Southcentral Foundation’s Longtime Partnerships for Ongoing Learning

Southcentral Foundation is always looking for ways to improve its Nuka System of Care. In addition to using feedback from customer-owners on how to improve service offerings, we also look at external organizations for best practices and innovations that we can adapt into our system. One organization that we have worked closely with for many years is the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), an organization dedicated to advancing and sustaining better outcomes in health and health care around the world.

SCF’s relationship with IHI began over two decades ago. Dr. Donald Berwick, a co-founder and former president of IHI, visited SCF in the late 1990s when we were implementing our system transformation and offered his support. He has also been a keynote speaker at SCF’s Nuka System of Care Conference, where we share the successes and lessons learned from operating our system of care.

Over the years, SCF has also collaborated with IHI on initiatives. One example is SCF’s Aging Well initiative, which aims to optimize care for older adults and promote wellness for customer-owners as they age. Another example is IHI’s Improving Patient Care initiative, which strives to implement strategies within the Indian Health System (federal, tribal, and urban health organizations) that support community and individual wellness and strength. During its collaborations with IHI, SCF has been part of a group of health care organizations focused on whole system transformation, including CareOregon, Jönköping County in Sweden, and the National Health Service in Scotland.

SCF also regularly speaks at the IHI Forum, sharing our expertise on integrated care, integrated behavioral health, data collection and usage, improvement and innovation, and many other topics. SCF’s Executive Vice President of Primary Care Services Melissa Merrick and Senior Medical Director for Quality Improvement Steve Tierney will be presenting at this year’s IHI Forum, highlighting our new Behavioral Integration Playbook.

For more information on SCF’s collaborations, feel free to contact the SCF Learning Institute.