At the annual meeting of the Maryland Patient Safety Center, WMHS received the Distinguished Achievement Award in Patient Safety Innovation for all of our work in meeting the challenge of health change. We have introduced a number of initiatives for improved patient care and safety innovation over the last few years, and it is nice to be recognized for our accomplishments.
Two years ago, we won the Maryland Patient Safety Center's Minogue Award and last year we won its Circle of Honor award. Congratulations to a great team of people who are committed to a care delivery model that is truly changing the lives of those we serve.
Friday, April 3, 2015
Thursday, April 2, 2015
Casino, Our Pet Therapist
I had the privilege of meeting Western Maryland Health System's first pet therapist today. As you can see from the photo, Casino (on the left, just in case you haven't seen me in a while) is the first participant in our newly rolled out pet therapy program. Casino is the sweetest Lab that you would want to meet. She came into a room of about 80 of us at the beginning of our department directors' meeting and she fell in love with everyone and everyone with her. A lot has gone into creating our pet therapy program but now it is finally off the ground. We have another addition to the program, a Newfoundlander who will be handled by one of our ED staff members, Steve Meyer; and 2 or 3 other dogs are going through the application process. We have a new well defined policy on the do's and don't's for our pet therapists and their handlers; but for one who was initially opposed to the program, I am now embracing it.
Monday, March 30, 2015
Killing Cancer
Last night, there was a excellent segment on 60 Minutes called Killing
Cancer. The segment was co-produced by Denise Schrier Cetta, who is
married to Mike Cetta, an ED doc with MEP. The clinical trial that is in
its earliest stages at Duke is using the polio virus to attack
glioblastomas (brain cancer). As they have attempted to perfect the use
of polio, there have been some deaths, but their first and second
patients who received the virus are virtually cancer free and the
successes with patient outcomes continue. I have attached the link and
it is worth watching. Duke is also having some early success in treating
other types of cancers with the polio virus, although more work needs to
be done with these cancers. If this all pans out, what an amazing
breakthrough in the fight to kill cancer.
Friday, March 27, 2015
I Knew You When........
I had a nice surprise the other day. I received the attached links to an interview from my good friend, Lou Shapiro, who is the President and CEO for the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in NYC. Lou was interviewed by Maria Bartiromo of Fox Business on changes in health care and how HSS is handling such changes. They also discussed health care innovations, Obamacare, mergers and acquisitions and the technology evolution.
I told Lou that I was disappointed that he didn't do a shoutout to his good friend in western Maryland. He quickly responded with that he was a little nervous being on live TV and simply forgot. The interview was very well done and the success that Lou has experienced is so well deserved. He is a bright, tireless professional who has brought HSS to the position as the number one ranked orthopedic hospital / program in the United States. Lou and his wife, Mary Lee, would pretty much give the proverbial shirts off of their backs to anyone in need. They are a delightful couple who truly get the responsibility that comes with Lou's position and their status in New York City. Congratulations!
I told Lou that I was disappointed that he didn't do a shoutout to his good friend in western Maryland. He quickly responded with that he was a little nervous being on live TV and simply forgot. The interview was very well done and the success that Lou has experienced is so well deserved. He is a bright, tireless professional who has brought HSS to the position as the number one ranked orthopedic hospital / program in the United States. Lou and his wife, Mary Lee, would pretty much give the proverbial shirts off of their backs to anyone in need. They are a delightful couple who truly get the responsibility that comes with Lou's position and their status in New York City. Congratulations!
Monday, March 23, 2015
We Need More Information
When I arrived home from work the other evening, there was a letter in the mail from the IRS; that's never good news. In this case, that adage held true. The letter starts with, "We need more information before we can process your 2014 federal tax return and issue your refund." The immediate problem was that I hadn't yet filed my 2014 tax return.
So, I contact the IRS via their website to verify my personal information as they requested. Of course, when you call, all of their lines are busy so you have to hold until they come on the line to tell you "because of a high volume of calls, you will need to try back later." So after entering all of my personal information and answering a series of personal questions on their website, the IRS request for information culminates with asking if I have filed my 2014 federal tax return. HELL NO!!!! would be my answer but only a simple YES or NO were the options.
They then explain that a tax return has been fraudulently filed using my identity. I was then informed that I will not be permitted to complete the 2014 tax return electronically and that a hard copy will have to be sent to a special IRS office in Texas. That's it, have a nice day! I am beside myself at this point. I am like what the hell do I do next?
