Growing organizational capacity through a systems approach: one health network's experience.

Background: Hospitals are reporting unexpected surges in demand for services. Lehigh Valley Hospital challenged its clinical and administrative staff to increase capacity by at least 4% per year using an interdepartmental, systemwide initiative, Growing Organizational Capacity (GOC).

Methods: Following a systemwide leadership retreat that yielded more than 1,000 ideas, the initiative's principal sponsor convened a cross-functional improvement team.