Our Work

One challenge of our work is that value can mean different things to different people, and to different organizations. At UCLA, we seek to provide leadership not only in defining what value means, but also in how to measure and improve it.

Whatever we do, we make sure our patients and families benefit first and foremost. Learn more about our:

• Initiatives for redesigning care
• Efforts at establishing consistency
• Project examples

What Value in Healthcare Means to Us

We believe in delivering the highest value care to our patients. Our goals are enhancing the patient experience and improving outcomes, particularly those that patients care about most.

Meeting those goals means we can also lower costs, especially when we make sure we offer consistent care backed by the latest evidence. Our team achieves that by bringing the entire UCLA health system together and partnering with:

• Patients and their families/caregivers
• Doctors, nurses and other clinical staff
• Case managers and care coordinators
• Employees managing medical departments and clinics
• Other support staff, such as IT and finance experts

Enhancing Patient Experience at UCLA

Healthcare can get complicated, and patients have often been left with questions or misunderstandings. For example, they may not fully understand the nature of their operation, the level of discomfort they should expect and whom to call when they need help.

We did not want these concerns to get lost amid the other daily needs involved in care. So we made patient experience and satisfaction a key part of our focus on value, with these goals:

• Understanding how to better equip our patients and families with information they need before we start care
• Helping patients and families know what to expect, during both treatment and recovery, to ease anxiety
• Communicating clearly and setting the right expectations

Improving Outcomes at UCLA

While we have earned a reputation for top care, we embrace a spirit of constant and continuous improvement. We always look for ways to provide better care.

Our value initiative rests on a second, equally crucial component: measuring and improving the outcomes of our care, particularly those that are most important to our patients. These clinical outcomes can include:

• Keeping you safe
• Achieving desired quality of life
• Regaining function
• Avoiding a return to the hospital

Better Operational Outcomes

In addition to clinical care, improving our outcomes means making your journey as easy as possible — starting from when we first receive a request to help. Examples include:

• Making sure our scheduling is well-organized
• Getting you cared for as soon as possible
• Making sure you see the right provider the first time
• Providing you with the information you need
• Coordinating your care among the different specialists you might need

Lowering Healthcare Costs

We did not turn our attention to healthcare value just to lower costs. But we do believe that focusing on what motivates us — outcomes and patient experience — will save money as a side benefit. In other words, the best patient care also reduces costs.

Given the current, broader concern over healthcare spending, we believe this can benefit both our patients and our institution:

• Less pressure on employers and health plans to raise premiums and out-of-pocket costs
• Ability for us to use our resources wisely, while continuing to invest in the best care