Collectively, we have developed and are implementing a coordinated plan to lead UI Health in consistently delivering high quality, cost effective patient care and health outcomes, and to assist in the pursuit of achieving health equity in health and healthcare.
Quality and Patient Heading link
The Quality and Patient Safety program at the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System (UI Health) supports quality and safety improvement for UI Health’s entire scope of clinical operations including our hospital, clinics, and Mile Square Health Centers. We also partner and collaborate with UIC health sciences colleges and pursue opportunities to align and integrate key quality and safety endeavors with other organizational priorities.
UI Health’s Quality & Safety Strategy & Leadership Steering Committee – made up of key clinical and operational leaders from across the clinical enterprise, the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs, and UIC’s health sciences schools – provides leadership, direction, and oversight of UI Health’s enterprise-wide quality and patient safety priorities, performance, and action plan.
Directed by the Associate Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs, Quality & Patient Safety, UI Health’s Quality & Patient Safety division comprises four teams: Accreditation & Clinical Compliance, Infection Prevention & Control, Quality Performance & Improvement, and Patient Safety & Risk Management.
Teams Heading link
Quality Performance & Improvement
Our Quality Performance & Improvement team supports UI Health in three primary ways:
- Planning, analytic support, and project management for quality priorities
- Data collection, analysis, and reporting of required quality performance metrics to external regulatory bodies and managed care programs
- Expansion of UI Health’s improvement capacity and capability through clinician and leader education, consultation with leaders and staff, and facilitation of improvement teams
Accreditation & Clinical Compliance
The Accreditation & Clinical Compliance team facilitates ongoing readiness strategies to promote compliance with standards for accreditation by The Joint Commission, as well as other regulators including CMS and the Illinois Department of Public Health.
Infection Prevention & Control
The Infection Prevention & Control team’s key responsibilities include:
- Surveillance and reporting on infections and exposures
- Education and consultation regarding infection-related risks
- Leadership and facilitation of multidisciplinary work groups to improve infection-related practices and performance
Patient Safety & Risk Management
Our Patient Safety & Risk Management team is working to further elevate the safety of UI Health care processes and systems through the following:
- Risk management assessment, consultation, and education
- Patient safety services
- Investigation of patient safety events
- Prioritization and facilitation of system and process improvements
- Leadership to continuously improve UI Health’s Culture of Safety
improvement methodologies Heading link
The improvement methodologies we utilize include the Model for Improvement, which focuses on setting clear and ambitious aims, identifying metrics to track improvements, and conducting rapid-cycle tests of change using the Plan-Do-Study-Act model.