Clinical Excellence Committee
The goal of the Clinical Excellence Committee (CEC) is to provide clinical strategic and operational oversight and guidance to ensure optimal performance for Ascension Health ministries and to envision future direction. Recommendations will be made to the Ministry Market Leaders (MMLs) and Presidents Council where appropriate. Special attention is given to coordination, integration, and resource allocation in the areas of quality, risk, patient safety, and efficiency. In addition, CEC provides focus to achieve and deliver processes and standards in support of Destination Statement III and directs the approach for principles and practices for High Reliability.
Objectives
The CEC provides clinical strategic and operational leadership insight to ensure that the goals set forth in Destination Statement III and Healing without Harm are achieved and/or exceeded by 2014. As demonstrated in the Clinical Committee Structure chart, the CEC also provides leadership that integrates and coordinates:
- Priorities for Action and Core Measures
- Symphony and Ministry Intelligence Center
- Supply Chain initiatives
- Premier contract deliverables
- High Reliability
- Other strategic ongoing councils and initiatives
- CNO Advisory Council
- Physician Leadership Council
- National Cancer Community Center Program (NCCCP)
- Children’s Health Initiative
- Perinatal Safety
- Nosocomial Infections
The committee will be kept abreast of information as it relates to Electronic Health Record Governance and Physician Caregiver Strategy.
Membership
The CEC is comprised of clinical, operations, quality, allied health, and risk leaders from Health Ministries, across each of the nine Ministry Market Regions. All members are selected in discussions with Ministry Market Leaders. The following requirements must be met as a full member of CEC:
- Dedicate and discern the impact of the various initiatives of the Health Ministries
- Represent the consensus opinion of the Health Ministry and Ministry Market viewpoint but make decisions with respect to what is best for Ascension Health as a whole
- A commitment of 2 or more hours monthly and an additional 6 or more hours quarterly
- Attendance at 80% of meetings
The CEC will utilize a consensus driven decision-making process.
Magnet Status
The Chief Nursing Officers have adopted the 7 forces of Magnetism as guiding principles for all hospital environments at Ascension Health.Three Ascension Health ministries, Seton Family of Hospitals, Carondelet Health
, and Lourdes Hospital
have received Magnet Status from the American Nurse’s Credentialing Center (ANCC) and many more are on the journey to Magnet status.
The Ascension Health Patient Safety Council has interdisciplinary representation from Ascension Health ministries that includes physicians, nurses, pharmacists, risk, and quality professionals. The group’s primary aim is to operationalize the Healing without Harm by 2014 agenda while overseeing patient safety priorities for the system.
In August 2006, Ascension Health developed "A Leadership Framework for Culture Change in Health Care " and in December 2007 developed "The Ascension Health Journey to Zero: Lessons Learned and Leadership Perspective " for the peer-reviewed Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety.
