Grindstone Healthcare Consulting Blogspot

32nd Infantry Brigade - Wisconsin

2009-10-01T17:52:00.010-05:00

Dear Readers: Today, I received a letter from a friend that really made me pause and reflect on the bigger picture. The video clip below is from the 32nd Infantry Brigade (produced by one of their own) and shows excerpts from their work in Iraq. The friend who serves, I have not seen for several years, since, as you may expect he has been deployed in Afganistan and now Iraq. He has missed many of

Brad Shiverick joins Grindstone Consulting.

2009-08-23T13:31:00.004-05:00

8/23/2009 We are pleased to announce that Bradley N. Shiverick, CPHQ has joined the Grindstone Healthcare Consulting team. Mr. Shiverick comes to us with over 20 years of experience in senior care service. He was most recently the Chief Quality Officer for My InnerView, of Wausau, WI. My InnerView is the premier provider of quality management consulting to the long-term care industry. While

HOW TO MAKE HEALTH CARE DELIVERY MORE EFFECTIVE, EFFICIENT, AND AFFORDABLE WITHOUT INSISTING ON ‘COOK-BOOK’ MEDICINE

2009-08-18T13:53:00.003-05:00

A Message From Dr. Eric Radin to my colleagues for the benefit of our patients:Few attempts by the government to reform health care delivery have been successful. Massachusetts-Health is proving everyone can’t be insured without lowering the cost of treatment. The debate over President Obama’s attempt to cover the uninsured has discovered the same thing. It is too expensive. This suggests it will

Federal Reserve Board and Off Balance Sheet Financing

2009-08-11T21:52:00.003-05:00

A colleague recently sent along a video from Congressman A. Grayson (Florida). Upon further review, we find a number of interesting and enlightening interviews from the congressman.Many who work in the field of health services leadership, hold a public trust, much like those who serve us at the federal reserve, as members of community based 501,c, 3 tax exempt organizations. As such, we are

Update Prairie River - Trout

2009-07-10T18:43:00.004-05:00

Last year, about this same time, after having no luck finding trout in the usual haunts, I met a grandfatherly fellow who kindly pointed out that by this time of year, all the trout have travelled north...'won't find none here, son!'.So, this year, i resolved to travel north until I found the wily fish. At last, after fending of ticks, mosquitoes, over-grown brush, mushy and putrid smelling

Reform Update

2009-07-09T22:27:00.007-05:00

The lesson of health care reform of this week is that if The President, Al Franken, Peter Orzag, The House, AHA and a cast of thousands push too hard and too fast, the wheels start to fall off the reform bus.Looks like the Senate is all but guaranteeing no action before the August recess...and maybe things will get just too busy to finish the job this year.Look for much more compromise and

Opening Weekend

2009-05-05T20:56:00.005-05:00

The season opened for inland trout this past weekend.Need we say more?

Is there Health Care Reform in Your Future?

2009-04-25T12:05:00.002-05:00

To Be or Not To Be, That is the Question;Whether ‘tis nobler in the mission to sufferThe regulations and congressional acts of outrageous politics,Or to take the balance sheet against the sea of credit troublesAnd by opposing end them. To rest – to sleep,No more; and by a sleep to mean we end The heart-ache of a thousand budget cuts and layoffsThat administration is heir to: ‘tis a

Survivor

2009-03-16T19:39:00.004-05:00

When the host comes out at the end of the show, after all the contestants finish their game for this round and have thoroughly thumped one another, it's time to find out who get's voted off the island.These days, healthcare reform, competition and policy is more similar to Survivor than to a thoughtful and well crafted incrementalistic approach we all expected. Sometimes it just doesn't work out

Going Back to What Works: Quality and Productivity

2009-01-12T06:58:00.000-06:00

Going Back to What Works: Productivity & QualityBy Michael O’RourkeWith the major changes in our country’s economy and that of the world in the last 12 months, and the corresponding drop in your 401K, you may wonder “What really happened?” We may never understand nor do we have the time to do so. The world economy and the Unites States economy are so intertwined that there were no doubt a