So, I proceed to inform my accountant of the news; and I then thought, wait a minute, I pay $127 a year to have my identity protected by Lifelock. Someone now has access to my SSN and other information; I had better call Lifelock. So far, the only benefit that I have received from Lifelock has been their alerts every time a registered sex offender moves into the 21502 zip code. Even that has been useless for the most part. If a sex offender moves onto my street, that's worth an alert. But, if identity theft hasn't been an issue before, that's good news and I guess that they have been doing their job.
So, I call Lifelock and ask to speak to a representative. I am connected to a Lifelock rep who asks me to verify my identity with more personal questions that I successfully answer. Then she asks, "How can I help you?" I explain the situation and she says, "Thanks for letting us know." I say, "That's it?" She asks what else would I like for her to do? I say, "I don't know but you are the ones whom I pay to protect my identity and so far you are not doing a very good job." She offers to have someone from Lifelock work with the IRS on my behalf. I say," No, that's my accountant's job." So, she says, "Well let us know when you file your tax return and give us the date of the fraudulent tax return filing and we will note that in your file." That's what $127 gets you, just about nothing.
When I went online to see what else I should be doing to protect my identity, there's an ad from Lifelock to sign up with them to be protected from fraudulent tax returns being filed using your identity. Really?
I also learned that so far this year over 15,000 fraudulent tax returns have been filed, costing taxpayers over $19 million. I would love to hear from you as to whether you have had a similar experience with the fraudulent filing of a 2014 tax return. This is a whole new issue for me, especially for someone who is vigilant in protecting one's identity and the solution seems to be to file your tax return as soon as humanly possible.
So, I contact the IRS via their website to verify my personal information as they requested. Of course, when you call, all of their lines are busy so you have to hold until they come on the line to tell you "because of a high volume of calls, you will need to try back later." So after entering all of my personal information and answering a series of personal questions on their website, the IRS request for information culminates with asking if I have filed my 2014 federal tax return. HELL NO!!!! would be my answer but only a simple YES or NO were the options.
They then explain that a tax return has been fraudulently filed using my identity. I was then informed that I will not be permitted to complete the 2014 tax return electronically and that a hard copy will have to be sent to a special IRS office in Texas. That's it, have a nice day! I am beside myself at this point. I am like what the hell do I do next?
So, I proceed to inform my accountant of the news; and I then thought, wait a minute, I pay $127 a year to have my identity protected by Lifelock. Someone now has access to my SSN and other information; I had better call Lifelock. So far, the only benefit that I have received from Lifelock has been their alerts every time a registered sex offender moves into the 21502 zip code. Even that has been useless for the most part. If a sex offender moves onto my street, that's worth an alert. But, if identity theft hasn't been an issue before, that's good news and I guess that they have been doing their job.
So, I call Lifelock and ask to speak to a representative. I am connected to a Lifelock rep who asks me to verify my identity with more personal questions that I successfully answer. Then she asks, "How can I help you?" I explain the situation and she says, "Thanks for letting us know." I say, "That's it?" She asks what else would I like for her to do? I say, "I don't know but you are the ones whom I pay to protect my identity and so far you are not doing a very good job." She offers to have someone from Lifelock work with the IRS on my behalf. I say," No, that's my accountant's job." So, she says, "Well let us know when you file your tax return and give us the date of the fraudulent tax return filing and we will note that in your file." That's what $127 gets you, just about nothing.
When I went online to see what else I should be doing to protect my identity, there's an ad from Lifelock to sign up with them to be protected from fraudulent tax returns being filed using your identity. Really?
I also learned that so far this year over 15,000 fraudulent tax returns have been filed, costing taxpayers over $19 million. I would love to hear from you as to whether you have had a similar experience with the fraudulent filing of a 2014 tax return. This is a whole new issue for me, especially for someone who is vigilant in protecting one's identity and the solution seems to be to file your tax return as soon as humanly possible.
Thursday, March 19, 2015
Consolidate or Die
So the message for U.S. hospitals from some at the American College of Healthcare Executives Annual Congress is consolidate or die. That certainly doesn't leave a lot to the imagination.
The message is dire, but seems to be on point based on what we have learned through the experience in creating Trivergent. There are so many more opportunities available to us through Trivergent, and we haven't really scratched the surface. The cost savings and cost avoidance alone is projected at $40 million by the end of year 3 and that is a conservative estimate. Individually, each health system would not have been able to achieve that kind of savings since each of us has not only gathered the low-hanging fruit on the expense side, but we pretty much have picked the tree clean. Then there is the willingness of major healthcare institutions wanting to be Trivergent's academic partner since the day of our initial announcement, although no decisions have been made, which in itself is rewarding. Prior to Trivergent being formed by the respective CEOs and boards, we were limited in so many ways because of our size and geography. Since July, that has all changed.
