How healthcare leaders can prevent doc suspension
by Jonathan H. Burroughs
This summer I shall have the sad task of testifying at a civil litigation and a judicial hearing for two physicians who have been suspended from their respective medical staffs. In both cases, the suspensions and resultant procedural rights were avoidable because proactive communication and management did not effectively take place.
Such events should be rare and most medical staffs can easily avoid them by focusing on preventive actions and addressing potential performance issues early in a supportive and assertive manner.
What steps can healthcare organizations take to avoid suspending a phy...
Source: hospital impact - March 1, 2013 Category: Health Managers Authors: Wendy Johnson Source Type: blogs
Making the marketing shift from volume to value
by Tadd M. Pullin
As policy and strategy experts opine about the merits of local market hospital mergers, large regional and national hospital systems, the need for integrated delivery of care across the continuum, and success being defined by empty hospital beds and healthier populations, I can't help but have flashbacks to the early 1990s when I began my career in healthcare administration.
Is it different this time? Will hospitals, physicians and other healthcare providers across the continuum bring it together and truly innovate to make an impact on population health or will the industry distract itself for a few yea...
Source: hospital impact - March 1, 2013 Category: Health Managers Authors: Wendy Johnson Source Type: blogs
Empower employees to bend the rules
by Brandon Betancourt
The calendar alarm on my phone sounded, reminding me of my doctor's appointment for the next day. I realized at that time I wouldn't be able to make it and needed to call and reschedule. The first thing the woman on the line said was that I would incur a charge because I was calling within the 24-hour period.
"Are you that strict with the time? I'm giving you 22.5 hours notice," I said. "C'mon, it's only been a little over an hour, and I am calling to reschedule. It's not like I 'no-showed.'"
As a practice administrator myself, I understand that rules are important. Rules ensure that people remain ...
Source: hospital impact - February 27, 2013 Category: Health Managers Authors: Wendy Johnson Source Type: blogs
Feedback: Key to strong healthcare leadership
by Scott Kashman
How many of us can really say we enjoy feedback? Many people say they want feedback yet rarely seek it out like they would a good meal or vacation getaway.
Recently, our healthcare leadership team completed the Right People, Right Roles 360 Leadership Behavioral Assessment. It is designed with coaching in mind, with each leader developing a coaching plan specific to their focus areas.
Personally, I'm a big advocate of coaching plans and continuous leadership improvement. They can greatly impact leaders.
Coaching plans provide focus and evaluation on the seven attributes of demonstrated leadership ab...
Source: hospital impact - February 22, 2013 Category: Health Managers Authors: Wendy Johnson Source Type: blogs
Continuous learning drives healthcare improvement
Conclusion
The common ground among healthcare providers who successfully transform how they deliver care is the ability to weave together strong leadership at the top while empowering front-line staff to implement the actual changes necessary to advance strategic goals. These elements of successful leadership require that leaders point the way, allow management to figure out how best to execute the strategic plan and then hold everyone accountable for the results.
Judith D. Bentkover, PhD, is an adjunct professor of Health Services, Policy and Practice at Brown Alpert Medical School and the academic development director ...
Source: hospital impact - February 22, 2013 Category: Health Managers Authors: Wendy Johnson Source Type: blogs
Take a stand against sequestration cuts
by Kent Bottles
Anyone who cares about hospitals and health and well-being of Americans should contact their congressmen and senators of both parties, and demand they solve the problem of sequestration cuts before they go into affect March 1. It is disturbing that many of our leaders in Washington, D.C., appear to think such cuts are inevitable and unavoidable.
It also is worth remembering that Congress created this mess, and Congress can get us out of it.
In August 2011, Congress approved the Budget Control Act that directed the Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction to come up with $1.2 trillion in savings over 10 ye...
Source: hospital impact - February 22, 2013 Category: Health Managers Authors: Wendy Johnson Source Type: blogs
We all must lead to improve patient experience
by Jason A. Wolf
Some fundamental ideas have been shared about efforts to impact and improve the patient experience, many right here at Hospital Impact. We have seen the conversation range from the bottom-line impact of making the right choices to the power of compassion in influencing patient and family encounters to the importance of engaging and recognizing staff.
One thing that has been implicit in all these discussions, embedded in much of the research and apparent in my travels to healthcare organizations, is that the engagement, focus and commitment of leadership is central to patient experience success.
In rece...
Source: hospital impact - February 22, 2013 Category: Health Managers Authors: Wendy Johnson Source Type: blogs
Hospital leaders: Show your gratitude to front-line staff
by Thomas Dahlborg
I recently had an opportunity to be a healthcare customer and, like each other time, learned a great deal.
As my wife and I entered the facility and got in the long check-in line, we noticed a packed waiting room of nervous patients. Upon arriving at the glass "bank" window that separated the check-in employee from the patient, I was coldly handed some paperwork to complete and directed to find a seat.
