New award gives important recognition for achievement in patient engagement (nominations now open)

Some truly amazing and inspiring work is being done to advance patient engagement. Now there is a prestigious new award to recognize it.

The new John Q. Sherman Award for Excellence in Patient Engagement was just announced this week by Standard Register Healthcare in partnership with the National Patient Safety Foundation’s Lucian Leape Institute.

The award will be conferred at the 2014 NPSF Patient Safety Congress in Orlando in May and award-winning programs will be featured on EngagingPatients.org. [Disclaimer: I am an advisor and writer for EngagingPatients.org and am involved with the creation of the award.]

John King, President of Standard Register Healthcare, said the award was created to recognize those individuals and health care provider institutions that are changing the face of health care:

“The intent of the John Q. Sherman Award is to both recognize and inspire people and organizations to share their work. By spotlighting best practices in patient and family engagement, we have the opportunity to accelerate the transformation in care delivery and make a measurable difference in people’s recovery and well-being."

The John Q. Sherman Award for Excellence in Patient Engagement will be presented in two categories — one for a health care institution and one for an individual.

  • The Institution award recognizes a health care provider institution or organization that has made dynamic innovations or advancements in patient engagement.
  • The Individual award recognizes an individual or small group that worked together, clinician or patient who has demonstrated the qualities and characteristics in their community, in education or within the health care setting.

Nominations are due by March 28. Submit now!

John Q. Sherman, founder of Standard Register in Dayton, Ohio.

John Q. Sherman, founder of Standard Register in Dayton, Ohio.

The award is named after Standard Register founder Sherman, who was a leading philanthropist in Dayton, Ohio, with a deep commitment to health care and his community. At the onset of the Great Depression in 1928, Sherman led a campaign to raise over $1 million in just 30 days to build Good Samaritan Hospital in Dayton. He left a legacy that lives on today through the company’s support of Dayton’s Samaritan Homeless Clinic, in the launching of EngagingPatients.org and now through the John Q. Sherman Award program.

 

It ain't for you (but maybe it should be)

Is the new Nike+ FuelBand SE for you?

That's the question posed by a new TV ad for the wristband that tracks steps and workouts.

Is the Nike+ FuelBand SE for you? If you believe in motivation, and technology, and wrists, then maybe. If you don't, why not? Learn more about the Nike+ FuelBand SE: http://www.nike.com/fuelband

Nike's FuelBand is in the same category as the Jawbone UP and the FitBit Force — wearable tech that helps quantify your fitness goals by tracking activity and inactivity. Jawbone and FitBit also track sleep patterns. [I wear the Jawbone UP.]

Each device has the same goal — to motivate you to be more active.

So, as the motivational voiceover in Nike's new FuelBand ad exclaims,

If you don't like feeling awesome, it ain't for you.

But it should be. So get out there and live healthy!

 

Photo Friday: Pawcatuck River

It's still cold here!

Ice along the Pawcatuck River in Westerly, R.I. The river is the boundary between the states of Rhode Island and Connecticut. Shot on January 31, 2014.

Ice along the Pawcatuck River in Westerly, R.I. The river is the boundary between the states of Rhode Island and Connecticut. Shot on January 31, 2014.

One hospital wants to have the 'cost talk' with patients

There are two questions every patient should ask: What's wrong with me? And what's it going to cost me?

Most people ask the first; very few the second.

2014-0206-Miami Childrens Hospital.png

But with insurance plans requiring higher out-of-pocket expenditures from patients, the cost talk is increasingly becoming a major discussion point between patients and providers.

Now one hospital is tackling its "price list" head on. Here's Tim Birkenstock, CFO for Miami Children's Hospital, recently speaking to NPR:

"[The price list is] very misleading … It is the equivalent of the sticker price on a car, or some other starting point for a conversation. But it certainly doesn't represent the answer to the question most of our families want to know, and that's: What's this going to cost me?"

In fact, the hospital is cutting all of its "prices" by 30 percent. It issued this news release on January 14, 2014:

Miami Children's Hospital has reduced its charges by 30 percent and begun a process of developing packaged pricing for some high-volume services as the first phase of an initiative aimed at enhancing consumer understanding of hospital fees and what patients actually pay for services. 

Others have already begun to address cost, especially in the wake of Time magazine's March 2013 omnibus cover story "Bitter Pill," which exposed major issues with costs, charges and reimbursements. 

Surgery Center of Oklahoma last year went a step further and began publishing its prices, although if you have insurance the price will be different because it was already negotiated by your insurance company.

Miami Children's should be applauded for this bold move. Making cost a critical part of the conversation is an important move toward actually tackling escalating health care costs.

 

How to communicate (& rally) your team (well done, @microsoft!)

Satya Nadella, new CEO of Microsoft. Image Source: Microsoft.

Satya Nadella, new CEO of Microsoft. Image Source: Microsoft.

Microsoft needed some new direction. If Day 1 of the Satya Nadella regime is any indication, they got it.

Today was Nadella's first day as the new CEO of Microsoft, replacing Steve Ballmer.