Health Care Resources - Useful Websites 4

2008-07-12T13:20:00.000-05:00

The Wall Street Journal has truly captured the core of great health industry reporting. We recently came across the WSJ Health Blog and found it to be an exceptional coverage of the health industry from review of publically held securities, to health care policy to breaking news. What we really enjoy about the WSJ blog are the quick links embedded within the stories. No more need to hop to

Health Care Resources - Useful Websites 3

2008-07-07T19:40:00.000-05:00

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) was formed as part of the BBA of 1997 and functions to advise Congress on issues effecting Medicare - primarily payment issues, yet also reviews and advises on the broad topics of access, quality and other factors effecting Medicare. The Commissioners, 17 in number and serving 4-year terms, bring a range of expertise and interests from policy to

Health Care Resources - Useful Websites 2

2008-07-07T17:49:00.000-05:00

The National Academy for State Health Policy provides a nice cross sectional view of health policy concerns and solutions at the level of state policy (often given short shrift with the overly abundant emphasis on national health policy). So often, leading indicators of significant policy shifts are developed and executed at the state level, that any health industry person would be well advised

Making A Difference in the Life of A Youth

2008-06-25T10:35:00.001-05:00

Dear Readers, Every so often I come across a great organization doing wonderful things in the name of our Lord. It's even more enjoyable when there is an opportunity to directly experience the work. Next month, the "In His Wakes" ministry will be in Wisconsin. Last year, our family got a taste of this event and found it to truly be a Day To Remember.In His Wakes, a Florida based, non-profit

Health Care Resources - Useful Websites I - Dartmouth Atlas

2008-04-12T16:05:00.000-05:00

The Dartmouth Atlas website [link: http://www.dartmouthatlas.org ] provides a wonderful capstone to years of research in small area analysis. Not only does the website review the famous atlas of health care, but it also interactive programs for comparative analysis, research articles, lectures and presentations, many tools for data review and analysis as well as detailed instructions on how to

Health Care Resources - Useful Websites I

2008-04-12T11:28:00.001-05:00

Over the years, we've come across a wealth of useful websites for those working in Healthcare. Covering Health Policy, Performance Improvement, Marketing, Operations Management, Law and Human Resources. This series is intended to provide a review of websites and will be amended from time to time. We hope you enjoy!

Reader Comments on Cornealius Society Post

2008-04-09T16:58:00.000-05:00

Posts from a couple of blog readers on the Cornelius Society Idea. From Sara Miller: "I am my brothers keeper". My comment/question: Should health care be a for profit enterprise? We have a public supported basic K-12 educational system. Perhaps we should have the same for healthcare. There of course should be some profit but it should be reinvested to improve access, infrastructure and delivery

Accountable Healthcare Organizations - Reader Poll

2008-03-15T12:22:00.002-05:00

Dear Readers:The notion of accountable healthcare organizations (ref: Elliott Fisher, et. al.) creates the possibility of yet another oganizational model for improving VALUE (quality and cost) for health services delivery...or is this just a re-hash of former policy gone bad? What's your view?Opinion Polls &

Cornelius Society

2008-03-05T20:09:00.001-06:00

Dear Readers:I'm interested in starting a discussion for those Christians in the group about a online accountability group for healthcare executives. We face so many choices in the decisions we make on a daily basis that it occurs to me we may benefit from colleague with whom we can share in our concerns and seek support from one another. Like Cornelius (the roman centurian who was a leader of

Fun with Fungus

2007-07-21T19:37:00.000-05:00

Every so often, it's time to post something a bit off the beaten path.On a recent hike through the woods, with family in tow, we were struck by the huge number of spontaneous growth fungus. Below are included just a few species we came across. All tolled, we photographed 38 variety of fungus within a 2 mile hike. I'm sure we could have captured more of these critters, but the camera battery

