Pursuing Perfection, Whatcom County, and Synergy
Recently I had the pleasure of visiting Marc Pierson and crew in Bellingham, WA. While everybody in the healthcare industry is talking about reform, rarely does anybody DO anything about it. Not so with Marc and crew. Rather than pick away at the fringes of what to fix (Access, Quality or Cost) they took a thoughtful look at their whole system.
Key to their strategy was patient involvement in all plans and decisions. This patient-centered care, and not the quasi-lip service given when folks say "patient-focused". While Marc will say that their key to success has been involving the patient, let me share with you my assessment of why they are doing what other health organizations say is their 'vision'...Marc and his staff are passionately dedicated to the patient.
What does this passion buy you? A willingness to look at EVERYTHING and incorporate what works and toss out what doesn't. An organizational openess between employees, patients, and other stakeholders. A renewed sense of energy each day, where 'problems' become a journey through which your colleagues (more like family) and you embrace because it 1) Gets at the root of why everybody is there for, and 2) It extends the interaction with one another. An ability to spread this passion for what you do to others in a viral fashion.
I have seen literally millions of dollars thrown at projects that were doomed from the start. Sure, the core players were very dedicated, but they weren't able to make the jump to bring in other folks who got the vision and were as passionate about what they do as the original group. Marc's particularly effective at finding folks who just 'get it' and have fire in their belley to take care of the patient, recruiting them to join the campaign, and making them happy. Sounds like a winning strategy to me.
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