Announcing The BEACON Way

We hear about them often … Toyota, Mayo Clinic, Amazon, even Starbucks. These are organizations that have a way of doing things so their product or service is always excellent, is consistent over time, and is delivered in a way where customers count on a reliable and predictable experience.

Beacon has a number of good management and operating systems available, but due to our newness as an operating company, these management systems need to be clearly defined, well understood, and widely deployed and integrated in a single operating system, i.e. THE BEACON WAY. This new management system needs to be driven into every part of our growing health care system, so we are able to deliver higher quality and outcomes, a better patient experience and better value.

Characteristics of The Beacon Way

• A powerful management discipline that gets us to our goals and fulfills our mission and vision
• It focuses on the day-today work we all do and everyone uses it, including leaders
• Makes new initiatives and reducing costs much easier and scalable across the entire enterprise
• Keeps patients and customers at the center so we properly define care and service standards
• Combines data-driven and evidence-based care and also makes use of intangibles like storytelling, passion, high energy and deep purpose
• Will lead us to be better stewards of the community assets and responsibilities entrusted to us

With health on the forefront of our national discussion, declining reimbursements, and increasing customer demands, now is the perfect time to look forward and design the future. So what does the future look like for Beacon Health System?

There are four overarching goals:

1. Best Workplace Satisfaction

2. Best Quality and Outcomes

3. Best Customer Experience

4. Best Value for Cost of Care

As you can see, we certainly have our work cut out for us, yet I believe this is the best time to be in the business of health. Our aims are not easy and the path to get there is not completely clear. However, I’m confident that Beacon Health System has the talented and dedicated health professionals, physicians, leaders and associates with the tenacity to come together and pull in the same direction.

For the last year, we have gathered input from associates, board members, and leader groups that has been compiled and sorted into six areas of focus that will provide the operational foundation we need to move forward. THE BEACON WAY will help us align and coordinate as a system. It will allow us to organize activity so we can successfully navigate the large amount of change required in the coming years.

1. Harness Human Talent

At the end of the day, our success as an organization relies on the talent and energy of our people. We are blessed with associates who give the very best of themselves as they love, serve, and live with meaning each day. Part of our task is to engage and inspire associates, celebrate bright spots, and share success through incentives. We will embrace life-long learning through developing the skill sets we need to thrive in the future.

2. Embrace Performance Improvement

Industry experts estimate that as much of 30 percent of a health system is inefficient, wasteful or does not add value. Imagine what Beacon can do with deliberate and focused system-wide efforts to abandon inefficiency and waste. As we move from serving the medical needs of our customers to becoming a trusted source for health and well-being, our plan is to align, standardize and coordinate all services and touch points, beginning with clinical.

3. Build Greatness Through Accountability

The world of health care delivery is broad reaching and complex. Now more than ever, we need to be laser focused on wildly important goals and be accountable to one another to move big projects and big ideas forward. Meaningful metrics and objective information in the form of dashboards will be shared widely and transparently to help us improve. We are also accountable to one another to live Beacon values of trust, respect, integrity and compassion.

4. Treat Information Like Gold

Accessibility to information is the foundation for good decision-making and coordination of care. Real-time information will help patients make good choices, support excellence in clinical decisions, and make scheduling, tracking and communicating with patients and with each other streamlined and graceful. There is value and power in making information easy to understand and act upon, and to leverage it to anticipate needs and improve flow so all interactions with Beacon are seamlessly coordinated.

5. Communicate Clearly and Continuously

The most important part of communication is listening and seeking to understand. As we fully understand the perspective of our colleagues and customers, we can communicate with clarity, respect and consideration. It is essential to our own well-being, and allows each of us to be present, caring, purposeful, healing and responsive. Words, actions and symbols are powerful evidence of our commitment to be accessible and understandable. This supports our charge to light the way to healthier communities where everyone has the opportunity to live their very best life.

6. Be Intent on Innovation

Beacon Health System’s investment in innovation gives us an edge in the market and we plan to direct more of our innovation efforts to internal projects that are important to the future of Beacon. Continuing education and the development of innovation skill sets will help us think change and re-imagine the future. Look forward to investing time to re-imagine the future, create new models, take risks and prototype fresh
solutions. As we see results from these efforts, we plan to celebrate our innovation champions.

THE BEACON WAY will help guide us to the future of how care is delivered in our communities, our nation, and our world. Now is our time to embrace this powerful discipline that gets us to our goals. It is central to how we do business and how we do work every day. I look forward to working together to design the future of health care.