Weill Cornell's Physician Organization has launched the "Weill Cornell: We Care" initiative, designed to fulfill Weill Cornell's dedication to excellent patient-centered care and the advancement of medical science and education. The initiative's goal is to improve the patient-care experience and create a caring environment for all patients, physicians and staff. "Weill Cornell: We Care," has been launched concurrently with the Weill Medical College Strategic Plan Phase II, "Advancing the Clinical Mission."
In September of 2002, groups were organized to identify specific priority objectives in seven areas: culture shift, pre-visit, facilities, patient encounter, medical information, physician-to-physician communication, and billing and collection. These groups consisted of physicians, administrators and staff sharing ideas and comparing the patient encounter within various departments. In addition, each group was supported and guided by a Steering Committee, which included key faculty, donors, overseers and leadership from the Physician Organization (P.O.), the Medical College, and Hospital. "We shared techniques that made our departments excel. Likewise, we were realistic in discussing areas of concerns in which we desired improvement," said Jan Vander Goot, department administrator for cardiothoracic surgery at Weill Cornell.
The seven groups identified 46 measurable objectives to improve the experience of patients, physicians and staff. The implementation of these changes has required collaboration among departments, physicians and staff. "If we share and adopt our best ideas, we can achieve the goal of providing consistently outstanding customer service and quality of care throughout all P.O. practices," says Dr. Adam Stracher, medical director of Cornell Medical Associates.
The P.O. Operating Board has approved the formation of the P.O. Practice Operations Committee (P.O.C.) to put into practice all 46 objectives of the "Weill Cornell: We Care" initiative. Committee membership includes representation from all clinical departments and divisions. The P.O.C. has formed multidisciplinary work groups that are charged with addressing the details of each objective as well as related policies, procedures, benchmarks and training programs. Dr. Stephen Thomas, associate medical director of the Physician Organization, has been named chair of the newly formed committee. Weill Cornell employees can view a complete list of the objectives on the P.O.'s Intranet (intranet.cornellphysicians.com).
In its search for excellent patient-centered care, the Physician Organization has reached beyond Weill Cornell. Last March, Leonard Berry, distinguished professor of marketing at Texas A&M University and holder of the M.B. Zale Chair in Retailing and Marketing Leadership, made presentations to various committees, including the P.O. Operating Board and P.O. Executive Committee. During his March visit, professor Berry also spoke on "Improving Health-Care Service," at Weill Cornell's David Rogers Health Policy Colloquium.
Professor Berry has spent the last year and a half on sabbatical from his professorship at Texas A&M University to study the nation's health-care system. By examining the service perspective of patients, physicians, nurses and the health staff at such institutions as the Mayo Clinic, professor Berry was given a rare glimpse into the strengths and shortcomings of a system that he feels is "in crisis." His conclusion: a system modeled by the patients' needs and wants.
"I've been studying health care 100 percent of my time for the last year and a half. We have to design the health-care system for patients. We have to embrace patient-centered health care and if we do that, we will improve service qualityboth the technical and the experience facets of itand will reduce waste, simultaneously," professor Berry explained. The goal of this patient-centered health care is to improve both service quality and productivity through facilities and care designed to meet the needs of the patient.
Professor Berry describes positive word-of-mouth and customer loyalty as "evidence management": "Evidence management is a lot like advertising, except that it turns a company into a living, breathing advertisement for itself."