The American Hospital Association (AHA) officially launched its Physician Leadership Forum (PLF) last week at the 19th Annual Health Forum/AHA Leadership Summit in San Diego, CA. The launch began with a breakfast and brief remarks from Rich Umbdenstock, AHA President and CEO, John R. Combes, MD, AHA Senior Vice President, and William F. Jessee, MD, Medical Group Management Association President and CEO.
Mr. Umbdenstock began the proceedings by touching on the changing landscape of health care and how collaboration between physicians and hospitals will be essential in order to deliver high-quality, efficient care. In addition, Mr. Umbdenstock said the PLF will offer physicians an opportunity to participate in the AHA policy and advocacy development process.
Dr. Combes shared some highlights of the PLF group. He talked about how the
PLF advisory committee has been working on providing feedback on the best resources to provide for physicians wanting to engage with hospitals. The committee identified four engagement strategies that the PLF will work under – education, quality and patient safety, leadership development, and advocacy and public policy. Dr. Combes said the PLF will collaborate with internal and external groups, including state, metro and regional hospital associations.
Dr. Jessee closed the breakfast by comparing the current state of collaboration among health care professionals to a “double-reverse in football.” The more handoffs you have, the more opportunity there is to fumble, he said. He also mentioned the cultural transformation that will need to take place in order to integrate multiple physician practices into one cohesive unit. Dr. Jesse said the task will be challenging and painful, but not impossible.
The PLF also hosted an afternoon session in conjunction with the Leadership Summit on Achieving Team-Based Health Care Delivery. David Nash, MD, Founding Dean of the Jefferson School of Population Health and Professor of Health Policy at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, PA, delivered the keynote address. Dr. Nash spoke about the need for hospitals to do a better job grooming physician leaders. He mentioned how team-based care is becoming the norm and how both hospitals and physicians need to embrace this. The program also included case examples from AtlantiCare Health System, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Marquette General Health System.
AtlantiCare Health System spoke about their Special Care Center (SCC), a patient-centered medical home they developed for individuals with chronic conditions. AtlantiCare created the SCC four years ago, serving roughly 1,800 patients to date. The SCC has resulted in reduced hospital length of stay (LOS), readmissions, and ER visits.
Brigham and Women’s Hospital created their Interdisciplinary Team Unit (ITU) for three reasons — to increase time for learning among its residents, to improve communication and collaboration among personnel, and to cut down on costs. In its short existence, the ITU has proved successful, significantly cutting down on in-patient mortality, LOS, and readmissions while also increasing time for educational activities and satisfaction among attendings, residents, and nurses.
Marquette General Health System talked about their transition from traditional medical departments to service lines. These service lines meet on a regular basis and encompass a broad spectrum of medical and hospital staff to include all staff directly involved with a patient’s care. A main point of emphasis for each service line is that all involved are seen as equals. Marquette also employs the use of a newsletter to keep each service line in the loop on what other lines are doing.
The day ended with an all-inclusive group session where several ideas emerged on how to successfully create teams and implement change at one’s own hospital or health clinic. First, teams need to be inclusive and designed from the bottom up with strong senior leadership support, explicitly highlighting the benefits for patients and care teams. A common theme among the three case examples was the importance of team communication. Everyone, regardless of position, should have equal weight when it comes to expressing his/her opinion on a patient’s care. In order to create trust and camaraderie among team members, create team-building opportunities both on and off site. For example, work on a case in the simulation lab together or go after work to visit a museum. When data finally does role in, gain trust around it and make it “our” data. Make sure the results are documented correctly and keep feedback timely. Use the data to work together to refine, understand, and improve your service. As well, educating the team on financing, health policy, costs, and value becomes everyone’s job. Finally, the most important lesson to emerge may be its simplest — if you can reach what makes people passionate, you can motivate them.
