GHPs Amanda Lee, MD is a '40 Under 40' leader
September 22, 2011


Internal medicine specialist Amanda Lee, MD, has been included in the 2011 Puget Sound Business Journal's "40 Under 40."

For 12 years, the publication has recognized 40 young professionals who contribute to the region's economy and demonstrate dynamic leadership in their organizations and communities.

As a physician leader and practicing hospitalist, Dr. Lee played a major role in designing and implementing a major Group Health initiative: Reducing the number of patient hospital readmissions. The goal: To contain costs, improve care quality, and enhance patient safety.

In 2009, Group Health began intensive work to improve and tighten patients' care transitions in and out of seven regional hospitals. "Readmissions to the hospital are a huge national problem," says Dr. Lee. "One in five patients will be readmitted to the hospital within 30 days of being hospitalized."

Through collaboration with our hospital partners, and using new standard work in teams of nurses, specialists, care managers, and hospitalists, Group Health's hospital readmission rate dropped to 12 percent in 2011 — nearly half of the national average.

"My greatest love is being with patients, and I want the best for them," Dr. Lee says. "I think that's what really motivated me to take on a leadership role in innovating and transforming the way we care for our hospital patients. I want to play a role bringing down the costs of care for people who desperately need it, and I want to engage my fellow doctors and hospital colleagues to do the same."

Whether someone is going home to recover or moving to a different facility, the systems and training that Dr. Lee and her teams have championed make care transitions smoother and safer, especially for the sickest and most fragile patients.

Dr. Lee leads the continuous improvement work that keeps this initiative going, and develops team collaboration with hospital partners that include Providence Regional Medical Center, Virginia Mason Medical Center, Overlake Medical Center, St. Joseph's Medical Center, Providence St. Peter's Hospital, and Harrison Medical Center.

Decrease in Costs, Increase in Patient Satisfaction

By reducing hospital days by 10 percent in 2010, Group Health saved $51 million. In addition to saving money, patients' satisfaction with their hospital experience is up, according to a Press Ganey survey. The survey compared Group Health patients hospitalized at Virginia Mason with national averages. Patient satisfaction scores rose from the 65th percentile to the 90th percentile and remained there throughout 2010.