Cover Story
Viral leadership
How Mike Murphy made quality the engine that drives Sharp HealthCare forward
By Leslie Stevens-Huffman
Smart Business San Diego | May 2008
Page 1 of 4
Mike Murphy is committed to the idea that quality and continuous improvement drive comprehensive business results.
Murphy, president and CEO of Sharp HealthCare, is so convinced about his theory that since 2001, he hasn’t led just one
major quality initiative at Sharp, he’s led multiple projects using
Malcolm Baldrige evaluation criteria and Lean Six Sigma improvement processes to make sweeping changes at the not-for-profit
health care organization.
Murphy has also engaged the expertise of quality gurus from
General Electric and the Disney Institute, and he’s even given new
clout to the voice of the customer by inviting unhappy patients to
speak about their experiences to Sharp’s management team.
“When I looked at the feedback from our stakeholders, who are
the patients, physicians and employees, all the data pointed to the
fact that we were doing OK, not great,” Murphy says. “I knew we
could do better. I think focusing on quality is the right thing to do,
and then everything else you need to accomplish just falls in
line.”
Focusing on quality also aligned the organization with
emerging trends in the health care industry, which means
pushing providers and executives toward a greater focus on
quality. Many health insurance carriers are now measuring
patient satisfaction with their health care providers and posting that information on their Web sites, and many private and
government health plans have initiated or announced plans
to reimburse providers through pay-for-performance systems.
In addition, there’s extreme competition for health care workers, and it’s only forecasted to get worse as the baby boomers
retire. That situation presents huge challenges for Murphy
because Sharp is one of the largest employers in San Diego
County with more than 14,000 employees, who are in the driver’s
seat when it comes to choosing employers.
By starting with a focused plan, listening to feedback and
then implementing Lean Six Sigma programs, Murphy has
been able to make quality the engine that drives Sharp
HealthCare.
