In September 2007, CHQI launched The Flo Collaborative, a province-wide initiative intended to help Ontario’s healthcare system provide the care required by a representative patient named Flo and thousands of others like her. The aim was to address processes of care delivery — to eliminate the hassles, bottlenecks and irritations — so that Flo’s transitions from acute hospitals to other settings were faster and smoother for everyone, including Flo, her family and the staff who care for her. In addition, the Collaborative was designed to help achieve one of CHQI’s key goals of building long-term capability for quality improvement in the province. Ultimately, The Flo Collaborative proved an unprecedented milestone in quality improvement for CHQI, for the many stakeholders across Ontario who were engaged in the initiative, and most importantly, for patients like Flo.
Based on CHQI’s knowledge about the key drivers of successful performance improvement, Flo progressed with great momentum across three streams of activity—
improvement advisors trained by IHI to facilitate and support the
improvement teams, championed by
senior leaders who were well positioned to channel the organization’s attention to the initiative, remove barriers, allocate sufficient resources, and ensure that the results would be spread and sustained.
Through
The Flo Spread Strategy, these changes benefited many more patients like Flo across Ontario.
Project Lead: Paula Blackstien-Hirsch