The Many Benefits of International Diversity

2007-07-17T19:00:00.000-05:00

One of the great things about medicine (and health services more generally) is the opportunity to interact with professionals from multiple cultures and regions of the globe. Medical Students, Nursing Student and even administrative professionals often travel to the USA to experience the American healthcare system. With very rare exception, we (USA) are better off by their presence and

Critique of Sicko

2007-07-13T18:37:00.000-05:00

The following is sent to me by a long time colleague and friend, Dana Lundquist. Over the years, Mr. Lundquist has held positions of executive leaderhip in hospitals, integrated health system and health insurance. He continues to be a respected voice of reason. A friend of mine is working for a medical software company that provides support for physician monitoring of quality. She and her

Hope for Crisis Pregnancy

2007-01-21T18:57:00.000-06:00

Grindstone Healthcare Consulting Partners place value returning a percentage of our income to charitable purposes in furtherance of community, social and faith purposes. We founded the company with charitable giving as one of our core values. In this blog article we feature one of the recipients of funds this year...Hope Pregnancy Resource Center based in Wausau Wisconsin.Hope Pregnancy

Free Healthcare via Identity Theft

2007-01-20T15:10:00.000-06:00

The below article is submitted to the blog by Michael O'Rourke...a good friend who specializes in the field of identify theft prevention and protection. Apparently the field of identity theft has more angles to it then we knew about when we first wrote about it a few months ago. Also, it would seem that a few state hospital associations are interested in the issue as well...interested enough

Is Medicine Being Practiced with an Inappropriate Business Plan?

2007-01-07T15:01:00.000-06:00

The health care delivery market is overrun with specialists and super-specialists resulting in high-tech doctors offices and cookie-cutter general hospitals, a plethora of unnecessary diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, soaring costs, and long waits for patients to get an appointments and then, arriving for it be seen. Separating patents on the basis of the difficulty to diagnose and treat

Commentary on Elliott Fisher's Proposal for Medicare

2006-11-13T18:37:00.000-06:00

There is a suggestion by Elliott Fisher of Dartmouth Med School that the Commonwealth Fund recently put on the web as to how to cap Medicare costs, diminish unnecessary tests and procedures, and take geographical diversity into consideration. Fisher would consider the hospital and the patient’s principle doctor as a unit and, as I understand it, compare their combined charges per DRG with those

Pharmacogenomics and Biotechnology - What Price Personalized Medicine?

2006-11-11T17:07:00.000-06:00

Kathryn Phillips' recent article in Health Affairs (Sept/Oct 2006, vol. 25, no.5) explores the new frontier of personalized medicine using pharmacogenomics. That Dr. Phillips is on the right track of a new trend is beyond question. She makes a great case for the emergence of personalized medicines based upon genetic information -- targeted treatments akin to the having your suit made to fit

Doing Mach Speed in the QI Lane

2006-10-17T22:41:00.000-05:00

Almost everyone agrees that there is really no point to measuring if there is no will to take action based on the measurements. The real question, is what can we do to get above the noise of so many non-standardized measures that the shear volume is drowning people in measurement to oblivion?Most of us performance improvement junkies tend to the left brained side of the corpus collosum, however

Revision to Medicare QIO's

2006-10-17T22:39:00.000-05:00

For years, state QIO's have had a strained relationship with the physician groups they've been asked to regulate (or help).In a recent report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) under contract from HHS, a new day may be dawning for state QIO's.Historically, QIO's have performed a number of functions including review of complaints from Medicare beneficiaries, promoting health care quality,

A Book Report: Redefining Healthcare, Creating Value Based Competition on Results

2006-10-10T07:13:00.000-05:00

"Redefining Health Care, Creating Value-Based Competition on Results" by Michael E. Porter and Elizabeth Olmsted Teisberg is the best book on health care reform yet written. They provide a look at health care by two business school faculty, one from Harvard and one from Virginia, who have experienced the health care system personally and find it an expensive mess. They are concerned that even at

