questions I am often asked about our agency's mission for health system transformation.

The first question is, "How can I help?"

The second is, "What will this mean for me?"

The answer for both is the same.

Our agency mission given to us by the Governor, the Legislature and agency leadership is that we must be unrelenting in our work to improve the agency to support a health care system that is patient-centered, coordinated, and reduces waste and inefficiency.

Success will be driven by Oregon Health Authority employees who understand and lean into that mission and take personal responsibility for helping to drive it. For all of us here, this presents an opportunity to truly change the health care system, the agency and our daily work for the better.

At OHA, we know that the best change is employee-driven. We've seen that first hand through the ongoing continual improvements in many parts of the agency.

This is a time to be innovative, creative, and to help lead the way. As we move toward more coordinated care, we are challenged in ways we have never been before. Our physical and mental health care systems have walls between them, both inside and outside the agency. What will it mean for us to truly coordinate that care? What new skills will be necessary? What processes will become obsolete? How will prevention be at the forefront to improving health?

Although we do not yet know the answers to all these questions, we do know that many of the solutions are going to come from you. So take stock of your strengths and focus on how you can be of greatest value. Be open to change and seek opportunity. Most of all, be solution and results-oriented so that your best thinking can come to bear on the important work ahead. This is what you can do to help as we work to improve the health of all Oregonians and to be successful in the future.

We all have reason to take great pride in the work of our agency and what we are achieving. Thank you for the contributions you make every day and for working to achieve the bold vision of a healthy Oregon.