October 1 , 2004

Partners at 10: A work in progress

The highlight of this year's Partners Town Meeting, held Sept. 23 in the O'Keeffe Auditorium, was a look back at what Partners HealthCare has accomplished in the
10 years since it was formed in 1994. Hosted by James J. Mongan, MD, president and CEO of Partners, and Peter L. Slavin, MD, president of the MGH, the town meeting featured a video called "Partners at 10: A Work in Progress."

The video focused on the elements of Partners' mission — teaching, research, community health and patient care — and featured interviews with Mongan; Samuel O. Thier, MD, former president and CEO of Partners; W. Gerald Austen, MD, chair of the MGH Chiefs Council; and other leaders from Partners, the MGH and BWH.
"We have succeeded in building an integrated health care system that we can be proud of and that has added value to our patients and the community," said Mongan after the video was shown. "Now we need to plan ahead and examine what we can do to improve the quality and efficiency of care for future patients. We are in a better position for the next 10 years than we were for the past 10. We have a lot to look forward to."

In talking about the future of Partners, Mongan discussed the Partners Signature Initiatives, which are meant to be a roadmap to guide Partners toward improving the quality and efficiency of care provided. "In matters of quality and the reliability of quality, we will establish a common set of quality standards that will assure certain elements of care are the same throughout the Partners system, no matter what hospital a patient goes to,"said Mongan. "The Signature Initiatives will help us improve by bringing institutions together to collaborate on quality, safety and utilization of services."

The remainder of the town meeting focused on questions that employees and staff asked at the meeting or submitted in writing. For more information about these questions and answers, visit www2.massgeneral.org/news/