New Blogger Welcomed to the Scene

2006-10-07T18:46:00.000-05:00

Grindstone Healthcare Blog is pleased to now offer you a link to another quite well done health care blog. The following is introduction to the author of "Running a Hospital", Mr. Paul Levy: I have been President and CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston since January, 2002. Before that, I was Executive Dean for Administration at Harvard Medical School (1998-2002). Earlier jobs

Follow up on "Searcher" Techniques and Malaria

2006-10-02T20:28:00.000-05:00

On August 22, 2006, the Grindstone Blog carried and article about common sense approach taken for the eradication of malaria (see: http://grindstonehc.blogspot.com/2006/08/common-sense-view.html). And...now, Betsy McKay (WSJ) writes on September 15, 2006 that the World Health Organization (WHO) has stepped up to the plate to recommend the use of DDT (at safe levels) for the control of malaria.

The Health Literacy of America's Adults - Part 4: Employers and Occupational Findings

2006-10-02T20:26:00.000-05:00

This is the final in a four-part series on health literacy of U.S. Adults. Health literacy by occupation follows what seems intuitively logical to most of us. Health literacy scores tend to correlate with occupation such that 'blue collar' occupations (e.g. transportation, construction, maintenance) have modestly lower literacy scores on average than 'white collar' occupations such as sales,

The Health Literacy of America's Adults - Part 3: Findings for Health Professionals

2006-10-02T20:23:00.000-05:00

Part three in the series focuses on the unique role health care professionals have in the dissemination of health information for adults functioning at basic and below basic levels of health literacy. The message is simple. For the person with low literacy, the role of the health professional is profound.Direct communication between people (as opposed to media) is a tried and true means of

The Health Literacy of America's Adults - Part 2: Marketing Educational Programs for Insurers and Integrated Health Networks

2006-10-02T20:21:00.000-05:00

The second article in the series focuses on the methods and media for targeted marketing of key educational messages for insurers and integrated health care organizations.Who is the target market for the educational program? What demographic characterizes the people you wish to reach with a preventive care message or instructions about health screening exams? And, more importantly, where are

The Health Literacy of America's Adults - Part 1: Key Findings

2006-10-02T20:18:00.000-05:00

This is the first article, in a 4-part series on health literacy. We begin by a discussion of the major finding from the National Center for Education Statistics of the U.S. Department of Education.We are concerned about health literacy in the adult population because of the assumed connection between literacy and health outcomes. Low health literacy is correlated to poor communication between

Identify Theft

2006-09-25T21:11:00.000-05:00

Recent news in the trade press points to an increasing incidence in identity theft in health care. If you can, imagine your health care enterprise featured on the front page of your local newspaper while you are forced to explain to your board, rotary club and friends how such an embarrassing and harmful breach of public trust could have occurred. Below find a rather complete review on the

Graduate Medical Education and the AAMC

2006-09-23T16:33:00.000-05:00

The following note from Eric Radin, MD:I am a representative to the AAMC/CAS and am aware of what the AAMC is recommending on behalf of its constituency, a significant increase in medical school graduates and residency matriculates.Health care access in the U.S. will be improved by more providers, but it is a costly mistake to have them mostly specialists, which is what the AAMC is promoting.

