Viewpoint: A Supplier’s Pledge
May/June 2011
Viewpoint
A Supplier’s Pledge
As I kicked off the 2011 Quest Patient Safety Summit, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. We had assembled a group of 50 patient safety advocates and thought leaders from around the country for a day of dialog and collaboration. Our mission was to create an environment where passionate, talented people could come together, share experiences and best practices, and ultimately make patients safer. The success and impact of the day, however, would ultimately be defined by the conversation in the room.
Hospital-acquired infections and medical errors are a systemic challenge for the U.S. healthcare system. Every day, patients are harmed, and the fact is that many of these situations are preventable. While the challenges are considerable, I was humbled and inspired by the passion coming from the Quest participants. This group of doctors, nurses, administrators and change agents are clearly committed to openly addressing patient safety issues, challenging paradigms, driving change, and saving lives.
As I listened throughout the day, it became clear that so many of the challenges providers face are adaptive and cultural. Real and perceived lines exist across the continuum of care that often prevent collaboration and complicate processes. As solutions providers for the industry, we have an opportunity to step up to many of these challenges. A more comprehensive systems view is missing in healthcare. Often, human factors are overlooked or ignored in engineering technology solutions. Though well intentioned, solutions often don’t fully align with workflows, which ultimately opens the door to further workarounds and make patient care all the more complex.
As the leader of Standard Register Healthcare, I am committed to playing a larger role in supporting patient safety advocates and intend to leverage the considerable resources and talent of our business to support their mission. While we’re clearly concerned with profits, this higher purpose aligns naturally with our values and allows us to spend our time building a business that matters. We absolutely can be a socially conscious, profitable enterprise that makes a difference in the name of safer patient care.
I’ve personally taken up the challenge of our keynote speaker, Dr. Peter Pronovost, who sought to keep the momentum going with a specific call to action. My commitment is to continue to support healthcare in advancing safe, patient care through mindful innovation and solutions, and by facilitating events like the Quest 2011 summit where healthcare’s leadership can come together to share ideas, promote best practices, and ultimately make patients safer.
Brad Cates is president of Standard Register’s Healthcare Business, which currently serves more than 3,100 hospitals and 100 of the top 150 integrated delivery networks in the United States. Under his leadership, the business has focused on delivering solutions to help healthcare providers accelerate performance, attract and educate patients, enhance their safety, and improve the quality of care. He believes a company’s path to market leadership must begin by intently listening to all the market’s stakeholders, mindful of the internal and external pressures they face. Cates may be contacted at brad.cates@standardregister.com.