The message in Chicago is that, for the most part, hospitals understand what needs to be done through the expectations being expressed by Health and Human Services and CMS. Unfortunately, the FTC and Justice Department seem still to be using the playbook from the 90's. They are blocking affiliations, mergers and acquisitions from an anti-trust perspective. One government agency is saying "more is better," but yet another is saying "not so fast." They all need to get on the same page and it shouldn't be asking too much for the President and Congress to legislate and authorize relaxation of such scrutiny. Then again, they need to get on the same page with this as well as so many other areas of government. Hopefully, someone is listening in DC.
The message is dire, but seems to be on point based on what we have learned through the experience in creating Trivergent. There are so many more opportunities available to us through Trivergent, and we haven't really scratched the surface. The cost savings and cost avoidance alone is projected at $40 million by the end of year 3 and that is a conservative estimate. Individually, each health system would not have been able to achieve that kind of savings since each of us has not only gathered the low-hanging fruit on the expense side, but we pretty much have picked the tree clean. Then there is the willingness of major healthcare institutions wanting to be Trivergent's academic partner since the day of our initial announcement, although no decisions have been made, which in itself is rewarding. Prior to Trivergent being formed by the respective CEOs and boards, we were limited in so many ways because of our size and geography. Since July, that has all changed.
The message in Chicago is that, for the most part, hospitals understand what needs to be done through the expectations being expressed by Health and Human Services and CMS. Unfortunately, the FTC and Justice Department seem still to be using the playbook from the 90's. They are blocking affiliations, mergers and acquisitions from an anti-trust perspective. One government agency is saying "more is better," but yet another is saying "not so fast." They all need to get on the same page and it shouldn't be asking too much for the President and Congress to legislate and authorize relaxation of such scrutiny. Then again, they need to get on the same page with this as well as so many other areas of government. Hopefully, someone is listening in DC.
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Happy St. Patrick's Day from Chicago
What better place to spend your St. Patrick's Day birthday but in Chicago. And yes, the river is Green! I am here for the American College of Healthcare Executives Annual Congress. As a Fellow, I need ongoing continuing education in order to maintain my board certification.
So far, many aspects of the Congress haven't been as fulfilling, with a great deal of presentations and conversations related to the "upcoming" shift to value-based care. At WMHS, we are looking for the next wave beyond value-based care since we have been doing it for the last four plus years. When I tell colleagues what we have been doing in Cumberland for the last four years related to care delivery, they are amazed. And well they should be. What our staff have accomplished in just four short years is amazing. The level of care that is now being provided to our patients with multiple co-morbidities, such as diabetes, COPD, congestive heart failure and hypertension, is truly making a difference in the health and wellbeing of so many people.
As we move into that next wave of value-based care, we are looking at much more care being provided in the home setting and through tele-health. We are looking to issue iPads / tablets to those patients who frequently have issues but may not require a trip to the ED or a hospital admission. Quite honestly, a tablet is a lot less expensive than an ED visit, provided we do a good job teaching and training patients and their family members on the use of the tablet. I asked our ED physician group, MEP, to consider their role in such a venture as we would need a call center for these patients to contact. Having the ability to Skype or use FaceTime to assess a patient in real time in their home can be of great advantage for everyone concerned.
These are really exciting times for health care and medicine, but I still marvel at those who choose not to embrace the change.
So far, many aspects of the Congress haven't been as fulfilling, with a great deal of presentations and conversations related to the "upcoming" shift to value-based care. At WMHS, we are looking for the next wave beyond value-based care since we have been doing it for the last four plus years. When I tell colleagues what we have been doing in Cumberland for the last four years related to care delivery, they are amazed. And well they should be. What our staff have accomplished in just four short years is amazing. The level of care that is now being provided to our patients with multiple co-morbidities, such as diabetes, COPD, congestive heart failure and hypertension, is truly making a difference in the health and wellbeing of so many people.
As we move into that next wave of value-based care, we are looking at much more care being provided in the home setting and through tele-health. We are looking to issue iPads / tablets to those patients who frequently have issues but may not require a trip to the ED or a hospital admission. Quite honestly, a tablet is a lot less expensive than an ED visit, provided we do a good job teaching and training patients and their family members on the use of the tablet. I asked our ED physician group, MEP, to consider their role in such a venture as we would need a call center for these patients to contact. Having the ability to Skype or use FaceTime to assess a patient in real time in their home can be of great advantage for everyone concerned.
These are really exciting times for health care and medicine, but I still marvel at those who choose not to embrace the change.
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