...more Common Sense

2006-08-23T22:06:00.000-05:00

The below is from friend and advisor, Jeff Lokken (a man uncommonly chock full of common sense) who works as a principal for Financial Investment Management Group [link: www.fimg.net].Comments follow below: The common sense of problem solving without a bureaucracy...what a great vision. Would leaders have patience for trial and error...case by case. Letting people make mistakes while imperfectly

NYTimes and the EMR

2006-08-22T19:55:00.000-05:00

A recent NYTimes article [NYT August 20, 2006, "Smart Care via a Mouse, but What will it Cost"] is great chance to popularize the growing interest in Healthcare Information Technology, yet misses the mark. Mr Lohr touches on the core issue, but ends up downplaying the true value of the healthcare electronic medical record and rather attempt to narrow the discussion of computerized medical

Opinion - More Common Sense on Improving

2006-08-22T19:53:00.000-05:00

And, more on the subject of getting into making real common sense change, we were pleased to come across the following point of view from Wayne Fischer (some think he’s a bit left of left field, yet leaders recognize he’s likely just ahead of the rest of us) From Wayne:“I have very little direct experience with JCAHO. But what little experience I do have, and in talking and working with those

A Common Sense View

2006-08-22T19:51:00.000-05:00

What do we know about effecting real and lasting change in healthcare performance? How do we capture a return on efforts that produce value (higher ratio of quality per service unit cost) that is meaningful to our customers and patients? We’re confounded by the cacophony of consultants that offer the newest and latest coffee table text solutions that cause our staff to tuck their heads into

Radin on a Roll

2006-07-27T21:05:00.000-05:00

The major problem to enforcing ebm [evidence-based medicine], as we discussed, is the lack of a digital, universally formatted med record for everyone. Think what we could do with data! But, too many don't want anyone knowing what is really going on and its an expensive proposition. but i will bet that a business plan would show that relative to what would be saved, the emr is a terrific

Radin Replies on Equity

2006-07-13T22:16:00.000-05:00

The below message from Eric Radin, MD in Follow-up to the posting on Equity in Healthcare:Equality in Health Care Delivery (HCD), in a cost-conscious system, has to have its limits. Assuming no ethnic, racial or gender inequality, these limits logically fall under 3 categories:Geographical: Providing specialist and super-specialist care in sparsely populated areas is impractical and economically

Patient Safety - Notes from the Field

2006-07-10T20:50:00.000-05:00

The following communication was sent to me by Dan Ford (friend) who has found a positive expression to a tragic patient medication error suffered upon a family member...I would encourage to contact Dan (information at end of blog posting) to get the original presentation paper.Regards,GHC, LLCExcerpt Begins here: HISS friends --The background paper and following messages from Bev Johnson and Jim

Nurses Seeking New Challenges Transition to Executive Management Roles Outside Hospital Walls

2006-07-07T20:21:00.000-05:00

Nurses can also succeed outside a hospital environment. After spending many years applying their nursing skills to improve their patient's health, nurses see the bigger picture and want to improve the health systems to enhance patient care. Over the last several years, health consulting firms are constantly striving to expand their revenue sources and hospitals provide some of these opportunities

Facility Planning - Principals of Design

2006-06-12T17:50:00.000-05:00

Topic 2: Patient Centered or Provider Centered:Here's a fun game to try sometime when you're wandering about any health care facility. Try to label each space as either provider centered or patient centered and write down the reason you make that evaluation.Here are some examples from a recent walk-around.Provider Centered:Large waiting rooms with P.A. system to call patients back to provider

IOM and the Six Aims for Improvement - #6 Equitable

2006-06-03T20:16:00.000-05:00

Care should be EQUITABLE: care that does not vary in quality because of personal characteristics such as gender, ethnicity, geographic location, and socio-economic status.How can we provide equitable health care to geographically remote (rural) areas whereby care does not vary from that provided in more densely populated areas? Since Luft documented the maldistribution of specialty medical

Wennberg Strikes Again

2006-05-25T21:02:00.000-05:00

Once again, Jack Wennberg's group has pointed out the obviously startling truth in healthcare...we can't explain with any good logic why health outcomes and service levels are so disparate. The Dartmouth Study (isn't this version 100 yet?) uses small area analysis to put into plain sight the essential variation in services and health outcomes across the county.Wennberg's group has compared the

