Host Company:
OHSU is Oregon’s only public academic health center, encompassing a system of hospitals and clinics across Oregon and southwest Washington. As an institution of higher learning, they offer schools of medicine, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry, and public health. They are a national research hub, Portland’s largest employer, and a statewide economic engine. As a public organization, they serve vulnerable Oregonians and work to improve health across the state.
OHSU has been focusing on performance excellence through our own performance Excellence system – OPEx. OPEx is OHSU’s approach to performance excellence. Grounded in respect for people and continuous improvement, our true north is to deliver excellent care for our patients, today and tomorrow. OPEx methods, management systems and mindset empower OHSU members and teams to identify and solve problems, improve processes, and do their best work for the people they serve.
Tour Summary:
Getting a large, decentralized organization to adopt a standardized process is one of the hardest problems in continuous improvement. Come see how one team did it across 20+ units, led by leaders with a variation of change management experience and opinionated teams.
You will walk away having seen:
- How the improvement team defined and framed the challenge of implementing a consistent process across 20+ patient care units.
- A multi-channel communication strategy that built buy-in through group presentations, one-on-one conversations, and ongoing internal communication
- How unit teams were empowered to adapt materials to speak to their individual teams while maintaining the integrity of the overall initiative
- The results of a rollout that exceeded expectations, and what made the difference
- A live walkthrough to see the work in practice, followed by a debrief to reflect on what you observed and get your questions answered
Who should attend? CI professionals, project managers, change agents, and senior leaders. Anyone curious about best practices for scaling improvements and change throughout your organization.
Date: Monday, June 8, 2026
Time: 9:45am – noon (Optional networking/benchmarking lunch from 12-1pm, pay your own way)
Location: South Waterfront Tram: 3303 S Bond Ave, Portland, OR 97239 (link) We will start our tour at the tram at the bottom of the hill.
Registration: Email jennifer@nwhpec.com, include name, email, job title. Initially limited to one attendees per company.
Cost: no cost (available to NWHPEC members only)