Members of the Physical Therapy UBT at the Largo Medical Center (Mid-Atlantic States) came together to revamp their physical therapy gym to reduce missed and cancelled appointments.
A unit-based team is a group of frontline employees, managers, physicians and dentists whose work brings them together naturally and who collaborate with one another to improve member and patient care. They are accountable for the performance of their unit and determine the methods and metrics of their performance improvement projects. Those projects line up with the region’s business strategy and with one or more of the points of the Value Compass: best quality, best service, most affordable and best place to work. Team members should always keep their efforts focused on what is best for the patient and the member.
How many unit-based teams are there at Kaiser Permanente?
Unit-based teams exist in every department where there is at least one worker who’s represented by the Alliance of Health Care Unions or the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions. Currently some 3,500 unit-based teams are in place across Kaiser Permanente, bringing together close to 130,000 workers, their managers and physicians. There are pharmacy UBTs, labor and delivery UBTs, patient financial services UBTs and many more.
What do UBTs work on?
UBTs work on improvement projects related to the four points of the Value Compass: quality, service, affordability and best place to work. They are always geared to creating a topnotch experience for Kaiser Permanente members and patients. In 2018, teams were involved in more than 15,000 projects. About a quarter of the projects in 2018 were focused on affordability and another quarter on workplace safety. One-fifth of projects targeted improving service. Other areas that teams are working on include prevention and disease management, patient safety and healthy workforce, among others.
Check out these slides to learn more about what teams are working on.