Facility Planning - Principals for Design

2006-05-25T19:58:00.000-05:00

The blog will begin a new series on facility design principals. Please watch for the building and header for future articles.Topic 1: Flexible. Healthcare facilities represent the workshop for the most highly skilled professionals in America. Clinics, Hospitals, Nursing Homes, Diagnostic Facilities and the like bring together highly trained professionals to deal with the most intimate aspects

IOM and the Six Aims for Improvement - Aim #5 Efficient

2006-05-25T19:45:00.000-05:00

Care should be EFFICIENT: avoiding waste, including waste of equipment, supplies, ideas and energy.Labor Intensive: Most healthcare provider organizations are "labor-intensive" and "capital-intensive". Yet, unlike most capital intensive industries, healthcare does not receive the trade-off between capital and labor common in manufacturing (e.g. higher investments in capital result in reductions

IOM and the Six Aims for Improvment - #4 Timely

2006-05-14T19:09:00.000-05:00

Care should be timely. Passionately eliminate waits and delays in care. Dr. Mark Murray and Ms. Catherine Tantau packaged the notion of advanced access almost a decade ago as part of their work with Kaiser in California. Originally, this work was thought to apply to primary care group practices heavily dominated by managed care contracting (especially the pre-paid and gatekeeper flavor). Yet

Reasonable Fees, Class Actions and Transparency

2006-05-08T20:55:00.000-05:00

Judge Haunghney has ruled, that there was no clear deceptive pricing in the case of the Oconomowoc/ProHealh Care lawsuit brought by McLaughlins (Wisconsin). Hospitals (and presumably other healthcare providers) are allowed to charge differential rates. That's the good news for providers. Said differently, there is no basis to challenge that prices differ across different payer classes. Yet...

Portable EMR Databases

2006-05-08T20:41:00.000-05:00

Insurers Urge Creation of Portable Databases to Improve CareAccording to a recent Commonwealth Fund article [MAY 1, 2006] BlueCross BlueShield local health plan leaders made the case on Monday for health insurers to establish uniform portable health databases to ease the burden on doctors and patients. Does this surprise anyone? Okay, let's just reflect on this for a moment...For years we've

Pre-emption and State's Rights - Insurance

2006-04-26T20:35:00.000-05:00

Mr. Rob Hotakainen, correspondent for the Minneapolis Star Tribune Washington writes on April 24, 2006 that Minnesota (among others) is about to lose a key provision of states rights is Senators in Washington pass pre-emptive legislation...to wit "Over the years, Minnesota legislators have passed many laws telling health insurers exactly what they must pay for. In fact, there are over 25

State of the Art in Web-based Orthopaedics

2006-04-18T22:40:00.000-05:00

This in from a highly successful orthopaedist...how to develop a marketing program that is high tech and high touch and tailored to your audience!Check out all the ways this creative orthopaedic surgeon is using the internet to market his services.For the patient: http://www.partial-knee.com/index.htmlFor the referrer: http://www.avoidtotalknee.com/The partnership group: http://www.gikk.com/

Radiology and Carve Out Contracting

2006-04-18T19:32:00.000-05:00

Bill M., the CEO of UnitedHealth, has proven that the healthcare marketplace has 'excess' money pored into the provider-based organizations. Not only is a smaller proportion of the insurance premium being paid to cover medical losses (e.g. money to doctors, hospitals and others)but the take home pay of top CEO's like Bill are nothing less than phenomenal. How does this happen? Can we really

The IOM and 6 Aims for Improvement - Patient Centered

2006-04-17T18:19:00.000-05:00

Aim #3: Care should be PATIENT-CENTERED, respectful of and responsive to individual patient preferences, needs, and values and ensuring that patient values guide all clinical decisions.Enough said, right? But very few organizations actually can demonstrate a committment to patient centered care from the board room to the wash room and from the moment before a prospective employee is hired until

Are Consumers Ready for HSA's?

