Volume 13
Issue 2
November 2013
SYSTEMnews CEO’s corner
At the CENTER of (and for)
I nnovation
Ralph W. Muller
CEO, University of Pennsylvania Health System
Medicine isn’t static. It’s dynamic, continuously changing. New developments — typically high-tech in orientation — frequently surface, offering brighter, more realistic prospects of slowing down, even eradicating diseases and conditions which in the past were commonly terminal. Yet a price is often paid in the form of a more depersonalized patient experience. Amidst jam-packed data dashboards and exhaustive DNA-sequencing printouts, we risk forgetting about the human being in the bed or outpatient waiting area. Health care shouldn’t be a choice between technical sophistication and a warm, empathetic healing environment. That’s a false dichotomy; patients deserve both. So at Penn Medicine, we’re continuing our focus in keeping our care patient- and family-centered. And not in a small way. Instead, we’re going system-wide, across the full scale of our programs. Here are two ways we’re doing it. Over 2,000 managers and staff members from CPUP (the Clinical Practices of the University of Pennsylvania) and CCA (our Clinical Care Associates) have participated in the Penn Medicine Experience, a special training project aimed at improving the patient experience and offered through the Penn Medicine Academy. (The Academy supports training throughout Penn Medicine in many forms, from new-hire orientation, on-site degree completion programs and leadership development to our high school pipeline program.) In the Penn Medicine Experience offering, front-line staff including nurses, patient service representatives, and medical assistants participate in four-hour classes focused on skillbuilding through video, simulation, role-playing, and coaching. The emphasis is on such behaviors as acknowledging the patient, ensuring staff always introduce themselves, explaining what will happen, and thanking the patient for coming to Penn Medicine. The program also helps managers and supervisors learn to develop the kinds of behaviors and processes that will enhance the patient experience. We’ve seen gains in our patient satisfaction scores following the introduction of the program and are working hard to build upon our successes. We’ll be expanding the program to the hospitals over the next 15 months – the work in in-patient pilot units has already begun! Second, our new Academy of Master Clinicians will recognize and reward outstanding Penn Medicine clinicians. Invitation to the Academy will be a significant honor available for Penn physicians. A master clinician will be distinguished by superior scope of knowledge and clear enthusiasm for pursuing new knowledge. Equally important will be excellent judgment, integrity, and exemplary interpersonal and communication skills with patients and colleagues at all levels. Once announced, our new master (continued on page 6)
Inside Inside Chester County Hospital & Health System Join UPHS........2 Penn Medicine Rubenstein to Washington Square Major Hub for PAH Step Down.................................2 Outpatient Care.........................2 From Pastels to PDA’s...............2 A New App Simplifies Penn Radiology......................... 2 RoundtableFree Skin
`` (L. to r.) Roy Rosin, David Asch, and Kevin Volpp want to hear your best ideas to improve health care.
Releasing the footbrake on the imagination could be the guiding theme of the Penn Medicine Center for Health Care Innovation. Consider some of the ideas its leaders are working on: • Is paying smokers to quit their habit effective? • Can “automated hovering” help patients remember to take their heart medication? • Can a magic scale help get the weight off? Questions such as these are prompting some of the most mold-breaking thinking in American health-care circles —and it’s happening at Penn. The Center is the brainchild of Kevin Mahoney, Penn Medicine’s chief administrative officer, who believes that the best way to keep the organization advancing is by promoting the creative capacities of personnel within the Health System and the University. At the Center, staff members and associates with backgrounds in medicine, behavioral economics, business, engineering, design, software development, and hospitality develop and test fresh ideas for improving health care delivery. Additionally, the Center’s grant program funds Penn Medicine staff members with imaginative ideas for preventing hospital readmissions, improving the patient experience, and delivering evidence-based care. David Asch, MD, MBA, executive director of the Center, says:
We’re called the Penn Medicine Center for Health Care Innovation — not the Penn Medicine Center of Health Care Innovation. ‘For’ means we’re there for those with great ideas. ‘Of’ implies that all of the
Cancer Screening......................3 Penn Medicine@Work..............3
innovation takes place within our walls. And that’s
Newsmakers..............................4 Shortakes...................................4 A New Era Another Title..............................5 of Medical Education................5
not something we want.
Credentials for#2.GSPP SOM Ranked ........................6 Outpatient Residencies.............5
Innovation is hard work, says Asch. “We’re not just creating trendy smart phone apps. We’re keeping the patient in our sights, and we want to provide enduring value.” Asch notes that most health-care financing in the US addresses hospitalizations and outpatient visits. But the Center emphasizes the 5,000 annual waking hours patients spend out of the doctor’s office or hospital. “These hours directly influence whether patients remain healthy,” says co-director Kevin Volpp, MD, PhD. “Deciding whether to take their medication regularly and not just when they feel ill, choosing what to eat and drink and whether to smoke, all greatly affect patients’ health. Most patients know what those choices should be; we just give them a little outside help.” The Center has brought in entrepreneurial expertise to help it achieve its mission. Roy Rosin, the Center’s chief innovation officer and a college classmate of Volpp’s, came to Penn after serving as first vice president of innovation for Intuit, a global software company known for Quicken, QuickBooks, and TurboTax. But the leap from online mortgages and DIY income tax returns is not as improbable as it may seem. Rosin, who oversaw Intuit’s innovation program, says, “My role was helping internal teams test new ideas. We’re following the same model here at Penn. Innovation — and most science today — isn’t about a lone genius having a ‘eureka’ moment. Instead it’s based on teamwork and learning early on and at low cost if you’re going in a viable direction.” Asch says this about Rosin: “After three minutes with Roy you know he can help you better understand what your real goals are, and get you on the path to achieving them.” (continued on page 5)
Awards and Accolades.............6
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