LUST in hospitals
My colleagues* David A. Lax and James K. Sebenius tell a story in their excellent book 3D Negotiation: Powerful Tools to Change the Game in Your Most Important Deals.The EPA had promulgated new standards for gasoline underground storage tanks, requiring an owner of any such tank to repair or replace it if any leaks were detected (making it a LUST: a leaking underground storage tank.) A start-up company had developed a new detection system that was a hundred times more sensitive than anything on the market, and faster, and substantially cheaper than the competition. Lax and Sebenius relate what happened:"When the new [EPA] ...
Source: Running a hospital - November 3, 2013 Category: Health Managers Source Type: blogs
It's about the money
I'm still on some hospital CEO mailing lists and received this postcard yesterday.I once heard a Harvard business professor describe hospitals as “business cost structures in search of revenue streams.” This advertisement seems to be geared along those lines. I'm not saying this firm is anything but reputable in offering qualified clinical staff. Indeed, the case studies on its website include several with really thoughtful quality programs. But the headline is clearly designed to catch the financially attuned hospital administrator. (Source: Running a hospital)
Source: Running a hospital - November 3, 2013 Category: Health Managers Source Type: blogs
Improving PTSD Treatment
for US Military Personnelvia Enterprise ArchitectingMIT SDM Systems Thinking Webinar SeriesElizabeth Cilley Southerlan, SDM '12Strategic IT and Operations Manager, Health and Life Sciences, Oliver WymanDate: November 4, 2013Time: Noon – 1 p.m. EDTFree and open to allRegisterAbout the PresentationThis webinar centers on how SDM alumna Elizabeth Cilley Southerlan used enterprise architecting to investigate the current state of post-traumatic stress disorder treatment (PTSD) at Camp Lejeune's existing military psychological health enterprise (MPHE). Southerlan will discuss using enterprise architecting to...
Source: Running a hospital - November 3, 2013 Category: Health Managers Source Type: blogs
A haphazard reporting system that uses immature data
A bit more on robotic surgery to complement the post below. Melissa Evans at Kaiser Health News notes:The use of robotic surgical systems is expanding rapidly, but hospitals, patients and regulators may not be getting enough information to determine whether the high tech approach is worth its cost.Problems resulting from surgery using robotic equipment—including deaths—have been reported late, inaccurately or not at all to the Food and Drug Administration, according to one study.Dr. Martin A. Makary, an associate professor of surgery and health policy and management at John Hopkins University and one of the ...
Source: Running a hospital - November 1, 2013 Category: Health Managers Source Type: blogs
Loss of trust
Is this how things unravel? Karen Gullo at Bloomberg Businessweek reports:Intuitive Surgical Inc. (ISRG:US), the maker of robotic-surgery devices targeted by patient lawsuits, was sued by an insurer alleging the company hid the number of legal claims it might face when buying product-liability insurance.Illinois Union Insurance Co. (UNION) seeks to rescind an Intuitive insurance policy, saying the maker of the $1.5 million da Vinci robot system concealed material facts about its legal risks.The insurer said it was told Intuitive was confronting 25 claims during the policy application process earlier this year. Intuitive di...
Source: Running a hospital - November 1, 2013 Category: Health Managers Source Type: blogs
Not to generalize, but . . .
I have finally encountered the perfect analogy for the stereotypical relationship between a surgeon and an anesthesiologist. The video is of a sheep trying to teach a bull how to head butt. Watch what happens when aggression meets passive aggression. (Source: Running a hospital)
Source: Running a hospital - November 1, 2013 Category: Health Managers Source Type: blogs
"Management" and "leadership" are not synonymous
My friend Boaz Tamir nails it again. He has written a piece about the Israeli pharmaceutical company Teva, but it applies to so many others. An excerpt:Many people make the mistake of thinking that "management" and "leadership" are synonymous. But the practical implications of that mistake can lead to organizational pathology. The story of the rise and fall of Teva is about a Jerusalem pharmaceutical company that became an innovative global multi-national that developed original pharmaceuticals but is now facing a financial crisis that threatens its very existence. It is the story of a company that los...
