Lisa Fitzpatrick

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Addressing unnecessary emergency department (ED) use
Lisa Fitzpatrick
Last modified on April 21, 2018 at 7:47 pm
Addressing unnecessary ED use

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On May 11, 2018, Lisa Fitzpatrick commented on Bringing dysfunctional or underperforming personnel up to the level of peers :

In addition to this, I’d establish metrics are benchmarks and create a transparency initiative showing performance across providers. This may provide the motivation to strive for excellence

On May 10, 2018, Lisa Fitzpatrick commented on Repositioning a 100 bed secondary care hospital into a 300 bed Tertiary care Hosptial :

I agree mostly. Tripling your capacity is a tall order and if you have existing competition you must identify and emphasize what distinguishes you from the other health systems enough to attract people away from a system they already know and trust. Curious about the market research results and how they were compelling enough to suggest this expansion was a great opportunity.

If you know the market needs your services, I’d suggest getting out into the community A LOT, consistently and offering services, building relationships so people see you live and not just through marketing. Otherwise, even time may not help unless you get help from your competitors, I.e a PR disaster.

On May 10, 2018, Lisa Fitzpatrick commented on How to reduce no shows :

We studied this at an urban hospital in DC and there were multiple reasons for the no shows and our primary strategy to address it was cab vouchers and reminders. These interventions move the needle a bit. I believe none of these interventions address the root causes of the no shows. In our population folks are not showing up because the experience is not positive, there are varying degrees of distrust and their lives are so cluttered with other challenges keeping a primary care visit is low priority. If they really need care they’ll go to the ED or delay until the situation is dire. A bit grim but real.

On May 10, 2018, Lisa Fitzpatrick commented on Identifying, Prioritizing and Budgeting Process Challenges :

The culture of the organization from the CSuite needs to shift to an inclusive process during budget planning and development. This includes ensuring all parties, particularly clinical team understand the budget enough to provide meaningful feedback and input

On May 10, 2018, Lisa Fitzpatrick commented on Use of telehealth / telemedicine :

In the US telemedicine laws vary from state to state. The reimbursement is not yet at a progressive stage in most places. Several reimburse the same as an in person visit, others don’t yet reimburse at all. The concern is fraud, particularly for public payers.

On April 27, 2018, Lisa Fitzpatrick commented on How can we heal the toxic culture in a medical center? :

I believe this can not be accomplished without 1. A visionary and open leader who seeks and values feedback and input from any and everyone in the agency, 2. An all out, comprehensive assault on the organizational mentality that supports complacency, mediocrity and indifference. This assault includes the tedious and emotionally-exhausting work of incorporating staff and employees into the transformation process. Their buy-in and education are essential. Every person needs to own their piece of the change.

In most health care organizations, many people don’t understand how or why their role is essential to the delivery of high quality health care. What if we educated all employees about high quality care and what that means in such a way they could recognize it…or not…and began to feel some personal connection between doing their job well and improving a patients experience?

This transformation has to be brought about by a leadership team with the patience and long term commitment to staying the course …and figuring out how to collaborate with and get unions to care about patient safety, quality and outcomes.

On April 21, 2018, Lisa Fitzpatrick commented on Communicating Test results :

I believe the solution is simple but the department leadership must be willing to adopt a patient-centered culture of real time delivery of results. Most test results, including radiology and pathology, can be delivered in minutes to hours. The mammogram is a great example. The last time I had a mammogram, I had to wait over a week for the results even though the radiologist reviewed the scan while I was in the mammogram suite. In the US, fear of litigation may be driving some of these practices, thus it is up to leadership to decide communication with patients, their comfort and peace of mind are the highest priorities.