uft-a - The Business Case for Quality: A Unified Field Theory Applied to Health Care Alice G. Gosfield P.C. line_2px.gif (105 bytes) The Reinertsen Group

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Available Speeches


Alice Gosfield and Jim Reinertsen are available to provide presentations and working sessions ranging from two hours to two and a half days, for varied audiences including

  • hospitals, health systems and their boards and medical staff leadership,
  • physicians, medical staffs and other provider groups,
  • professional associations and medical societies,
  • collaborating representatives of multiple stakeholders within a market and others

on a range of issues associated with making quality happen. From addressing clinical process changes, to engaging physicians meaningfully, to organizing for better payment opportunities, the synergies in our approaches are more timely and powerful than ever.

As can be seen at each of our respective websites Alice Gosfield and Jim Reinertsen individually, are internationally sought after, dynamic presenters. Still, as the forces to be brought to bear to advance quality and value multiply, many of the presentations we do separately are also complementary when presented together. For example, Jim’s presentations on patient safety often raise questions about the kind of gainsharing programs the fraud and abuse laws now allow, a topic Alice discusses. Her presentations on clinical integration under the antitrust laws necessarily involve the types of clinical initiatives Jim elucidates. We encourage your review of the topics on which we present separately in order to customize an effective program for your group. In addition to these increasingly popular synergies, we also offer formally structured joint presentations.

Our unique joint offerings, described below, bring to bear a deep appreciation of the challenges of evidence based medicine, complex adaptive systems theory, a deep understanding of physician thinking, and highly expert knowledge of regulatory and legal barriers and constraints which we combine into practical approaches to making genuine change. We recognize and address the essential role of the doctor-patient relationship and how it is a fundamental platform upon which to leverage other changes, including team approaches to care delivery. Meeting the quality and value challenge turns, in part, on a real understanding of the current systems for payment, clinical processes of care, information reporting, performance measurement, liability, and organizational design. With our different training and experiences, we are particularly well suited to address these issues in distinct, entertaining, and illuminating presentations.

Our offerings can be custom-designed to meet the needs and interests of the specific audience.

The following six topic areas represent currently popular selections:

  1. Particularly for hospitals, finding ways to successfully engage physicians in transformational quality improvement is a critical ongoing challenge. We have presented for the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s programs over two full-days on these issues. We are available to do a shorter version of the program which presents a contextual framework for culture change and a way to develop a practical, focused, customized plan for physician engagement centered around clinical integration. We still offer a framework which includes six specific issues which must be addressed, techniques for success, and tools for implementation. The background for this work is available in the White Papers we have co-authored, “Engaging With Physicians in A Shared Quality Agendapdf image and “Achieving Clinical Integration With Highly Engaged Physicians.”

  2. Based on our belief in physicians’ unique role in the health care system, we have developed Clinical Integration Self-Assessment Toolspdf image, v.2.0 and v.2.1pdf image. In our presentations, we facilitate work within organizations and among otherwise unaffiliated physicians to engage in a deeper dive in looking at the participants’ current state and how to develop practical steps to progress to a more integrated environment. We complement these efforts with our earlier Degree of Difficulty Assessmentpdf image - a historical assessment which is important to confront first, particularly in hospital systems.

  3. We believe that the Organized Medical Staff is a vehicle which can be revitalized to better serve the hospital in the new environment. We present programs on what kinds of changes can be made, including in the relationship to the Board of Trustees as well as in adopting clear standards and expectations for privileging and reappointments, along with supportive changes in the Medical Staff bylaws. These presentations are appropriate for:
  • medical staff and board retreats,
  • strategic planning meetings, medical society meetings
  • hospital association meetings, and
  • joint meetings of medical societies and hospital associations.
  1. As new payment models emerge, how to organize for success is an increasing challenge. We address the issues raised by bundled payment, bundled budgets as in PROMETHEUS Payment®, and episode rates. The effect of value-based purchasing on hospitals and physicians links financial processes to quality and value performance as never before. We offer presentations that elucidate these challenges which are now an essential feature of the new unavoidable business case for quality.

  2. Based on our Health Affairs article we are available to address how the 100,000 Lives Campaign has changed the standard of care for hospitals and its meaning to boards, administration, medical staff members and hospitalists and intensivists in particular. Issues include:
  • How is it the standard of care?
  • What forms will liability take?
  • What does it mean to the respective stakeholders in the hospital in terms of their own liability as well as their accountability for quality?
  • How can this change be marshaled to improve care?
  1. As the pressures on hospitals and physicians increase for demonstrated high quality performance, which increasingly is reported publicly and the failure of which can create legal liability as well, hospitals and physicians have no choice but to find creative, practical ways to work together to improve quality using UFT-A principles and more. We have always believed that hospitals and physicians will have to find ways to collaborate more deeply to truly advance quality . How to work together to improve quality and advance both hospitals’ and physicians’ positions economically without fear of legal reprisal, is a particular focus of our new presentations, reflecting the work in “In Common Cause for Quality”. These offerings address
  • How to consider a business case for quality
  • The quality demands on hospitals which cannot be met without the full engagement of physicians
  • Debunking the myths of the law as a barrier to hospitals helping physicians economically
  • Six ways physicians can help hospitals advance their work while benefiting the physicians directly
Six ways that hospitals can directly benefit physicians while advancing the hospitals’ business case.


 

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