Ready. Set. Access.

The Universe Is Generous

Crisis is a terrible thing to waste.

It pulls back the cover so we can see all the fault lines that were already there. “Because the work we cherish has no monetary ‘value’ in the current business system, our self-esteem decreases, in-group arguing prevails, and we start measuring ourselves using the language of the dominant group: turn-around time, length of stay, and hours of care per patient day,” she wrote. “This is why staffing ratios are the wrong fight. It’s still about control.” -Kathleen Bartholomew on nurse.org.

Fail Fast To Succeed Faster

Those who keep practicing until they get it…get there. How can they not?

“I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” -Michael Jordan

Practice, practice, practice. Everyday we get to.

Seeing His Humanity

We know technology brings prosperity. The bigger question is will it bring progress? What does progress in health care look like?

It’s worth taking a page from Toyota’s book: ‘We build people before we build cars.’

Are We There Yet?

We’re there. Our country’s health care system has earned many superlatives: fanciest ho(tel)spitals, latest surgical technology, access to the most effective drugs.

Then why are our nurses leaving? Why are most hospitals operating in the red this year? Why can’t our payers afford it anymore? Why are so many people forgoing treatment?

Children don’t need a mansion, the latest technology, and their own cars in order to become responsible and functioning citizens. Warmth, inspiration, and guidance can nurture them without any of these.

The problem of our health care is not a problem of medicine or technology. If it was, we would be killing it. It’s a social problem.

A Way To Be In This World

Help them make good on their goals.

What are they counting on you for?

“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, ‘Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.” –MLK, Jr.

Celebrating Surrogates

Almost all hospitals intentionally withhold the actual price of services and make pricing data difficult to access. Their very existence depends on this tactic.

To their recognition, nearly 25% of the 2,000 hospitals reviewed by patientrightsadvocate.org are now compliant with federal price transparency rules.

Every experiment we try gets us one step closer to those better outcomes.

Gifting Ourselves

Sweeping it under the rug; shifting the blame; making it a problem for others can secure us–for now.

Change can be done to us, or by us. If it’s done by us, we get to do the work we’re proud of.

Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That’s why we call it the present.

Vision

We’ve been indoctrinated into how it’s done around here. But it wasn’t always done like this. Someone had an idea…and it changed reality!

Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years. -Bill Gates

An Idea Changes Reality

Did you know that the archetype for current insurance plans was founded by the Baptist Church in 1903?

Did you know that during the first half of the 1900s, patients paid on an informal sliding scale in proportion to their income?

Did you know that physician assistants (PAs) became a thing in the late 1960s/early 1970s? There was a perceived shortage of doctors; at the same time, a new labor pool presented itself: combat medics returning from Vietnam needed employment and possessed practical skills. That’s when universities started PA programs.

Did you know that DRGs didn’t exist until the mid-1980s? Medicare implemented it to curb the runaway payments to hospitals.

Did you know that it’s only in the 1980s and 1990s that ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) became increasingly popular. It was mostly individual doctors and investors that were seeking them out.

Did you know that in the 1990s, doctors commonly complained that they made less per hour than plumbers?

Did you know that it wasn’t until the late 1990s buy-and-bill truly became commonplace? The trend was started by a pharmaceutical company.

Did you know that it’s around 2000 when hospitals began to compensate physicians in proportion to relative value units (RVUs) (instead just a fixed salary) to encourage them to see more patients and bring in more revenue?

Did you know that Medicare Part D was enacted recently in 2006, under a Republican president? The government didn’t offer prescription drug coverage for people >65 until then because medicines were always relatively cheap.

Thanks to Elisabeth Rosenthal’s book, “An American Sickness” for these insights. When you shine a flashlight, both you and I can see better.

All the Possibilities

Leaders shouldn’t be preparing the team for something. They should help them prepare themselves for anything.

Pulling is more efficient than pushing.

Ask the engine at the front of the train.