Lola Butcher

Physician Leaders, Care Delivery

Expanding the reach of palliative care

When Alexander Gamble, M.D., was hired to develop a palliative medicine program at Phelps County Regional Medical Center in south-central Missouri, he expected it would take some time to persuade physicians to make referrals.

But on the second day of orientation, Gamble received his first palliative care consult. In 2017, the first year that a full palliative care team was in place, Gamble and his colleagues saw 6 percent of the hospital’s inpatients. And this past January, they consulted on twice as many patients as a year earlier.

Delivery System Transformation, Care Delivery, Strategic Planning, Issues & Trends

The rise of house calls

Peter Boling, M.D., graduated from medical school almost 40 years ago, and his career has been driven by a single question.

“Is the hospital emergency room and the inpatient ward the best way to solve the problems of an immobile 80-year-old with complex multimorbid conditions who can't get around within her own house very easily, never mind getting out of the house?” he says.

Delivery System Transformation, Care Delivery, Strategic Planning

In Milwaukee, infant mortality, social determinants top concerns

In 2016, Milwaukee’s infant-mortality rate was 9.1, meaning that slightly more than nine babies died for every 1,000 live births. By contrast, the national infant-mortality rate was 5.8 in 2014, the most recent year for which information is available, according to the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics. 

Disparities in birth outcomes present Milwaukee with a major challenge. In 2016, Milwaukee saw 14 deaths per 1,000 live births for some minority groups, as opposed to 7.2 deaths for non-Hispanic whites.

Delivery System Transformation, Care Delivery, Strategic Planning

Milwaukee health systems partner for community health

A decade ago, leaders of four health systems serving Milwaukee residents recognized that they needed to do something different. Their organizations increasingly were burdened by high rates of uninsured and underinsured patients. Primary care services were underused, and emergency departments were overused for nonurgent care, which drove up costs.

Together, these system leaders formed the Milwaukee Health Care Partnership in 2007 to work collaboratively on three key issues: coverage, access and care coordination.

Today, the partnership’s members include:

Physician Workforce, Workforce Supply and Demand, Workforce

Growing list of responsibilities helps fuel hospitalist burnout

Hospitalists are at high risk for burnout due to an ever-expanding list of responsibilities. Learn more about the alarming data points and the actions needed to mitigate burnout.

Physician Workforce, Workforce

Understanding physician burnout

More than five years after her patient died, a physician is still haunted by her role in his final days.

Earlier this year, in an anonymous TED podcast, the physician told her story. Her patient — whom she called Mr. W — was screaming that he wanted to leave the hospital. Instead of using her usual empathy, compassion and well-honed communication skills to convince him to stay, the physician signed a “discharge against medical advice” order.

Leadership, Succession Planning

Enhancing diversity

When Shafiq Rab agreed to become chief information officer and senior vice president of Rush University Medical Center late last year, the Chicago hospital snagged a leader in the use of mobile health care technology to engage patients.

Leadership, Strategic Planning

Henry Ford Health System board essential for diversity

Henry Ford Health System, a five-hospital system in the Detroit area, routinely earns one of the top spots on DiversityInc.’s Top 12 Hospitals and Health Systems, an annual ranking of health care organizations that are committed to diversity. To make the cut, the 30,000-employee system is continually working to improve its talent pipeline, talent development practices, supplier diversity and other things essential to an inclusive culture.

Care Delivery, Patient and Family Education/Engagement

By the patient, for the patient

By the time Warren J. Smith III met Kavita Bhavan, M.D., he had had dozens of surgeries stemming from a motorcycle accident that shattered his leg. Altogether, he had spent more than a year in hospital beds, and the serious infection in his leg was another disappointing setback.

So when Bhavan, an infectious disease specialist at Parkland Health & Hospital System in Dallas, suggested that Smith could self-administer intravenous antibiotics at home, he seized the opportunity.

Care Delivery, Patient and Family Education/Engagement

Hospital studies self-care program, with positive results

When leaders at Parkland Health & Hospital System in Dallas launched a novel program for administering long-term antibiotics to Parkland Memorial Hospital patients, they were seeking to address two problems that vex many provider organizations: disparities in the delivery of health care services and the inappropriate use of health care resources.