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“I get paid by the job, not by the hour.” 

It was well over two years ago, but those words still ring in my ear. I was sitting in the outpatient surgery center waiting room at my local hospital. About 15 minutes earlier, in OR 2, I’d kissed my 6 year-old on the forehead as she began to feel the effects of the anesthesia prior to her hernia repair surgery. Completely alert to completely out ...

Today, the top priority of patients remains hospitals' “response to concerns/complaints” made during the inpatient stay. Press Ganey notes that in today's economic climate hospitals can't simply ask staff and physicians to spend more time with patients; emphasis must be placed on educating staff and physicians on how to communicate more effectively and quickly with patients.
– 2010 Hospital Pulse Report: Patient Perspectives on American Health Care

As you can see, the Press Ganey 2010 ...

A medical office is pressured to see patients every seven minutes, learn new electronic health records systems, manage different payer contracts and attract new patients. For many, the advent of the Clinician and Group Consumer Assessment of Health Providers and Systems (CGCAHPS) survey is just another administrative headache. And there are more survey requirements on the way, as we shall see.

I can hear the moaning and groaning now. And yet, from my 20-plus years ...

Amid all of the current debate over health care system changes resulting from the reform law, what is sometimes lost is the importance of the human element of health care. You can’t legislate empathy or compassion, yet they are essential elements of providing quality care. That point was brought home to me recently when I attended the annual dinner of the Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare, an organization in Boston that focuses on the ...