The day of the medical staff strategic planning retreat for Better Times Hospital has arrived. The retreat is a direct result of the change management process initiated by Joe, the medical staff president, based on the eight-step process outlined by John Kotter in his book...
If you took on a new job, you’d expect your employer to tell you what your duties entailed, what time to show up, and how “good performance” is defined within your role. For physicians, that doesn’t always happen. They often arrive on their first day at a hospital with no rules or expectations...
As anyone who works in an ED knows, long wait times are not an ED-specific issue. Most of the time, long wait times in the ED aren't due to the numbers of patients being seen in the ED, but rather to the patients who have been admitted to the hospital through the ED and are waiting for a bed to...
It makes perfect sense-if hospitals standardize their clinical operations through accreditation standards, they will automatically improve their bottom line by eliminating waste and unnecessary costs. The right hand works with the left. It sounds easy in theory, but it is often...
In an effort to cut $33 million from its budget, Washington state has recently passed a law that limits Medicaid patients to three non-emergent ED visits per year. It will not cover visits beyond the initial three, even if the visit constitutes a true emergency. To determine...
Last month, we discussed how the medical staff leadership can build bridges between themselves and the medical staff members to create more collegial, open relationships. In the final installment of this three-part series about medical staff communication, we discuss how...
Last month, we tested medical staff leaders' peer review knowledge. This month's quiz focuses on leadership issues that any medical staff leader or physician executive should have a firm grasp on. Take this quiz to your next medical executive committee or general medical staff...
Take this peer review quiz on your own or present it at the next peer review committee meeting to assess training needs and spur discussion. All questions are based on information provided in Medical Staff Briefing over the past year.
Electronic medical records (EMR), smartphones, texting, e-mail, remote access-all of these innovations have hit the healthcare sector with force over the past 10 years. For some physicians, EMRs enable them to work more quickly and keep better notes; for other physicians, it...
At the 14th annual Credentialing Resource Center Symposium May 12-13 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, I polled the audience to learn how many send out letters to physicians to acknowledge excellent care identified from case reviews. Although The Greeley Company has been...
