High reliability organization (HRO)

What is a high reliability organization?

High reliability organizations (HROs) operate in highly complex and risk-prone environments for extended periods without causing harm or experiencing catastrophic events. These organizations effectively transform cultures, implement systems and empower their workforces -- they are geared to anticipate and rectify events that could result in patient harm, such as a fall or a wrong-site surgery.

In a high reliability healthcare organization the workforce becomes more mindful of risks and systems become more reliable, resulting in diminishing harm and improving clinical outcomes, as well as the experience of patients and families. Applying HRO principles also increases your organization's ability to effectively perform in value-based agreements.

The Vizient Safe and Reliable Healthcare is an integrated solution designed to partner with healthcare organizations on their journey to become HROs. The Vizient Safe and Reliable Healthcare solution includes expertise grounded in high-reliability principles, management systems, technology and analytics. This comprehensive solution leverages robust culture and employee engagement data along with our industry-leading repository of clinical and operational data to generate unique insights into the correlation between culture and outcomes. Vizient is prepared to partner with members for a successful HRO journey.

Embed HRO principles into your operations

• Develop leaders who are competent and capable to lead and manage based on high-reliability principles
• Create learning cultures that promote mindfulness and accountability
• Implement management systems across the organization to proactively engage the workforce in improvement and sustaining advancements
• Enhance workforce engagement and resiliency
• Focus resources on actions that accelerate goal achievement and sustainability
• Integrate clinical and outcome data with culture and employee engagement data to identify new drivers and align with targeted solutions
• Improve positioning for value-based care and market competitiveness by achieving and sustaining performance excellence measured by harm, outcomes and cost

How Vizient Safe and Reliable Healthcare helps build and sustain a high reliability healthcare organization

A high-reliability strategy provides an evidence-based and systematic approach to achieving and sustaining quality, safety, operational and financial performance excellence. By adopting high-reliability principles across the organization, from the board room to the bedside, a more mindful, respectful and trusting workforce emerges and new competencies and accountability for being a problem-solver are adopted. Our Vizient experts can help you through every step of your high reliability journey.

• High Reliability Consulting includes a comprehensive approach to building system-wide sustainable improvement infrastructures through management systems to achieve and sustain performance goals
• High Reliability Academy training equips teams and leaders with the knowledge required to apply highly reliability in daily behaviors and activities
• SCORE^TM culture and engagement survey allows you to gain deeper insights about your workforce to drive clinical, operational, and cultural change
• LENS^TM digital visual management system helps teams increase transparency and simplify communication to grow community, manage work, and consistently deliver high reliability healthcare

Related resources

• Vizient Acquires Safe & Reliable Healthcare, Creates New Streamlined Solution for Sustained Delivery of Safe Healthcare | Vizient Newsroom
• Vizient Launches a High Reliability Organization Solution for Sustained Delivery of Safe Health Care
• Patient Safety Organization: Accelerating Improvements in Patient Safety Outcomes
• Vizient Podcast: Achieving a highly reliable organization – Part 1
• Vizient Podcast: Achieving a highly reliable organization – Part 2
• NEJM Article: Development and Expression of a High-Reliability Organization (subscription required to view full article)

Embedding the principles of high reliability can help address the complex problems healthcare organizations face, such as the current burnout crisis. When we increase consistency, mindfulness and resilience, patients get better care, and providers find greater joy in their work.

Created in partnership by Safe & Reliable Healthcare and Vizient, The Framework for High Reliability Healthcare represents the next step in guiding organizations on their high reliability journeys, giving teams the skills, behaviors, and activities to bring high reliability to life.

• Understand the critical role culture and leadership play in establishing and sustaining a high reliability environment
• Learn why it’s essential to integrate clinical, operational, and cultural data to get to the root of systemic problems that could cause harm
• Discover why embracing continuous learning helps teams identify, implement, and sustain improvements that produce meaningful results
• Appreciate the importance of a defined and evidence-based operating model for deploying and sustaining a high reliability strategy.
• See how to foster individual and organizational mindfulness to identify risks early, reduce the chances for error, build community, and improve performance <