Source: Running a hospital - November 1, 2013 Category: Health Managers Source Type: blogs
Engaging approach to safety
A great safety video from Virgin America. I especially like the line: "For the .001% of you who have never operated a seatbelt before: Really?!?"Seriously, this shows how you can make safety training more compelling. You actually want to watch the whole thing, at least the first time. (Source: Running a hospital)
Source: Running a hospital - November 1, 2013 Category: Health Managers Source Type: blogs
Advocating through Inquiry
Please check out this new post I have written for Athenahealth's Leadership Forum. It's called "Advocating through Inquiry" and relates some intriguing ideas from Gerald Hickson and his colleagues from Vanderbilt. St. Francis makes an appearance, too.Please let me know what you think about it, either here or there. Thanks. (Source: Running a hospital)
Source: Running a hospital - October 31, 2013 Category: Health Managers Source Type: blogs
KHN explains why insurers cancel policies
Kaiser Health News has the best explanation of how and why insurers can cancel policies in the individual health insurance market. Excerpts:News that health insurers are ending the policies of what could be millions of Americans has rattled consumers and added to the debate over the health care law. If you or a family member has been notified that your individual policy is being cancelled at year’s end, you may be stunned and upset.No one knows how many of the estimated 14 million people who buy their own insurance are getting such notices, but the numbers are substantial. Some insurers report discontinuing 20...
Source: Running a hospital - October 31, 2013 Category: Health Managers Source Type: blogs
A word from one of the 5%
The President's spokesperson today tried to explain why the President's statement--"If you like your health plan, you can keep it."--was true.Listen from minute 3:00."As the law says, and as the President made clear . . . if you had insurance coverage on the individual market when the Affordable Care Act was passed into law and you liked that plan and you wanted to stay on it . . . you can keep that coverage. You are grandfathered in . . . in perpetuity."Here in Massachusetts, I am not allowed to keep the individual plan I have had. I am required to buy a new plan effective March 2014. And, as I have discussed in my two pr...
Source: Running a hospital - October 30, 2013 Category: Health Managers Source Type: blogs
Thanks, Professor Ocasio!
I want to thank Willam Ocasio, Kellogg professor of management and operations at Northwestern University, for saving me some money. He read my last post about my family's Blue Cross Blue Shield of MA plan under the Affordable Care Act and suggested that I could save "a lot of money" by choosing the $500/$1000 (individual/family) deductible plan instead of the plan with no deductibles. It turns out that he is right, but it also turns out that I am still worse off than my current Massachusetts Connector plan. This BCBS plan under the ACA is about $350 less per month than the no-deductible plan. Even if I run...
Source: Running a hospital - October 28, 2013 Category: Health Managers Source Type: blogs
Didn't they promise lower costs?
Ross Douthat writes in the New York Times that Americans will soon be able to get "a real look at what Obamacare is selling them."What will they find? One way to understand what is being offered is to think in terms of three “mores.” Insurance à la Obamacare will be more expensive, more subsidized and more comprehensive than what was previously available on the individual market.Well, proof of the first aspect has landed at my home here in Massachusetts. Here's a chart comparing the Blue Cross plan I have been able to purchase under the rules of the Massachusetts Connector to the one I will be able to be able t...
Source: Running a hospital - October 27, 2013 Category: Health Managers Source Type: blogs
In memoriam: Marilyn Kass
Marilyn Kass, aka Momo, passed away last night after a long battle with breast cancer. She has been an inspiration to many of us. The humorous picture above was from a recent adventure in horseback riding. Here's the message she has had on her blog--subtitled, "Breast cancer--It's amazing what you can get used to."Thanks for checking out my blog. For those of you dealing with cancer directly or indirectly we’re in it together. This journey has more ups, downs and surprises than a roller coaster. Hang on. Breath. Wherever you are, it’s temporary. Relish the good times when they come and have ...
Source: Running a hospital - October 25, 2013 Category: Health Managers Source Type: blogs
Pigs in service to America
The NSA probably knows this already, so I think it is all right to spread the word.I noticed in my blog statistics that someone from the Department of Homeland Security was looking at a series of my favorite Lean training blog posts. They are about drawing a pig. Hey they are: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.But I wondered what led them to these sites. Well, the statistics app suggests that they came to it via a process improvement website from the UK. However they got here, I am pleased, and I hope they find the exercises useful. I hope someone lets me know someday if the training will be used. And where? At ...
Source: Running a hospital - October 25, 2013 Category: Health Managers Source Type: blogs
