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Objectives: To identify religious affiliations of hospitals and access to family planning (FP) care available to publicly insured women in Cook County, Illinois., Design: We analyzed Illinois public insurance enrollment data and family planning service claims (2015-2018) for women 18-45., Results: Eighty-five percent of Black/Hispanic women were enrolled in Medicaid managed care plans with a higher percentage of Catholic healthcare than Cook County as a whole compared to 75% of White women (p<0.0001). There were fewer FP services at Catholic (IRR 0.072, 95% CI 0.068-0.076) and Christian non-Catholic (IRR 0.55, 95% CI 0.53-0.56) compared to non-religious hospitals., Conclusions: Medicaid managed care plans may restrict family planning care by limiting patients to religious hospitals., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Clinical integration has vaulted from idea to imperative, thanks in part to the new health reform law. This first installment of H&HN's series on the implications of the law looks at two health systems at very different points on the path to clinical integration.

As part of a succession-planning approach to provide new and expanding leadership for its Mission Services Department, Wheaton Franciscan Services, Inc. (WSFI), Wheaton, IL, implemented a "learning contract" for new mission leaders in its member organizations. This article focuses on training for the mission leader at one such organization, All Saints Healthcare, Racine, WI. The contract includes expectations for the new leader, which, if met, provide the preparation thought to be essential for the new leader to perform effectively in the role. The contract has two parts: first, internal training, including formal mentoring relationships among the new mission leader, WFSI's mission leaders, and the CEOs of member organizations; and, second, external education, including participation in a master's degree program and attendance at various ministry educational programs that pertain to the role.

Keys to success in reducing ADEs have included the support of administrative leaders through their visibility and emphasis on safety as an organizational priority, and financial support for safety projects. Administrative participation was also helpful in promoting safety efforts through the reinforcement of expectations when progress was sluggish. The use of rapid cycle change provided enough early success to serve in motivating staff to push ahead. It allowed staff the opportunity to analyze changes, make adjustments, and retest on a slightly larger scale. Other key success factors included the motivation of teams through continual sharing of progress and success stories; celebrations for achievements are held routinely. As an organization, SJMC has shared its success strategies with other organizations and promoted networking with other organizations to determine what strategies have worked elsewhere. This is helpful as it prevents time from being wasted on solutions that have been tried without success. Within the OSF Healthcare System, the following phrase has been adopted in regard to patient safety, "Safety is like peeling an onion; the more you look, the more you find, and each layer makes you cry."

Several years ago the management of Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria, IL, decided that, with healthcare issues becoming increasingly complex, the hospital needed to find ways to share information with its community. Saint Francis's outreach effort began in 1991 with the launching of a Leadership Roundtable. Under its auspices, local leaders in business, finance, government, education, religion, and the media gather once a month to hear hospital staff members outline some aspect of healthcare or healthcare reform. A question-and-answer period follows. In 1993 James Moore, a Saint Francis administrator, began writing a monthly column on healthcare reform for a business publication that serves central Illinois. Moore's column explains to businesspeople how various healthcare reform proposals could affect them. With the column, as with the Leadership Roundtable, Saint Francis has strengthened its communication with the community.

Health care organizations must define and establish a core set of expectations about behaviors and values, which could give health care providers and administrators the guidance needed for the successful implementation of continuous quality improvement principles. This article describes how the Division of Mission Effectiveness continually assesses and takes actions to improve mission effectiveness within Alexian Brothers Health Systems. Mission effectiveness or an organization's "mission health," as operationalized in terms of values and behaviors, is assessed by an annual employee "opinionnaire." Once results are in, an "operational mission plan" is developed with objectives on how to improve mission effectiveness for the following year.