Norman Regional Health System, comprising Norman Regional Hospital and Moore Medical Center, is a publicly owned trust that is both community hospital and safety-net hospital for the low-income and uninsured patients of Norman and Moore, Oklahoma. This dual role gives staff a sense of accountability to their patients and fuels their commitment to quality and patient safety. Nearly a decade ago, Norman’s Board chair and a top physician administrator became champions for quality improvement, motivated by the fact that Norman had achieved just average scores on quality measures. Organizational, cultural, and system changes at Norman Regional, including the development of order sets and care plans, performance data transparency, concurrent review for certain patient groups, as well as a pharmacist-driven intervention, have led to sustained progress.
This study was based on publicly available information and self-reported data provided by the case study institution(s). The aim of Commonwealth Fund–sponsored case studies of this type is to identify institutions that have achieved results indicating high performance in a particular area of interest, have undertaken innovations designed to reach higher performance, or exemplify attributes that can foster high performance. The studies are intended to enable other institutions to draw lessons from the studied institutions' experience that will be helpful in their own efforts to become high performers. Even the best-performing organizations may fall short in some areas or make mistakes—emphasizing the need for systematic approaches to improve quality and prevent harm to patients and staff. The Commonwealth Fund is not an accreditor of health care organizations or systems, and the inclusion of an institution in the Fund's case study series is not an endorsement by the Fund for receipt of health care from the institution.
