My Kind of Town, Too.

The Nuts and Bolts of Patient Centered Care. That was the title of one of my recent presentations (Download a copy) to an insurance risk group in New York City.  Interestingly, this is the second insurance group who has requested me to speak this year through our friends at Planetree.  It's all expenses paid, and I donate the money to the Windber foundations.

As I looked out across the sea of risk managers, administrators, attorneys, and physicians, I knew that my presentation would be a real stretch to this collection of mostly left brainers.  Why?  Because every creative thing that we do at Windber Medical Center is not conventional wisdom.  In fact, much of it flies directly in the face of the so-called conventional wisdom.

It's fun when we describe our therapy dogs as they go room to room, our 24-hour, seven day a week visiting hours, the double beds in the OB suites, live plants, the greenhouse, five volunteers for every patient, family care givers, accommodations for loved ones in the patient rooms, decorative fountains, music, aroma therapy, fresh baked bread, massage, cosmetology, yoga, reiki, acupuncture, drum circles, the music room, et al.  These things are certainly NOT the norm in most hospitals.

The piece that really gets their attention is when we can prove quantitatively that the total amount of insurance premiums paid out for malpractice and general liability is 96% more than the amount that is paid out by our insurance companies in settlements for any type of related claims.  That also means that, instead of the normal 95% in 95% paid back out, our insurance companies are only paying about 4% in claims for us in those two areas. That's probably why the insurance companies love us.

Understand that many of these attendees are number crunchers.  That's why, when I get the chance, I always quote to them the infamous, rich words that I so blatantly stole from my mentor, my very own Yoda, my Tibetan monk-like teacher, Leland Kaiser: 

Nothing has to be the way it is.
No way is the right way.
We have the power to change reality...
...AND there are no boundaries.

So, you can design your future because the bigger the dream, the easier it is to get the more people that will support it.  By the time I say this, they usually sink to the floor in a nearly comatose state.

That's when I come in for the kill by saying:

• Our infection rate is only 1%. That's 8% below the national average.
• Our mortality rate is the lowest in the area for adjusted acuity.
• Our length of stay dropped from 4.3 to 3.4 days.

The question is, what is the question?  If you treat people with respect and dignity, with love and a total commitment to their health, it works. They don't sue you because they know you care about them.  They don't hate you because they know that you respect them.  They recommend you to their friends and relatives because they trust you.

As the brain surgeon says: "This is NOT rocket science." And as the rocket scientist says, "This is NOT brain surgery."  If you put people into a healing environment, they heal.  If they are not living in complete terror about the next unknown that is going to happen to them, they heal.  In fact, their white blood cells may actually be given a chance to work!

You can wash your hands 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and you should. But... people will still get infections if you restrict their loved ones from being with them, if you treat them like a body part, if you don't tell them what's coming next, and don't give them choices in their care.  Instead, one of our senior leaders always says about Windber Medical Center, "We do not make our patients leave their dignity at the door."