A sign of the times
There's a good article by Paul Demko at Modern Healthcare about narrow networks, "Providers, insurers grapple with narrow-network backlash." Here's the lede:Narrow networks are a reality of the new health insurance landscape. Nearly half of all insurance plans sold on the public exchanges in 2014 were narrow network plans, defined as those with less than 70% of area hospitals included, according to an analysis by the research firm McKinsey & Company. But given that reality, insurers and providers need to do a better job of providing consumers with accessible, easily understandable information about networks when ...
Source: Running a hospital - July 22, 2014 Category: Health Managers Source Type: blogs
Coaching through failure
I hope you enjoy my latest submission at the athenahealth Health Leadership Forum.And please be sure to read Jim Conway's commentary on that site.Thanks. (Source: Running a hospital)
Source: Running a hospital - July 21, 2014 Category: Health Managers Source Type: blogs
Lean comes in small doses
The concept of Kaizen--small, incremental improvements--is at the heart of the Lean philosophy. But small does not mean meaningless. Each such change offers the chance to deliver better service to the customer and/or provide better working conditions for the staff.Thus, when I see examples of Kaizen in action, I smile. The changes are the result of concerted efforts by people on the front line, supported by their managers. They represent a thoughtful approach to process improvement, one that goes beyond a simple project and reflects an underlying element of what it means to be a learning organizatio...
Source: Running a hospital - March 25, 2014 Category: Health Managers Source Type: blogs
The spread of Lean in Den Bosch
We're back in Den Bosch at Jeroen Bosch Ziekenhuis for the next phase of Lean training workshops for senior adminstrative and clinical leaders. Our first session always includes the Toast Kaizen video, featuring GBMP's Bruce Hamilton. It never fails to generate laughs from the crowd as Bruce fumbles his way through a series of process errors making toast for his wife. By presenting a simple, common task to the class, Bruce illustrates the types of wastes that occur in many product production and service delivery organizations. It is easier for the students to then be aware of similar problems in their own...
Source: Running a hospital - March 24, 2014 Category: Health Managers Source Type: blogs
It could have happened to anybody
My rule of thumb is that when an error is made and you can say, "It could have happened to anybody," there is a systems problem behind the error. Here's a story that demonstrates this so clearly, courtesy of our friends at MedStar Health.As you watch the video, imagine the more common scenario in hospitals, where the clinician is blamed and where the underlying problem goes unsolved.Thanks to Annie for sharing her story! (Source: Running a hospital)
Source: Running a hospital - March 23, 2014 Category: Health Managers Source Type: blogs
Leadership doesn't have to be rocket science
My friend and colleague Leah Flynn Gallant has started a website called Engineering Leadership Development, with the subtitle "Because leadership doesn't have to be rocket science."Leah helps run a number of leadership training programs for MIT students and has a lot of interesting observations on the subject. Please take a look and give her some feedback! (Source: Running a hospital)
Source: Running a hospital - March 22, 2014 Category: Health Managers Source Type: blogs
Health communications at Tufts this summer
I'm pleased to pass along this note from Professor Lisa Gualtieri, Tufts University School of Medicine, Department of Public Health and Community Medicine:The Tufts University School of Medicine’s 2014 Summer Institute offers three courses critical to staying current with the field of health communication: · Mobile Health Design a synchronous 5 week online course· Digital Strategies for Health Communication, a one week course delivered on our Health Sciences campus in Boston · &nbs...
Source: Running a hospital - March 22, 2014 Category: Health Managers Source Type: blogs
Help Alex go back to the craftsmanship of printing
Our buddy, Alex Green, the owner of a great independent book store in Waltham, MA, is asking for help with an Indiegogo project. Please take a look!He writes:Helping an indie-bookshop owner step into the future by taking a step into the past...Hello, my name is Alex Green. I own a small, independent bookstore just outside of Boston. For over five years, I've published authors the oldest way it can be done, using letterpress machines and lead letter type. I've worked with Pulitzer Prize winners and even a Nobel Laureate, using this five hundred year old art to create beautiful prints of their w...
