Thanks so much for Paul Levy for coming on the show. We talked about the Boston Red Sox (of course) and some professional football team up there (he didn't remember the name - hehe). Then, we went into the circumstances by which he became the CEO of the hospital. He said that he had no prior hospital administrative experience (shocking to me). He, in fact, was in charge of the sewer system (Yeesh). And, there were thoughts of selling the hospital. It's now six years later and it looks like they are still around. (video post above)
To me, his philosophy is so simple, it's mind boggling. He has made hospital information as transparent as possible for anyone who wants to know it. He posts things like quality data and infection rates on his blog (good and bad). (I mistakenly mentioned financials in my video post, but I don't think I heard that in the interview - sorry). And, let me tell you, things like quality data and hospital infection rates are somethings that some hospitals don't want people to know about. This move was so trend setting that the competing hospitals up there had to do the same thing to keep pace.
I'm on my physician hospital leadership team and he gave me advice that "learning about negotiation" would be valuable as a hospital physician leader. He teaches a course about this at his hospital. I would LOVE to hear this lecture. I just have to find some time to head up to Boston. He also invited me up there in the fall for a Red Sox playoff game. Now, I didn't tell him that I live in "Cleveland Indians Nation" (as opposed to "Red Sox Nation"). So, I would probably get beat up if I wore my Cleveland Indians garb into Fenway Park. hehe
Next week, we'll be joined by South African surgeon blogger Bongi from Other Things Amanzi. He'll be calling in live where it will be about 4am where he's at. We definitely have devoted guests on The Doctor Anonymous Show. We will also be having a special guest co-host. In two weeks, we'll have Vijay from Scan Man's Notes. So, definitely stay tuned to the "number one health talk show on Blog Talk Radio" (not really, but sounds good). Have a great weekend, everybody!
3 comments:
When will we have Francis Collins on the show? :D
You are doing a great job.
I'm sorry. I was just kidding.
Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., is an American physician-geneticist, noted for his landmark discoveries of disease genes, and his leadership of the Human Genome Project. He is the director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, one of the 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health, Bethedsa, Maryland.
Take care :)
Kudos to Paul Levy for taking the honest approach. I worked in a hosptial for years and I know it's true that any information that could be perceived as negative usally remains protected and hidden. I live in a county of about 27,000 homes and there is one hospital to serve the county's needs. With no competition, quality of service is definitely affected. Maybe we should start checking the manholes for a quality CEO!
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