Commitment to Quality

Commitment to Quality is an initiative that is being adopted by Tenet-affiliated hospitals. Each hospital is responsible for implementation and operation of Commitment to Quality.

Our Commitment to Quality

The future of Tenet is rooted in a renewed focus on our priorities, a refining of our values and a common understanding of the framework that makes Tenet great – the five pillars of Target 100. The Service, Quality, People, Cost and Growth pillars now rest on a foundation of Ethics and Compliance. And of all our pillars, Quality will serve as the core strategy of Tenet going forward.

Tenet’s Commitment to Quality is designed to enhance the overall quality, control and productivity of our care delivery process. It introduces a series of targeted initiatives in the areas of quality of care and patient safety, nursing practice, medical staff governance and other important areas related to patient care.

Commitment to Quality consists of a comprehensive set of initiatives:

• Patient Safety & Reporting Results
• Physician Excellence
• Nursing Excellence
• Facilitating Patient Care Flow Through Care Delivery (Patient Throughput)

Why Are We Introducing Commitment to Quality?

It’s the right thing to do. It is the mission of every Tenet-affiliated hospital to deliver safe, cost-effective care to the communities we serve. Focusing on quality can help Tenet build sustainable value to patients, physicians and staff. It will add the framework for long-term growth and work to give our hospitals a competitive advantage for years to come.

There is a demand for it. Clinical quality standards are increasing quickly and Tenet cannot afford to fall behind. We are strengthening our commitment to delivering safe, quality and cost-effective medicine.

We must do better. Delivering “high quality at low cost” is becoming the basis for competitive advantage in health care. Tenet is investing in a program to sustain quality improvements and achieve new growth.

Everything we do, every decision we make or initiative we launch, will be in the spirit of advancing our overall commitment to quality.

Key Initiative Principles & Key Components

Patient Safety & Reporting Results

The Patient Safety & Reporting Results initiative is designed to leverage systems and management leadership designed to improve the safety of clinical care for patients and build programs to support the same.

Reporting systems in Tenet-affiliated hospitals will be redesigned to coordinate, measure and track key quality indicators and regularly communicate key performance indicators to external agencies and to key stakeholder groups.

Physician Excellence

Led by Tenet’s Department of Clinical Quality, Physician Excellence is designed to develop standard policies and procedures for governing hospital medical staff. This initiative will promote a consistent model of governance and medical staff structure that supports quality of care, patient safety and documentation of physician excellence.

Nursing Excellence

Today’s nursing shortage is health care’s most pressing crisis, threatening access to care, affordability of care and clinical quality. Nursing Excellence, led by Tenet’s Department of Nursing Services, is designed to make Tenet-affiliated hospitals the Employer of Choice in nursing through a series of targeted initiatives. Among the most significant will be developing new approaches to nursing care delivery that will work to improve the practice, resourcing and leadership of nursing in all Tenet-affiliated hospitals.

Patient Throughput

The Patient Throughput initiative is designed to promote improvement in the care delivery process at our hospitals. Tenet-affiliated hospitals will study activities that make up the care delivery process and implement operational improvements and efficiencies to manage capacity and help prevent delays, promoting enhanced patient, physician and staff satisfaction through a more uniform care experience.

Why Will Commitment to Quality Improve Tenet?

Operationally. With the goals of reduction of medical errors, enhancement of clinical outcomes and improvement in patient safety as the focus, the program will work to:

• Upgrade the process of credentialing and training of clinical staff
• Provide more accurate and timely information to support clinical decision-making
• Promote more precise, consistent execution in our patient flow and care delivery processes

Culturally. A more balanced set of beliefs regarding performance improvement will be introduced, with a renewed emphasis on quality and productivity

Building on the foundation of quality in all Tenet-affiliated hospitals, the overall goals of Commitment to Quality are to:

Strengthen superior patient outcomes and safety Promote appropriate physician utilization Implement precise care delivery processes Develop cost-effective quality functions

Working together we can build on Tenet’s solid foundation of advanced medical processes and set the framework for our future.

Our Commitment to Quality Pledge

Quality is the cornerstone of everything we do.
It is our passion to provide
exceptional care to every patient we serve.

Through our Commitment To Quality we will work to:

Provide exceptional clinical care to every patient we serve
Respect our patients, employees and affiliated physicians
Maintain the highest ethical and clinical standards of care
Enhance the practice and delivery of every aspect of patient care
Safeguard the integrity and safety of our patients and employees
Enhance physician and nurse leadership and medical staff governance
Manage costs and resources efficiently
Share knowledge and best practices with other health care providers

This is our pledge to our patients.
If you have questions or comments, please speak to a patient advocate at the hospital or
call our National Patient Satisfaction Line at
800.743.6333