So, you’ve got your clinic, and you’re pretty proud of it—great team, great patients, and solid care delivery model. But you know what they say about the good being the enemy of the great. That’s where Coleman Associates steps in, to remind you to push for more. And, to arm you with a killer tool and a plan to help you take your Care Integration model from “good enough” to “dramatically improved.” Ready to push your model forward this month? Let’s dive into five actionable steps that you can start implementing immediately.

1. Get Your Care Teams Sitting Together—Literally

This might sound basic, but where your team members sit can make or break the efficiency of your integrated care model. The Coleman Associates’ Integrated Care Readiness Assessment suggests that care team members should sit next to each other, rather than with those in their discipline. Why? Proximity fosters communication, reduces the time it takes to make decisions, and ultimately, leads to better patient outcomes and quicker response times. If your team is still scattered, start by looking at the teams, their outcomes, their dynamics and maybe even use our Vroom!™ Patient Care Team Module to inform new groupings in more counter intuitive ways. While it may seem like a simple change, a nuanced, well thought out plan injected with a bit of Coleman wisdom can have a massive impact on how quickly and effectively your team operates.

2. Daily Huddles: More Than Just a Morning Pep Talk

If your care teams aren’t huddling every day to discuss their patient roster, you’re missing out on a critical opportunity for cohesion and planning. The Coleman Associates’ model and assessment tool emphasize the importance of daily huddles among the broader team. These are huddles where every care team member arrives prepared and on time. These huddles aren’t about logistics; they’re about ensuring that every patient gets the best, most coordinated care possible. They are patient meetings becuase they are about patients and their needs. They are a brief opportunity to put yourself in the shoes of the patient and be sure that their 360 degree view of their care is touched.  Make it a priority to move away from weak, impotent huddles and start strong, broad based huddles with at least one full care team tomorrow morning. You’ll find that even a quick huddle can help you get your head in the game for your patients and both streamline operations and enhance patient care.

3. Clearly Define and Stick to Your Roles

Ambiguity is one of the enemies of efficiency. If your team members aren’t clear on where their responsibilities start and end, you’re likely dealing with overlap, missed tasks, apathy and confusion, or worse—patient care needs falling through the cracks. The Coleman assessment highlights the need for clearly defined roles within the care team. Take this month to sit down with your highest performing care team and go over each role in detail.  What are their “unwritten rules” that help them to perform so well. Reify those steps and measure them against the Coleman Team Dance steps.  Ensure that everyone knows not only what they are responsible for but also how their role fits into the larger picture of patient care….integrated patient care. 

4. Upgrade ‘Fair’ to ‘Strong’—Build some momentum with Incremental Improvements

Coleman Associates is a big fan of radical change. But there are times when other approaches can be helpful. This recommendation draws upon our innate fear to ‘not bite off more than we can handle.’ We know that fear. So, instead, focus on areas where your current processes are rated as “Fair” and bringing them up to “Strong.” This approach allows for impactful changes without overwhelming your team. Look at your assessment results and look for alignment with broader organizational goals, pick one or two assessment areas where you scored “Fair,” and and then brainstorm with your team on how to improve in very targetted ways. Whether it’s ensuring consistent use of screening tools or refining visit prep procedures, small, targeted improvements within a few team members can help tighten the strings and cinch up your entire model so that it increases your gains in overall care quality.

5. Test Changes on a Small Scale Before Rolling Out

Change can be daunting, and not every idea will work as planned. If you know Coleman, we are huge fans of the IDEO mantra, “Fail often to succeed sooner.” Failure is a part of the process and iterative testing is a key step to honing any lasting improvement. That’s why it’s crucial to test any significant changes on a small scale first before scaling it. Coleman Associates’ planning tool suggests piloting changes with one or two integrated care teams before a full-scale rollout. This allows you to adjustthe process, gather feedback, and measure results before committing your entire clinic to the new process. By taking this step, you ensure that when you do implement changes across the board, they are fine-tuned and ready to make a real difference.

Bonus Step: Go Big: Make a Radical Improvement to Showcase Your Potential

If you’re really ready to see just how powerful integrated care can be, consider making a radical improvement in a smaller area that produces undeniably better care and a better workplace for all. This could mean investing in a major support effort (like the Coleman DPI™), completely overhauling your patient intake process to include an integrated group model, or  dramatically improving patient flow through new protocols or roles such as the Tactical Nurse™ model. The idea is to choose one broad team that is burning for a better way for themselves and their patients and push, push, push to get where you can make a significant impact, implement the change, and then showcase the results. Not only will this serve as a proof of concept for your team, but it will also demonstrate to your more skeptical stakeholders the true potential of integrated care when the right resources are committed. This bold move could set the stage for even bigger changes down the line.

So, there you have it—five practical, doable steps, plus one daring move to start moving your Care Integration model forward this month. With guidance from our team here at Coleman Associates and our Integrated Care Readiness Assessment, you’ve got the tools to take your clinic from good to great, one small (or big!) change at a time. Ready to see what your team can achieve? Let’s get started!