Source: Running a hospital - March 21, 2014 Category: Health Managers Source Type: blogs
Spear Webinar: Competing at Speed in a Fast-Moving World
Webinar–'Gap-Filling Organizations': Competing at Speed in a Fast-Moving World MIT SDM Systems Thinking Webinar SeriesSteven J. Spear, D.B.A., M.S., M.S., Senior Lecturer, Engineering Systems Division and Sloan School of Management, MITDate: March 24, 2014Time: Noon – 1 p.m. EDTFree and open to allRegister About the Presentation Determining, documenting, and addressing the gaps between an organization’s business requirements for products and services and the systems and capabilities available to achieve them is a challenge common to all industries. Many companies address this issue by deploying int...
Source: Running a hospital - March 21, 2014 Category: Health Managers Source Type: blogs
Next case: Just one doctor this time.
We've spent a lot of time recently focusing on how high-ranking people decided to let a private medical device company use the name and reputation of the University of Illinois in support of its product.But there are smaller versions of this happening all the time. These cases raise the same set of issues: How can the public have trust that a doctor who has publicly endorsed a company or its products will use appropriate clinical judgment when caring for a patient?I offer one recent example forwarded to me by a friend from Seattle, Washington. On a Facebook post about the U of I, she asks:How is this any ...
Source: Running a hospital - March 21, 2014 Category: Health Managers Source Type: blogs
Business, as usual
A story in HealthLeaders Media by Marianne Aiello asks "Can University of Illinois Hospital Save Its Brand?"A decision by hospital leaders to participate in an advertising effort with an equipment vendor was intended to promote institutional expertise with robotic surgery. Instead it sparked an outcry among critics.Despite the countless blog posts, tweets, and articles published about the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System's da Vinci advertisement controversy, I'm still left with one resounding question: How did so many high-ranking officials think featuring several physicians and staff...
Source: Running a hospital - March 20, 2014 Category: Health Managers Source Type: blogs
Leaders have a responsibility to set an example for others in their institution
I'm going to take advantage of the delay of the promised report containing "a methodical assessment of policies, guidelines, procedures and practices" concerning the University of Illinois ethics matters to send the University folks a helpful reference document.Entitled "Conflict of Interest Policies for Academic Health System Leaders Who Work With Outside Corporations" this article in the Journal of the American Medical Association states:New “Sunshine Act” requirements for disclosure by pharmaceutical and medical device companies of payments to faculty have led to increased conversation about conflict of interest...
Source: Running a hospital - March 18, 2014 Category: Health Managers Source Type: blogs
T + 3 and counting
The report to the President of the University of Illinois from the Vice President for Research was due on March 15. That's three days ago. Many are waiting.The report is to supposed to evaluate the circumstances surrounding the use of the University's name and reputation in support of a private medical equipment supplier. Recall that the VP was charged to "conduct a methodical assessment of policies, guidelines, procedures and practices, and where corrective changes are required we will take the appropriate action." I guess he needed some extra time, but it's hard to understand why. Maybe they...
Source: Running a hospital - March 18, 2014 Category: Health Managers Source Type: blogs
The Courage Muscle. Free again.
These balloons always garnished Monique's house on St. Patrick's Day, when she and her family would invite friends and neighbors to celebrate the holiday.In honor of the day, here's a repeat of a post from last year. Michael and I just found a few dozen more copies of the book. If you'd like one, free, just leave a comment with your full name and snail mail address.When Monique Doyle Spencer wrote The Courage Muscle, A Chicken's Guide to Living with Breast Cancer, she couldn't find a publisher willing to take the book on. It was funny, you see, and all the publishers thought it was inappropriate to have a...
Source: Running a hospital - March 18, 2014 Category: Health Managers Source Type: blogs
A new way to get spammed
Just what we needed, getting advertisements as text messages on our cell phones. It's one thing for the cell company to try to sell you an enhanced service plan or something like that. It's another to try to sell you a music album.At least they don't charge you extra to be bothered. (Source: Running a hospital)
Source: Running a hospital - March 18, 2014 Category: Health Managers Source Type: blogs