2006-04-09T16:21:00.000-05:00

In a recent NYTimes article [The Health of a Nation, By ALlan B. Hubbard, April 3, 2006] it is posited that Health Saving Accounts are the solution for rising health costs, the lack of accountability for quality, solution to employers dilemma of cutting employee benefits and perhaps the cure for the common cold. True: Health costs are rising at an almost unbelievable rateTrue: The industry

The IOM and 6 Aims for Improvement - Effective

2006-04-09T15:43:00.000-05:00

Aim #2: Care should be EFFECTIVE: providing services based on scientific knowledge to all who could benefit and refraining from providing services to those not likely to benefit.How many sources are there for scientific, evidence-based medical care?Thousands!It's truly amazing that amount of information that is at our fingertips to help us make informed decisions (whether as a physician or a

A Fun Diversion

2006-04-01T18:46:00.000-06:00

Not the usual post, however, I had the chance to view some of the glass art of Paul Stankard at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum today. Nothing short of spectacular. I've included a photo of his work entitled "Pineland Pickeral Weed Orb with Honeycomb and Honeybees". And, as the artist notes, most days, at the end of the day he is not happy, rather anxious and stressed by his work.

Medical Loss

2006-04-01T16:00:00.000-06:00

Feel like you're not getting enough of the premium pie?The following statistics are cited from:American Medical News, March 6, 2006, Jonathan G. BethelyMedical-loss ratios for 2005 (Source: Company 10-K, year-end filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission):76.9% - Aetna82.3% - Cigna83.9% - Health Net83.2% - Humana78.6% - UnitedHealth Group80.6% - WellPointThe medical loss reflects the

The IOM and 6 Aims for healthcare

2006-04-01T11:15:00.000-06:00

The Institute of Medicine describes the characteristics of 21st century healthcare under six headings: Safe, Effective, Patient Centered, Timely, Efficient and Equitable. In this 6 part discussion, the topics will be taken in due course to stimulate input on this important work.Aim #1: Care should be SAFE: Patients should not be harmed by the care that is intended to help them.Since the

Exploiting the power of the computer

2006-03-31T21:24:00.000-06:00

As reported today in the Wisconsin Technology news, the WCHQ is moving forward to report quality outcomes in physician practices..."The Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality has been chosen to lead an effort to report medical outcomes in physician and clinic settings, but participation will not necessarily be based on the level of technology investment."As encouraging as the WCHQ actions

On Strategic Planning: It's two products, not one

2006-03-19T13:17:00.000-06:00

The following comes from Peter Hughes (an extraordinary planning fellow!)Having assisted a wide range of organizations over the past 21 years on formulating Strategic Plans one glaring common problem stands out. In over 80% of the more than 150 organizations I have assisted, including Healthcare Systems, Corporations, Chambers of Commerce, Universities, School Districts, Health and Human Service

The Role of Government in Transparency

2006-03-17T18:48:00.000-06:00

The following is published today at the Commonwealth Fund:"To achieve transparency and improve performance in the health care system, Collins and her testimony co-author, Fund President Karen Davis, Ph.D., believe the federal government should take a leadership role in creating a database on costs and quality and encouraging the incorporation of quality and efficiency measures into

...And even MORE on Transparency

2006-03-14T20:36:00.000-06:00

As reported by the Commonwealth Fund: HHS Secretary Leavitt announced that the federal government would publicly disclose the prices that hospital and physicians charge for routine medical procedures.and in other news, the renowned healthcare strategist, Mr. Newt Gingrich, founder of the Center for Health Transformation shares the same viewpoint when he "applaud[ed] Florida for being the 'first

Does Culture Nurture or Slay Quality

2006-03-14T19:51:00.000-06:00

I'm interested in thoughts on how culture either nurtures or slays improvement work in healthcare. To lead off the discussion, I've posed the question to a friend and great thinker on the topic of performance improvement and quality in healthcare, Dr. Chuck Schauberger. Chuck writes:"You are pondering an interesting topic. I’m sure that culture has been adequately defined in many scholarly

