← Becker’s Healthcare Podcast
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- [00:00]
A
This is Mackenzie Bean with Becker's Healthcare. Thank you so much for tuning in to the Becker's Healthcare Podcast series today. I am so thrilled to be joined by Dr. Sylvia Trent Adams, who is the President and CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, to discuss how IHI is partnering with leaders to redesign healthcare delivery. Sylvia, thank you for joining us today. How are you doing?
- [00:23]
B
I'm doing great. It's so good to be here with you, Mackenzie.
- [00:26]
A
It's nice to have you. I'm excited for our conversation today. To kick things off, could you introduce yourself, tell us a little bit more about yourself, your professional background and IHI for those who might not be familiar.
- [00:39]
B
So as you said, I'm Sylvia Trent Adams. I'm a nurse by training. I spent much of my career in the military. I was an army nurse and then did an interservice transfer to the Public Health Service, served as the Deputy Surgeon General as well as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health at hhs. I retired and then moved on to academia, served as a university President for a few years and landed at IHI in July of 2025. Excited to be there. It's such an honor to be in such an amazing organization.
- [01:09]
A
Yeah, I'm sure it's been a positive change for you to jump into such an amazing organization. I know IHI is known globally for pioneering the science of quality improvement and has been a leader in that space. I'm curious, how would you describe the organization's evolution now from being seen initially as a quality improvement niche to now playing a much larger role in overall healthcare operations, Technology Integration and System Transformation.
- [01:40]
B
So IITAI built its reputation on rigorous quality improvement methods, initially focusing on targeted interventions for safety and care outcomes. And over time IHI has expanded its portfolio to encompass a number of other things such as operational performance, system wide transformation, technology integration and informatics. And this has served as a catalyst for linking improvement science with the daily realities of healthcare sensitive management. And also looking at enterprise wide change today. I would say that IHI works in partnership with a varied number of health systems across the world using both consulting and co design frameworks and that's to implement adaptive data driven solutions and these changes within these systems reflect local and global needs for reliability, efficiency and equity and that's been at the heart of.
- [02:30]
A
Ihi'S work and this is really an expansion of those efforts. I know our editorial team is Talking with healthcare CEOs CEOs every single day and factors like operational performance, workforce sustainability and technology integration are all top of mind for them. How is IHI aligning its expertise to really support executives on such important issues?
- [02:56]
B
When you talk about CEOs and CEOs, I think IHI is able to directly address those executive challenges through customized consulting and flagship programs and also leadership training. And it blends all the operational excellence, workforce sustainability and technology optimization for the organization. And this would include strategic support and analytics, EHR optimization and daily enterprise workflow. Those are critical to being able to identify where there are challenges at the highest level within the organization, but also on the front line collaboratives and assessment tools which have been a hallmark of IHI and they're designed for leadership teams to build resilient, high performing organizations. And then there are the workforce focused programs that target wellbeing, engagement and also joy in work using technology and other skills and tools.
- [03:46]
A
You mentioned the technology piece. I think there's so many benefits to technology at the same time. It can be a source of frustration at times for leaders. So how is IHI helping health systems move technology from being a burden to really a true enabler of reliability and efficiency and joy and work for clinicians today?
- [04:07]
B
That's an Excellent question, McKinsey. IHI frames technology not as a frustration, but more of a foundational enabler of reliability and efficiency. And it takes that positive work culture for clinicians and staff and puts it into a reality focused approach. It assists help health systems. It assists health systems in deploying practical analytics, informatics and advanced AI for predictive insights and process optimization, usually within the context of their own systems. We offer support and we consult with EHR strategies, making sure that the data that they do have is usable and that the data management strategy is used to reduce administrative burden and improve clinician experiences. And then there's also this, the need to prioritize the human factors. And this is about engineering from a standpoint of how the system operates and collaborates together. But it's also to make sure that the technology enhances rather than hinders the care delivery and work satisfaction. Those are things I think that CEOs and CFOs also would appreciate. But it does definitely have a frontline impact for worker and employee satisfaction.
- [05:20]
A
I know that's such a big priority for leaders today of the frontline worker piece and retention of staff join work plays a big part in that. Right. So I appreciate you elaborating on that. I want to switch gears a bit and or go deeper and talk about Care OS. That's emerged as one of IHI's flagship approaches to to drive systems transformation. How does Keras represent a step change in how IHA partners with health systems. And why should CEOs view it as a foundational operating system for the future?
- [05:53]
B
Careos is relatively new at IHI and it has been a game changer for us in looking at system delivery models. Keras represents a step change by weaving disparate improvement activities into an integrated technology powered operating system for healthcare. And that's with respect to the people aspect as well as the technology and the systems. And so for CEOs, this means shifting from, you know, siloed project based efforts to continuous whole system management. It also allows us to embed safety and patient flow and experience management as core operations, not as individual or separate siloed initiatives. It just brings everything together in one place. And also it establishes a framework for real time learning. And it has adaptable operations and cross disciplinary improvements that support the agility and resilience at scale. And these can be applied to large scale operations across the entire organization or within smaller systems within the organization. It just depends on the needs of that individual client.
- [06:55]
A
Very adaptable to all organizations, very much so.
- [06:59]
B
And I think just having that human component about how we operate those systems and looking at processes from a different standpoint, that they can be holistic in nature and not siloed into departments or.
- [07:11]
A
Initiatives, that's when you get that true systemness everyone's chasing, right?
- [07:16]
B
Absolutely.
- [07:17]
A
Wonderful. Well, I know you've been in your role at the helm of ihi for about 11 weeks, is that right?
- [07:23]
B
That's right.
- [07:25]
A
Looking ahead, what's your vision for IHI's role in shaping the next decade of healthcare? What should CEOs and COOs expect from IHI as a partner in addressing a lot of the operational, technological and cultural challenges that we know lie ahead in healthcare today?
- [07:41]
B
Looking ahead, IHI aims to deepen its role as a trusted partner in shaping resilient technology enabled healthcare organizations to ensure better health and better healthcare globally. That is a part of our value proposition. So for CEOs, CFOs and COOs, they can expect strategic partnership in tackling the operational, the technological, but also the cultural complexities that are happening within the healthcare environment. And these are with scalable improvements and solutions that impact the bottom line as well as delivering better patient outcomes. And we will be moving towards this, you know, this larger initiative around having that greater focus on health equity workforce joy that we mentioned before. And definitely that sustainable value that operationalizing these quality improvements and patient safety initiatives can bring. And then I'd say, you know, this ongoing need for not only RHI but all the partners in healthcare to be looking towards that ongoing innovation and operating systems, much like kros, but also using analytics and global learning networks for the total package of having improvement science, patient safety and alignment with mission and vision to meet those challenges in the future and creating efficiency, safety and adaptability of all of our systems and processes. I think by transforming improvement science into foundational operating practices, it allows IHI to stand ready to help leaders build agile, reliable systems and we will have thriving health systems as a result.
- [09:13]
A
Absolutely. I appreciate you painting that vision for the future. There's real challenges that lie ahead, but I think real partners and amazing work being done in the industry to improve care, the quality of care, streamline operations and bring joy back like you said. So I appreciate you taking some time to be with us on the podcast today. Thank you so much. And thank you as well to the Institute for Healthcare Improvement for sponsoring today's episode. Listeners, you can tune into more podcasts from Becker's Healthcare by visiting our podcast page@beckershospitalreview.com.