PreciPS identifies frontline frustrations before providing operational solutions in patient care.A new startup, PreciPS, supported by the https://www.uab.edu/innovation/” style=”color: #96607d; text-decoration: underline;”>Harbert Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, is working to help frontline care teams take an active role in identifying and resolving operational challenges in delivering patient care. Frontline care teams include providers, nurses, pharmacists, care transitions staff and other team members.
PreciPS, founded by Rick van Pelt, chief clinical transformation officer at https://www.uabmedicine.org/locations/uab-hospital/” style=”color: #96607d; text-decoration: underline;”>UAB Hospital, is built on a methodology he has refined over years of working with care teams to improve performance, morale and patient care.
The program takes its name from the Precision Problem Solving methodology, an evolution of van Pelt’s original “3D Prioritization” approach, which focused on helping teams identify and prioritize challenges through a structured process of discovery, distillation and definition.
PreciPS will commercialize the Precision Problem Solving methodology by developing a scalable web-based tool and training platform, which will enable health system teams to solve complex problems and create sustained, high-impact change.
Unlike traditional improvement models that begin with metrics or predefined standards, PreciPS starts by identifying frontline frustrations, issues and concerns related to their care environment. Teams share what matters most to them and what barriers they experience in delivering care. Then, the methodology guides participants toward identifying common themes, clarifying and prioritizing root causes and developing system-based solutions.
“The first problem to solve is conflict,” van Pelt said. “If you don’t address the different points of view people bring, you can’t get a shared understanding of what’s going on.”
One example is a redesign of the UAB Acute Care Surgery and Trauma operations.
The division’s 95-bed inpatient service, where a patient’s care was handed off to new teams every time they transferred from one unit to the next, disrupted continuity of care. Using Precision Problem Solving, the team shifted to an integrated coverage model, which enabled patients to be followed by the same care team from admission through discharge. The change reduced the average length of stay by 1.4 days and cut trauma diversion days by 79 percent to virtually zero, with continued unprecedented gains in quality outcomes.
At UAB Hospital, van Pelt and his clinical transformation team have applied the approach in more than 20 clinical teams, tackling longstanding operational challenges. The process has produced significant measurable improvements across efficiency, productivity, quality, safety and staff wellness.
“When teams are engaged from the beginning and the solution becomes their own, it sticks,” van Pelt said. “It becomes the new way of doing things.”
The company has completed licensing, formed an LLC and is now focused on developing the core technology application, also known as the minimum viable product, MVP. Van Pelt is seeking developmental partners and funding to build the platform, with plans to pilot the 3D Prioritization tool at UAB before expanding to other health care systems.
While the initial focus is on clinical operations, van Pelt emphasized that PreciPS is not limited to health care.
“This is about complex problem-solving,” van Pelt said. “It can be applied anywhere, in any industry, even personal challenges; but health care is where we’re starting.”
For more information about PreciPS,
