The next training will be next Tuesday May 8 at 12:15-1:15pm Mountain time and Molly will be presenting:

Hiring . . . getting it right, most of the time

People are not your most important asset, the right people are.  Find out what the cost of a mis-hire is to our organizations and learn how can we create a system for increasing our odds of getting it right . . . most of the time.

She will be presenting this to the The Hospital Cooperative – our friends in Eastern Idaho and Wyoming.  This group is made up of clinic managers in rural hospital clinics.  While many of you have heard Molly talk on this topic, you may want to encourage some of your clinic managers to attend who might benefit from learning more about good hiring techniques.  Email Monica if you have someone that you would like to attend.

Happy MindMapping!

For the most up-to-date news about MindJet follow @MindJet and @RyanRudnitsky on Twitter. For up-to-date news regarding MedMan follow @JimTrounson.

Southlake Clinic

Renton, Washington

PRESCRIPTION FOR CHANGE

Two recent events have led (forced?) us to take a closer look at our prescribing habits: 1) we recently signed a new contract with an insurance carrier that increases our reimbursement for RVUs if we decrease the percentage of name brand drug prescriptions compared to generic drug prescriptions, and 2) a well-known regional “alliance” made up of providers, insurance carriers, and businesses recently published data ranking medical groups in order of the above percentage calculation.

In regards to #2 above, we didn’t score so well. And that document is now public. In regards to #1, the data the insurance carrier provided gave us a good look at our prescribing patterns compared not only internally, but also externally. Nothing changes doctor behavior better than good, comparative data.

So we are taking this data very seriously. We’ll be providing the physicians with frequent comparative reports. We are looking at what we can do with our EHR to make it easier to prescribe generics. And we have severely limited the amount of drug samples we keep on hand, and our access to pharmaceutical reps (as well as the famous “drug rep lunches”).

I fully expect our prescribing patters to change dramatically, mostly because we are making noise about it and measuring it. This will result in lower costs to patients/employers/insurance carriers, and higher reimbursements for us–without a sacrifice in quality.

An astute observer might ask, why didn’t you do this sooner? A question to which I have no good answer.

Ben Call, M.D. and Jim Trounson discuss Management Integration and the effectiveness of MedMan’s relationship with Portneuf Medical Center. Dr. Call points out the importance of being “bilingual” in a setting such as his.

-Jim

Medical Park Family Care

Anchorage, Alaska

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I had a great time at MMU in Scottsdale. On the plane heading home to 129 inches of snow, I reflected on the wide range of interactions I had with all of you and our guests, including the wild ride from the airport with our driver Don to find some fast food and back to the airport to pick up some fellow travelers, then on to find more fast food… we do like to eat at MMU meetings, don’t we? And then the initial presentations on Wednesday, a hotdog and an exciting comeback victory by the SF Giants, an inspiring talk by Coach (I was ready to hit the field to do some laps at 9:00 PM), and then the next day of inspiring talks by our guests from Mayo along with the tour. It all came together for me at the MedMan birthday celebration later that evening as I observed during conversations with fellow MedMan employees and our guests and observing the interactions of the group as a whole, that we have something truly unique and wonderful going for us. As I tried to put into definitive terms what that something is, I reflected on my eight years with Medical Park Family Care trying to draw parallels because I have the same feelings about my group as I do for MedMan.

Some of it is in our common values of respect, integrity, loyalty and sharing. I can’t tell you how much I appreciated participating in the employee video productions as the interviewer at MMU. There was a common theme and sincerity with each individual’s endorsement of living life as a MedMan administrator. It was inspiring and so real to me and I hope each of you have a chance to see the videos of Dick, Jennifer, Leigh Ann, CJ, Amber and Gary soon. I was struck by the fact that I have many employees here at Medical Park who believe in our common values and “walk the talk” when they express themselves at staff meetings and during their interactions with patients.

I believe that many of our clinics could function “OK” without MedMan to help guide them along the way, developing on their own workflows, policies and procedures, benchmarking, reporting to their physicians and leaders, but they might not quite hit the mark in those unique areas I refer to. It’s become obvious to me that we have a connection with each other that breeches the traditional gender, generational, and experience in the healthcare industry gaps that often prevent organizations from achieving their true potential. Some of it is having the right people in leadership roles, some of it is continuing to hire good people with potential to grow, and some of it is in mentoring, not just in words and training someone to do a task but by being a role model and living our values every day, wearing our clinic or MedMan logo wear with pride. It’s the “people factor”, being a “family”, and any other way you care to describe it.

That’s why Medical Park Family Care is a “Clinic that Works” and it’s why “MedMan Works”. It’s why I keep coming to work every day and why I look forward to each interaction with you and our never ending education at MMU as perpetual students.