August 2018
Welcome to our True North e-newsletter, which is designed to provide our physicians and AHPs a better vehicle to share information about UCSF Health improvement activities, upcoming events, and perhaps other objectives based on your continued feedback .
What is “True North” and why is it important?
True North  pillars represent our long-term objectives –  what we need to accomplish to achieve our vision -  because they serve as a constant guide for aligning and prioritizing our work. The UCSF Health True North pillars should not surprise you. In fact, we hope the areas of patient experience, quality and safety, our people, financial strength, strategic growth and learning health system reflect active improvement efforts you’ve participated in or have observed in your practice settings. The True North pillars are also important since they serve as a communication vehicle and common language to link our daily work to what's important in allowing us to continually become better versions of ourselves.
How are we doing with our True North metrics?
Please review our  current   True North scorecard that continues to serve as one lens into our organizational priorities and performance. This month's communication focuses on closing the books for FY18, looking back and then moving forward.
There is a lot of "pending" on this month's True North Scorecard. Why?

One of the challenges with our current TN scorecard is that the metrics lag to varying extents. While our harm events, finances and volume reflect the previous month, other metrics (e.g., mortality, sepsis, readmissions) are 2-3 months in the rear. We also just closed our fiscal calendar (July 2017-June 2018) so finalizing year-end data takes more effort than simply closing the books on a given month. In the next couple weeks, you will see broader communications about our organizational IAP goal performance that provide incentive dollars to staff, providers and trainees through different programs.
How are we approaching the year ahead?

The summer should provide all of us time to reflect on what we've accomplished in the past year, recognize colleagues and teams for their remarkable improvement work, and assure that we're still focusing on the right problems. There is no shortage of problems to solve so trying to create focus and prioritization is an ongoing challenge. While the core metrics on our TN scorecard continue to help us organize teams, work and resources around important problems, we're actively reviewing what new areas would benefit from greater visibility, including our emerging efforts in opioid stewardship and health equity. At this week's Quality Improvement Executive Committee, we took the opportunity to review our Zero Harm efforts the past year that highlighted the value generated from preventing hospital-acquired Clostridium difficile infections and evolving areas of harm (e.g., high-risk medications) that will get increased visibility in the coming year.
News and Announcements
Do you prescribe controlled substances? Are you registered on the CURES website?
The mandate to consult CURES prior to prescribing schedule II-IV controlled substances will become effective October 2, 2018. As previously mentioned, UCSF Health was already working on a system-wide Best Practice Alert solution that we will begin testing next month. If you prescribe schedule II-IV controlled substances in your practice or at discharge from the hospital setting, this is a good time to assure your CURES registration is active on their website . More to come but please see the Medical Board's flyer for additional information on the mandate.
Leverage your QI work with MOC credit
The UCSF Maintenance of Certification Approval Program (MOCAP) is an approved sponsor of the ABMS Multi-Specialty Portfolio Approval Program. UCSF’s MOCAP supports, monitors, approves, and reports institutional quality improvement (QI) efforts to meet MOC Part 4 Improvement in Medical Practice requirements across multiple AMBS specialty boards. If you're involved in or leading an improvement project, our UCSF team created a streamlined process to get MOC4 points for your entire group (e.g., project team, Division, and/or Department). 
Schwartz Rounds
This month's Schwartz Rounds will take place on August 14th at Parnassus, N-225, and will feature "Violence in the Hospital  "; as with other Schwartz Rounds, the goal is to foster an open discussion about the emotional impact of caring for patients. Please see the flyer for additional details.