Ep 35 - Beyond the Metrics: Putting Patients at the Center of Quality Improvement - Dr. Shephali Wulff (SSM Health)
EvidenceCare’s Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Brian Fengler, interviews Dr. Shephali Wulff, System Vice President and Chief Quality Officer at SSM Health. Dr. Wulff shares how SSM Health uses timely performance data, evidence-based care pathways, and clinician engagement to improve patient safety and clinical outcomes. She also discusses successful initiatives addressing sepsis, delirium, and unnecessary daily lab testing; why cost savings alone may not motivate clinicians; and how healthcare organizations can use quality measures as tools for learning rather than as scores to chase. Key Takeaways: Building Systems for Safer Care: Quality leaders should create processes that make it easier for frontline clinicians to consistently deliver safe, effective, patient-centered care. Turning Data Into Action: Providing physicians with timely, individualized process data helps them understand what they can influence, engage with their peers, and improve their daily practice. Connecting Initiatives to Patient Impact: Clinicians are more likely to change their behavior when an initiative is framed around patient safety and experience instead of cost reduction alone. Improving Sepsis and Delirium Care: Standardized order sets, evidence-based pathways, and collaboration across clinical teams can improve sepsis response times and strengthen delirium prevention. Treating Metrics as Tools for Learning: Quality measures should serve as guideposts that reveal process gaps, not as scores to chase at the expense of what is right for patients. Engaging Frontline Teams: Sustainable improvement requires listening to physicians and nurses, involving them in solution design, and focusing on processes they can directly influence. Demonstrating the Value of Quality Programs: Strong quality and safety teams help health systems manage regulatory complexity, support increasingly busy clinicians, avoid penalties, and succeed in value-based care. Dr. Shephali Wulff Bio: Dr. Shephali Wulff is the System Vice President and Chief Quality Officer at SSM Health, where she leads enterprise-wide strategies to strengthen reliability, reduce preventable harm, and improve clinical outcomes across 24 hospitals. An infectious disease physician by training, Dr. Wulff joined SSM Health’s leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic. She built and led a multidisciplinary team of infectious disease physicians, pharmacists, microbiologists, and infection preventionists responsible for developing system-wide approaches to testing, treatment, vaccination, isolation, and employee safety. Following the pandemic, she expanded this work to address hospital-acquired infections, patient safety, quality improvement, regulatory and accreditation requirements, and employee health. Her leadership has contributed to a 45% reduction in patient safety indicators, a 50% reduction in hospital mortality, and a 60% reduction in CLABSI, CAUTI, and hospital-onset C. difficile infections. Dr. Wulff was recognized as a Modern Healthcare Innovator in 2024 for her work in infection prevention. She also continues to provide consultative infectious disease care as a managing partner in private practice. Her leadership approach is rooted in collaboration, integrity, authenticity, and clinical excellence. The Better Care Podcast is produced by EvidenceCare . Sign up for email updates when new episodes are released. Follow Dr. Shephali Wulff LinkedIn Follow SSM Health LinkedIn Follow EvidenceCare LinkedIn X