My wife and I eventually did find a couple of empty seats and again made note of the number of people gathered in mass for the same procedure. Part of me said, "Great, clearly this is the place to be." ...
Source: hospital impact - February 15, 2013 Category: Health Managers Authors: Wendy Johnson Source Type: blogs
Turn bad weather into healthcare social media success
by Nancy Cawley Jean
The recent Blizzard of 2013 was an eye-opener, especially for people who didn't remember the Blizzard of '78. The difference between then and now? Better weather forecasts and social media!
Social media is changing the way hospitals can communicate with the public. Even during a power outage, people turn to their smartphones for information. So when meteorologists predicted Winter Storm Nemo for our area, I felt the hospital accounts I manage should be a source of all kinds of storm-related information.
When blizzard watches became actual warnings, it was time to develop a storm content calendar ...
Source: hospital impact - February 15, 2013 Category: Health Managers Authors: Wendy Johnson Source Type: blogs
3 more fixes that will boost your bottom line
by Kenneth H. Cohn
In my last post, I mentioned four tips for engaging physicians where you work to improve clinical and financial outcomes, as well as create a more satisfying practice environment.
Here are three more recommendations:
1. Any time you hear someone moan, "Getting doctors to do anything is like herding cats," reframe the discussion to stimulate healthy competition.
Take, for example, a cardiac catheterization lab director who inspired his colleagues to decrease clinical variation and cut costs by showing them their data in a blinded fashion, and letting them know that if they did not achieve progress wi...
Source: hospital impact - February 15, 2013 Category: Health Managers Authors: Wendy Johnson Source Type: blogs
For healthcare employee passion, each moment matters
by Anthony Cirillo
During the holidays, I had the pleasure of seeing the play "Avenue Q" in an off-Broadway production in New York. I had to chuckle.
As children, the characters were assured by their parents and by children's television programs that they were "special" and "could do anything." But as adults, they have discovered that in the real world their options are limited, and they are no more "special" than anyone else.
Ironically, the characters spend a good portion of their time ruminating about their "purpose." By now you know how much harping I do about understanding your passion and purpose. This play made m...
Source: hospital impact - February 8, 2013 Category: Health Managers Authors: Wendy Johnson Source Type: blogs
Community engagement boosts hospital revenue, quality
by Alicia Caramenico, FierceHealthcare
A common theme emerged last month in news coverage on FierceHealthcare: the importance of community and the role community involvement plays delivering quality care.
Media reports typically recognize hospitals for serving as a dependable source of jobs and economic activity for local communities. But in the same way, hospitals and health systems rely on their communities for the support and resources they need to succeed.
For example, Georgia's Athens-Limestone Hospital knows first-hand the value of supporting local business as a way to encourage the community to use its emergency ...
Source: hospital impact - February 6, 2013 Category: Health Managers Authors: Wendy Johnson Source Type: blogs
Use blogs to manage your healthcare brand
by Andrea J. Simon
Physicians seem to be reluctant to manage their reputations online but get very upset when people go online and talk about them. If you aren't going to protect your brand reputation, you open yourself up to "anything goes."
For example, I recently was interviewing a successful physician about her practice and how to expand her business when we got deep into a discussion about online reputation management. She was frustrated that people were talking about her and her hospital and she didn't know what to do.
Then I interviewed another physician in a different practice who raised a similar worry about h...
Source: hospital impact - February 6, 2013 Category: Health Managers Authors: Wendy Johnson Source Type: blogs
Compassion: Hospital priority, critical competency
by Doug Della Pietra
Inspired by Fred Lee, author of "If Disney Ran Your Hospital: 9½ Things You Would Do Differently," and his webinar "You Cannot Manage Perceptions in the Same Way You Manage Outcomes," 15 team members and I reflected a couple of weeks ago on the following statements:
1. "It's easy for me to feel compassion towards patients, family members, visitors and others who ... "
2. It's hard for me to feel compassion towards patients, family members, visitors and others who ... " 1
Responses to the first statement include those who look upset, have no family, are distressed or in need, or have health issu...
Source: hospital impact - February 6, 2013 Category: Health Managers Authors: Wendy Johnson Source Type: blogs
Academic medical centers in the hot seat for ED radiology coverage
by Mike Bassett, FierceMedicalImaging
An article published online last week in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests academic medical centers--which traditionally represent the finest that American healthcare has to offer--may be taking their eyes off the ball when it comes to providing emergency room radiology services.
Stephen Ledbetter, M.D., an assistant professor of radiology at the Harvard Medical School and chief of radiology at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, pointed out that only 10 percent of academic medical centers have seven-day, 24-hour coverage from attending radiologists. Durin...
Source: hospital impact - February 1, 2013 Category: Health Managers Authors: Wendy Johnson Source Type: blogs
