Predictable Quality Outcomes with Mark Klyczek, President and CEO of Virginia Health Services

Quality Outcomes in LTC

On this episode of the LTC Heroes podcast, Mark Klyczek,
President and CEO of Virginia Health Services, sits down with us
to share his insight on creating predictable quality outcomes in
LTC.


When it comes to improving quality, Mark highlights the
importance of focussing on small incremental improvements that
lead to big lasting change.


He notes that quality measures are much like an open-book test,
meaning that there really shouldn’t be any surprises if you’re
gathering and analyzing quality data correctly.
Quality Improvement Resources

Mark shares the important role that your administration plays in
finding quality trends and organizing data for providers. This
enables providers to stay focused on their patients while also
gaining insight on where they can improve quality.


He suggests that if your organization doesn’t have data analyst
resources, it can be helpful to partner with larger organizations
for assistance—or you can reallocate the resources you do have to
support this important role.


Mark also talks about how team engagement is a must for
successful quality improvement initiatives. He says boosting
engagement is a product of truly helping your staff grow in their
work and personal life.


Learn more and sign up to be notified about future episodes at
LTCHeroes.com

Rapid Fire Q/A


What kind of valuable and actionable advice do you expect
we’ll cover in today’s episode?


What I'm really interested in getting across to the group is how
predictable quality can be in the nursing homes as we're looking
to be ever better in quality in long-term care, and how important
it is to engage your team and the different strategies that
people can use to engage their team.


What is one lesser-known resource, book, or newsletter
that you go to when you want to be up to date on LTC
info?


Sometimes looking outside of long-term care is great, to some
things that are more universally applicable in long-term care,
hospitals, or physician practices. One of those would be the
“Checklist Manifesto” book. That is a really great resource,
especially for LTC, because we're used to doing audits, not
checklists, in long-term care.


The other one would be a book called “Good to Great”, which I
believe a lot of people have read. Any business, including
long-term care, is not excluded from any of the normal principles
of running a good business.


The last one is a little obscure, and it's called “Extraordinary
Relationships.” And that's a book about self and how to be a good
leader, both in your family and in work.


Who is one mentor who has influenced the way that you do
care in our industry?


A person that helped me early in my career is Aimee Gomlak. She
taught me how to be fearless in a leadership role.


And then I've been very fortunate to have other leadership
coaches. John Engels and Eric Thompson are a couple of other ones
that have helped me. I've been surrounded by a lot of good people
that have helped me get to where I am today.


What advice would you give your younger self starting in
LTC?


I'd say one thing that's gotten me into trouble, but I think I'll
accept the trouble, is to think big and always try to push
yourself beyond what a nursing home should be able to do or what
you should be able to do with your team inside of the nursing
home environment. So whether it be improving quality, improving
people for their careers, I think that's important.


Resources


https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-klyczek-04b88a103/


https://vahs.com/