UC San Diego Health, established in 1966, serves as the academic health system of the University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego). It is the only academic health system in the San Diego region, integrating clinical care, research, and education to advance medicine and serve the community.
Their vision is “to create a healthier world — one life at a time — through new science, new medicine and new cures”, and their mission is “to deliver outstanding patient care through commitment to the community, groundbreaking research and inspired teaching”
Their efforts most closely align with UN SDG Goal #3 – Good Health and Well-Being
UC San Diego Health encountered a critical challenge during a high growth period: how to provide high-quality patient care while maintaining operational efficiency.
A key aspect of this challenge was to cultivate a system-wide culture of continuous improvement and daily problem-solving to all employees so they could become an agent of positive change.
They established the Transformational Healthcare team in 2018 with a mission “to cultivate a culture of continuous improvement at UC San Diego Health to deliver outstanding patient care.”
They also established a vision of “14,000+ problem-solvers relentlessly improving the value of care for our patients while loving their jobs.”
They introduced Daily Engagement System (DES) or “daily huddles” across the organization. They set up a Systematic Goal Alignment structure and created a White Belt and Yellow Belt training program, and they created Beyond the Belt Training (A3, 5S, Frontline Improvement and Lean Coffee). They also created 3P and rapid process improvement workshops (RPIW) to accelerate the speed of change across the organization.
“We want to have 14,000 problem-solvers relentlessly improving care while loving their jobs”
Ashley Gambhir, Executive Director of Transformation at UC San Diego Health
In 2020 and 2021, they rolled out the DES program in Ambulatory Services and Inpatient, and created a Green Belt training program. They also launched a steering committee to help guide their program and support significant process changes as a result of COVID-19. They also created a Black Belt training program, and added a Director role.
In 2022, they established the Workshop Leader program to help facilitate kaizen events, and went back and refreshed some of their training programs, while expanding and aligning the DES program.
They offer employees the following training and certification programs:
- White Belt (1 hour online self-paced) – over 3,000 employees
- Yellow Belt (1 day live in-person or virtual) – over 1,000 employees
- Green Belt (5 days live in-person or virtual) – over 500 employees
- Black Belt (Green Belt required, plus 6 more days live in-person or virtual) – over 100 employees
- Workshop Leader (hands-on event facilitation with mentoring) – over 30 employees
- Workshop Participants (involved in RPIW events) – over 750 employees
As a result, they have delivered over 700 documented improvement projects that have positively impacted physician workloads, patient flow and wait times and overall patient experience. They introduced a monthly Report Out event (averaging 150+ attendees) to share recent improvements and spread best practices across the organization. They established a DES Community of Practice to develop DES Champions and strengthen team members engagement with strategic goal alignment.
To fully capture employee ideas, they implemented a crowdsourcing platform, IdeaWave, that has generated 400+ improvement ideas from team members.
Lean principles have been applied not only to processes but also to technological tools, ensuring that systems are optimized to support both operational and clinical needs. They were honored with the 2024 InnoLead Impact Award, recognizing organizations that have achieved measurable innovation results and successfully embedded innovation into their culture.
As a result of leadership support, training, DES, GB/BB projects and rapid improvement events, they have successfully built a culture of problem-solving and innovation.
U.S. News & World Report ranked UC San Diego Health the #1 hospital system in San Diego for 2024-25. They are among only 20 hospitals in the U.S. to make the Best Hospitals Honor Roll for outstanding patient care, and the first health care system in San Diego County to earn this recognition. They were ranked among the nation’s best in 11 medical and surgical specialties.
They have numerous sustainability initiatives, including environment and equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI):
- Holds multiple awards from Practice Greenhealth for their achievements in green building, sustainable food practices, environmental leadership, sustainable procurement and transportation.
- Greening the operating room (OR) to reduce energy use, greenhouse gas emissions and waste generation which is 20-30% of total waste in the organization, and the highest energy usage per square foot.
- Green Clinic and Office Certifications to help move to zero waste, carbon neutrality, water conservation and toxin reduction.
- Coolfood Pledge commitment to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the food served in their facilities by 25 percent by 2030, relative to a 2015 baseline.
- Launched two new leadership recruitments to foster a culture of anti-racism throughout their organization.
- Established an Anti-Racism Taskforce to advance EDI goals and chart a course forward for real, long-term change.
- Mandated anti-racist training for leadership.
You can learn more about their organization at https://health.ucsd.edu/
For their commitment to long-term continuous improvement around sustainable development, we have awarded UC San Diego Health the 2025 IISE Excellence in Sustainable Development Award, joining past winners dating back to 2019.
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