Any leadership transition is fraught with dread, uncertainty and unanswered questions. Everyone wants to know what will happen, how the business will change, what the new leader will be like and what each employee's role will be.

Nadella's email to employees on his first day as CEO is a shining example of how to communicate effectively with your team. 

He covers all of these subjects and lays out a clear vision of where he sees Microsoft heading ("we need to prioritize innovation") and everyone's role in getting there ("every one of us needs to do our best work, lead and help drive cultural change").

The message is not all Pollyanna. Nadella acknowledges where Microsoft has to change. But his message is positive, proactive and inclusive. He ends with:

Let’s build on this foundation together.

The entire text of his email is below.


From: Satya Nadella

To: All Employees
Date: Feb. 4, 2014
Subject: RE: Satya Nadella – Microsoft’s New CEO

Today is a very humbling day for me. It reminds me of my very first day at Microsoft, 22 years ago. Like you, I had a choice about where to come to work. I came here because I believed Microsoft was the best company in the world. I saw then how clearly we empower people to do magical things with our creations and ultimately make the world a better place. I knew there was no better company to join if I wanted to make a difference. This is the very same inspiration that continues to drive me today.

It is an incredible honor for me to lead and serve this great company of ours. Steve and Bill have taken it from an idea to one of the greatest and most universally admired companies in the world. I’ve been fortunate to work closely with both Bill and Steve in my different roles at Microsoft, and as I step in as CEO, I’ve asked Bill to devote additional time to the company, focused on technology and products. I’m also looking forward to working with John Thompson as our new Chairman of the Board.

While we have seen great success, we are hungry to do more. Our industry does not respect tradition — it only respects innovation. This is a critical time for the industry and for Microsoft. Make no mistake, we are headed for greater places — as technology evolves and we evolve with and ahead of it. Our job is to ensure that Microsoft thrives in a mobile and cloud-first world.

As we start a new phase of our journey together, I wanted to share some background on myself and what inspires and motivates me.

Who am I?

I am 46. I’ve been married for 22 years and we have 3 kids. And like anyone else, a lot of what I do and how I think has been shaped by my family and my overall life experiences. Many who know me say I am also defined by my curiosity and thirst for learning. I buy more books than I can finish. I sign up for more online courses than I can complete. I fundamentally believe that if you are not learning new things, you stop doing great and useful things. So family, curiosity and hunger for knowledge all define me.

Why am I here?

I am here for the same reason I think most people join Microsoft — to change the world through technology that empowers people to do amazing things. I know it can sound hyperbolic — and yet it’s true. We have done it, we’re doing it today, and we are the team that will do it again.

I believe over the next decade computing will become even more ubiquitous and intelligence will become ambient. The coevolution of software and new hardware form factors will intermediate and digitize — many of the things we do and experience in business, life and our world. This will be made possible by an ever-growing network of connected devices, incredible computing capacity from the cloud, insights from big data, and intelligence from machine learning.

This is a software-powered world.

It will better connect us to our friends and families and help us see, express, and share our world in ways never before possible. It will enable businesses to engage customers in more meaningful ways.
I am here because we have unparalleled capability to make an impact.

Why are we here?

In our early history, our mission was about the PC on every desk and home, a goal we have mostly achieved in the developed world. Today we’re focused on a broader range of devices. While the deal is not yet complete, we will welcome to our family Nokia devices and services and the new mobile capabilities they bring us.

As we look forward, we must zero in on what Microsoft can uniquely contribute to the world. The opportunity ahead will require us to reimagine a lot of what we have done in the past for a mobile and cloud-first world, and do new things.

We are the only ones who can harness the power of software and deliver it through devices and services that truly empower every individual and every organization. We are the only company with history and continued focus in building platforms and ecosystems that create broad opportunity.

Qi Lu captured it well in a recent meeting when he said that Microsoft uniquely empowers people to "do more." This doesn’t mean that we need to do more things, but that the work we do empowers the world to do more of what they care about — get stuff done, have fun, communicate and accomplish great things. This is the core of who we are, and driving this core value in all that we do — be it the cloud or device experiences — is why we are here.

What do we do next?

To paraphrase a quote from Oscar Wilde — we need to believe in the impossible and remove the improbable.

This starts with clarity of purpose and sense of mission that will lead us to imagine the impossible and deliver it. We need to prioritize innovation that is centered on our core value of empowering users and organizations to “do more.” We have picked a set of high-value activities as part of our One Microsoft strategy. And with every service and device launch going forward we need to bring more innovation to bear around these scenarios.

Next, every one of us needs to do our best work, lead and help drive cultural change. We sometimes underestimate what we each can do to make things happen and overestimate what others need to do to move us forward. We must change this.

Finally, I truly believe that each of us must find meaning in our work. The best work happens when you know that it's not just work, but something that will improve other people's lives. This is the opportunity that drives each of us at this company.

Many companies aspire to change the world. But very few have all the elements required: talent, resources, and perseverance. Microsoft has proven that it has all three in abundance. And as the new CEO, I can’t ask for a better foundation.

Let’s build on this foundation together.

Satya