Screenings for such diseases as colorectal and breast cancers, high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity help us proactively identify identifying health risks and early signs of disease Here are some ways everyone can help ensure our members stay as healthy as possible.

1. During a visit, print out and review with the patient any screening gaps that are identified on his or her Proactive Office Visit summary.
2. Use KP HealthConnect™ and/or panel management tools to identify and reach out to members who are due for a screening to check for high blood pressure or such diseases as colorectal or breast cancer.
3. Have receptionists keep an eye out for age- and risk-appropriate members during office visits and target them for follow up by care providers.
4. Create outreach scripting that personalizes the importance of preventive screenings.
5. Designate a staff member to contact members who received at-home fecal immunochemical tests (known as FIT kits), to remind them to return them.
6. Capture patients’ attention by posting or mailing brightly colored literature that explains how a test detects early signs of disease and can be life-saving.
7. Work with your local radiology department to identify the best days and times for same-day mammograms, so patients can get the scan without an appointment.
8. Contact hypertensive patients at pharmacy pick-up counters for blood pressure checks and consultations.
9. Have clinical assistants and/or medical assistants increase the number of outreach calls and blood pressure checks.
10. Invite a regional or local expert in prevention and screening to meet with your team to discuss how best to support regional and local initiatives without duplicating efforts.

Unit-based teams can play a part in greening our environment and saving money. Involve your team in tests of change around recycling or reducing supply waste.

1. Coordinate with other departments, such as EVS, materials management or procurement and supply, on green tests of change — or “embed” a member of one of these departments in your UBT.
2. Work with your facility’s waste-hauling vendors to find out what types of materials and supplies can be recycled, and place recycling bins strategically in cafeterias and near exits.
3. Cut down on costly, wasteful single-use medical devices or supplies as part of performance improvement efforts.
4. EVS teams: Switch to environmentally friendly cleaning products and supplies.
5. Invite your teammates to shop for locally sourced, organic fruits and vegetables at the nearest KP weekly farmer’s market.
6. Host a monthly healthy salad bar, like the UBT at San Diego’s Positive Choice clinic did in its successful effort to improve attendance.
7. Replace thirsty plants for drought-tolerant alternatives, as several teams in Northern and Southern California have done.
8. Go paperless: Don’t print out agendas and documents; send them out via email or show on a projector instead.
9. Recruit a champion in your department to be on the lookout for new opportunities and coach others on greening their workplace.

Keeping the affordability point on the Value Compass in mind, unit-based teams are taking a hard look at the obstacles to collecting copayments and conducting small tests of change around proposed improvements. New practices like these are generating hundreds of thousands of dollars in new revenue.

1. Educate employees about the importance of copay collection.
2. Train employees in how to ask for payment. Use role playing to help them become more comfortable with asking for payments, and create and distribute talking points or scripts.
3. Provide visual reminders for members to check in at the front desk, so a receptionist can determine if a copayment is due.
4. Post a sign with a telephone number directing patients with questions about co-payments and financial concerns to a financial counselor.
5. Call patients a week in advance of a scheduled procedure to advise them a copay will be due and, if possible, to collect it before they are admitted.
6. Add the copayment amount to patient’s outstanding balance and ask for the total amount. If balance is $100 or more, ask for payment on the account.
7. Refer patients who can’t afford to pay to facility-based financial counselors.
8. Station a full-time financial counselor in the Emergency Department.
9. Make sure financial aid applications are processed promptly by having co-workers share the load. Report workload status at weekly huddles.
10. Create a uniform note-taking system for financial forms and assign a counselor to every patient referred to financial services.

Unit-based teams encourage employees to make wise use of the National Agreement's sick-leave provisions, which help ensure that individuals have income in the event of a long-term illness or disability. Absences can also create hardship on other employees and affect member service and care. Here are some tips for improving attendance in your department: 

1. Survey your unit or department to determine if there’s confusion about the use of sick time. If needed, find ways to educate staff on sick leave, tardiness and clocking in and out.
2. Create an “attendance star” board to recognize staff members with great attendance.
3. Encourage colleagues to schedule routine appointments during off-hours or in conjunction with lunch or breaks when possible.
4. Track call-outs and use anonymous surveys to test for reasons why they are occurring.
5. Use cause-and-effect tools such as fishbone diagrams to address unforeseen circumstances, morale, physical environment, workload or personal reasons.
6. Engage staff with frequent conversations and be alert for — and respond to — indications of unhappiness or tension.
7. Recruit an attendance champion to be on the lookout for opportunities to coach others on the importance of banking sick leave.
8. Help employees track sick-leave usage by printing out and distributing the attendance calendar.
9. Use the attendance scorecard to learn about the six essentials of good attendance and to see how your team rates. Then  develop small tests of change to address the weak spots identified by the scorecard.