O'Neill and Healthcare Improvement

2006-03-13T21:11:00.000-06:00

One of my favorite guys to advance the efforts on healthcare improvement is former US Treasury Secretary and Captain of Industry, Mr. Paul O'Neill. Most will remember Mr. O'Neill's brief stint at President Bush's Secretary of the Treasury and others as the CEO of Alcoa. However, for a few of us that cut our teeth on quality in Pennsylvania in the days of W. Edwards Deming, Myron Trybus and

Lessons from Lean - Quality

2006-03-10T19:53:00.000-06:00

Paraphrased from Shigeo Shingo: 1. Improvement involves never accepting the status quo; 2. Work is more than people in motion; 3. Perceiving and thinking are not the same.Does this sound like how quality improvement works in your healthcare organization?Or, do you think that the status quo is not only accepted but nutured and encouraged.Or, does activity and scheduled meetings (regardless

Teamwork in the Healthcare Setting

2006-03-08T21:55:00.000-06:00

Thoughts on Team Work:1. Teams should be officially sponsored by leadership to demonstrate commitment toward the work of the team.2. Specifically charter the team by defining specific outcomes and allocate time and resources.3. Encourage teams to dialogue and create the Team’s values; to determine collectively shared values of the team for which team members will hold each other accountable over

Website Up and Running

2006-03-08T07:51:00.000-06:00

The company website is now operational. Feel free to browse at:www.grindstonehealthcareconsulting.org

...And more on transparency

2006-03-07T22:15:00.000-06:00

This must be the season for transparency. Dr. WIlliam Plested, president-elect of the AMA embraces transparency, but not if only for doctors, but the whole ball of wax. Laudable goal. Only problem is that our industry fees and fee structures are so complex and variable in their application, that we need more discipline of standardization in the methods by which prices are reported and

The Canadian Invasion

2006-03-07T22:13:00.000-06:00

The Orlando Sentinal reports that prescription drugs are being seized in florida. Rep Nelson fears this is the Bush Administration's ploy to push seniors into using the Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage benefit.What we miss of course is that almost every other industry is using volume based purchasing, yet that provision is not part of the Medicare Program. The more effective policy

The Consolidation of Quality in Healthcare

2006-03-07T22:12:00.000-06:00

Last week came the announcement that Janet Corrigan was appointed the leader of the new National Quality Forum. The original NQF was started during the Clinton Presidency (that is Bill Clinton not HRC) and chaired by Ken K. An interesting experiment in working to define standard measures of quality that actually matter and relate to real health outcomes. As it turns out, the NQF was

2006-02-25T17:15:00.000-06:00

The below appeared in the Commonwealth Fund enewsletter this past week. It appears that policy in the state legislature in Madison is lining up well with the Bush administration's policy on market reform. Clearly, forces are converging on the necessity for transparency in pricing and for transparency in reporting standard measures of quality (particularly outcomes). Comparable quality and

Transparency in Health Care Costs - policy

2006-02-20T20:50:00.000-06:00

In a recent article in the Wisconsin State Journal you can read of a policy taking on a new direction in the State of Wisconsin [link: http://www.madison.com/archives/read.php?ref=wsj:2006:01:25:542032:OPINION]. Ultimately, it is true that health care does not function like a typical market. There is a fundamental imbalance in information by which the purchaser (patient or employer) and the

Valued Communications

2006-02-18T15:22:00.000-06:00

In correspondence with a colleague this week, I was seeking information on how to effectively integrate chrisitian practices into the business environment. The first consideration was to what extent the actions of business are matters of the Kingdom. However, in almost all respects I was able to derive a lesson to be learned or a command to be followed from the scriptures. The particular

Grindstone begins

2005-08-12T21:41:00.000-05:00

Today marks the initiation of the blog for Grindstone Healthcare Consulting, LLC. Comments and commentary are welcomed.