Overview / Executive Summary

Client Name & Industry: Sterling Healthcare, Federally Qualified Health Center

Engagement Focus: Teaming Strategy

Location: Mt. Sterling Kentucky

Third River Certifications/Tools Used

• The 5 Teaming Conversations

• Process Mapping

• Cloverleaf Personality Typing

Timeframe

Six Month Schedule

Top-Level Results or Transformation

Sterling Health set out to integrate three individual clinics into one clinically integrated facility. The primary goal of the Cultural Integration Project was to come together as one team, in one location, to streamline the delivery of high quality, whole person, patient centered care across the lifespan. The successful opening of the envisioned clinic in June of 2023 encompassed work that had a positive impact on locations outside the targeted project. The work encompassed identifying training needs, key positions, role clarity and overall impacts that strengthened the larger Sterling Health culture.

Client Background

Sterling Health is a Federally Qualified Health Center located across several counties in the rolling hills of Eastern Kentucky. Their mission is to improve the lives of all people they serve, through improved health, regardless of their ability to pay.

With nine locations, School Based Health Centers, and a mobile clinic, Sterling services more than 30,000 patients across seven counties. Services include Primary Care, Pediatrics, Women’s Health, Mental Health, Pharmacy, Vision and Transportation and other Community Based Outreach.

The Challenge

Sterling Health has experienced rapid growth since its inception in 2012. As the need for additional space for growth developed in their home base of Mount Sterling, the leadership had a strong desire to integrate services into a centralized location to facilitate continuity of care for the patient. A new building project provided the opportunity to combine three smaller offices with varied services into one larger integrated care facility.

Each of the three offices to be combined had developed their own culture and systems of providing care that worked individually but were incompatible as a whole. If not addressed, process variation and interpersonal dynamics have the potential to negatively impact patient care and employee retention. The leadership at Sterling Health recognized the opportunity to approach the new facility in a thoughtful manner. Their goal was to come together as one team, in one location, to streamline the delivery of high quality, whole person, patient-centered care across the lifespan.

Our Approach

The overall goal of integrating various teams into one was a natural fit for our Teaming Leadership Program. The Teaming curriculum walks through five main conversations; Charging, Committing, Performing, Overcoming and Growing designed to guide the team towards establishing and executing the mission, vision and values of the organization.

The core team involved in the project included executive leaders involved in operations, finance and clinical leadership, local clinic leaders and key stakeholders from billing, marketing and community outreach for a total of around 15 people. All clinic staff came together for an in person meeting to review and engage and provide leaders with feedback to the material.

Each phase of the teaming conversation included a half day in person team meeting which led to two larger meetings with all clinical staff involved in the project. In between each team meeting, core team leaders would receive virtual monthly individual coaching and assistance with action items from each meeting.

Implementation

The implementation of the project occurred over the course of the nine months leading up to the clinic opening in June of 2023. The project included:

• Individual Meetings with 15 stakeholders on the Cultural Integration Team prior to the first group meeting. (Virtual)

• Monthly Leadership Coaching with each team member. (Virtual)

• Six workshops to facilitate the Five Teaming Conversations (In Person Team Meetings)

• Two workshops with all staff members involved with the integration project (In Person)

• A provider engagement meeting

• Clinic Opening Celebration

Sterling Health opted to take advantage of tools offered in conjunction with Cloverleaf which provides a catalog of personality testing. Employees and leaders receive customizable personality profiles that aid in navigating difficult conversations and identifying strengths in each team member. They also recognized the need to have a separate meeting with their clinical providers to enlist their engagement in their role as thought leaders of the clinic.

Senior leadership provided regular feedback on coaching needs and feedback from the in-person team meetings. Several of the core team members were new to leadership positions, so the coaching sessions were very important to the client and the success of the project.

Given the varied levels of leadership experience on the team, several of the team members were not confident in providing their thoughts and opinions about the project with the group. Taking the time to talk about individual values and explore variations in personality types helped build rapport amongst the group to encourage confidence in participation.

The Results

The Cultural Integration Project was a success, and the facility opened in June of 2023. Some of the highlighted achievements of the project include:

• Process Standardization

• Clinic Workflows

• Identification of Training Needs

• Clarification of Roles and Responsibilities

• Removal of barriers between silos within the care continuum

• Space and People Layout

• Culture Enhancing Communication

• Plans for Employee Recognition and Feedback

Impact

The changes made during this project had an organizational wide impact. The key results point to tangible changes that impacted locations beyond the targeted project. Less tangible, but equally important were the relationship building conversations used throughout the project that strengthened their unique culture with an eye on the future.

Third River continues to have a great relationship with the Sterling Health team through invitations to facilitate meetings and referrals resulting in new client relationships.

Key Takeaways / Lessons Learned

The intentionality of Sterling Health Leadership was a key investment of time on the front end of their project to ensure success in the long run. Engaging with all the stakeholders and walking through the project through an organized process set them up for success.

Healthcare lends itself to solving problems, but momentum can be maximized by building on successes.  Daily operations can be very focused on putting out fires as they come, but when possible, taking a step back and investing the time and talent of a team can propel forward, sustainable movement.

About Third River Partners

Third River Partners equips mission-driven organizations and their leaders to align teams, accelerate impact, and grow sustainably. Through leadership certification programs, team alignment strategies, and fractional support, we help leaders serve well and scale wisely.