Last Friday, Marshall Steele, MD, spoke about creating destination centers of superior performance at the 9th Annual Orthopedic, Spine and Pain Management Conference in Chicago.
Dr. Steele began his discussion by expanding on some problematic themes in healthcare. He said chicken farms actually have a more valuable organization than the healthcare industry. “In 1995, the best value in America was the chicken industry. The worst value in America that year was healthcare,” he said. An aging population of baby boomers, reduced reimbursement and regional/national competition has created even more of a “perfect storm” for healthcare, according to Dr. Steele.
Dr. Steele then compared the industry to a golfer who boasts he is best on the course but doesn’t keep score. He urged facilities to manage based on metrics to create a destination center of superior performance. He also suggested hospitals form subspecialty leadership teams, headed by a program coordinator. “This program coordinator should act as a liaison between patients, physicians and hospitals. They should be clinically trained and oversee daily operations and transition plans,” said Dr. Steele.
He also recommended hospitals shift from opinion-based performance to metric-based performance and transition from a prison vocabulary to one of hospitality. For instance, the word inpatients is eerily similar to that of inmates, Dr. Steele pointed out. Also work to eliminate cultures of blame, fear or ineffective teamwork. “Surgeons say the hospital has great communication, but nurses say it’s lousy. Work to repair that,” he said.
Dr. Steele said hospitals have always marketed features in the past, but now they should begin marketing benefits. Hospitals can increase their patient reported outcomes by using updated technology such as iPads. “We began using an iPad to ask patients if an intervention succeeded. We went from a 20 percent patient compliance rate to one of 94 percent,” said Dr. Steele. It may also be valuable for hospitals to conduct market research to find out where patients are coming from to visit the facility, according to Dr. Steele. This can help gauge a facility’s progress towards becoming a destination center.
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