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Health Care Reform
 

21
Jan 2010
Another benefit from health reform
While there has been a lot of attention about the “cost” of health care reform, one of the possible benefits that’s been overlooked in much of the debate is the loosening of something called “job lock.” That’s what happens when people stay in jobs, even jobs they don’t like or want, because they have health insurance benefits.
By: Thomas McCormally | 0
Health Care Quality
 

11
Jan 2010
It’s Epic: Health Care IT and quality improvement
Something very significant happened early Sunday morning at Cincinnati Children’s. Something the patients and their families didn’t even notice. But something that was a major step toward making their care safer and more effective. The techies among us call it a giant “go live.” You may think of it as “flipping the switch.” The bottom
By: Thomas McCormally | 0
Health Care Quality
 

04
Jan 2010
A Quality New Year
The Ohio Department of Health started off the New Year on the right foot by launching a consumer-friendly website allowing people to compare quality (and eventually pricing) data of Ohio hospitals.  The ODH’s new Ohio Hospital Compare website went live January 1. While only four pediatric measures are included in this first go-round, significantly more
By: Jim Feuer | 0
Health Care Reform
 

21
Dec 2009
Some thoughts on health care reform
According to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, President Obama’s approval rating is less than 50% for the first time in his presidency. A political debate is not something we wish to begin here, but speculation is that this drop in his approval is based, in part, on opinions that he is spending too
By: Kate Setter | 0
Health Care Quality
 

18
Dec 2009
Who’s in charge? Family-centered care and reform
Are our politicians ignoring moms in the health care debate? According to a new survey from the blog “Why Moms Rule,” women at least feel that way. Women are responsible for most health care decisions (92 percent of their own; 65 percent of their children’s decisions and 59 percent of their spouse’s or partner’s) and
By: Thomas McCormally | 0
Patient Flow
 

17
Dec 2009
Listen up! Patient flow radio program on line
In case you missed the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s Web-based radio program on Dec. 2, “All Hospitals in favor of saving money say ‘Patient Flow’,” it’s now on line at www.ihi.org. (There’s a link on the right-hand side of the page.) The program, which documents improvements to make sure the right patients are in the
By: Thomas McCormally | 0
Health Care Quality
 

15
Dec 2009
Safety and quality in a high reliability organization
In this space recently, Dr. Steve (our safety officer, Steve Muething, MD) wrote about our patient safety journey. He did so by reminding us at the Tuesday morning Grand Rounds that we are not perfect, but that we’re making progress and we’re always trying to improve. That’s something he and others try to engrain in
By: Thomas McCormally | 2
Health Care Reform
 

11
Dec 2009
A history lesson: agriculture and health care reform
Want to have a little faith in the health reform efforts? History could teach us a thing or two about how to navigate health care reform and how to be patient with the process. “The history of American agriculture suggests that you can have transformation without a master plan, without knowing all the answers up front. Government
By: Kate Setter | 0
Patient Flow
 

08
Dec 2009
Patient flow key to managing H1N1 influx
At Cincinnati Children’s, the month of October is being affectionately referred to as “baptism of fire.” H1N1 hit our emergency departments hard — nearly 800 patients in one day at the two EDs combined (normal numbers are 350-400). But the experience has proven what’s possible with organization and preparation. We started planning for the onslaught
By: Kate Setter | 0
Health Care Quality
 

04
Dec 2009
Leaping to the top
The results of the annual Leapfrog Hospital Survey are in and Cincinnati Children’s is tops! Only eight pediatric institutions and 45 hospitals of any kind were named one of this year’s Top Hospitals. Our rigorous quality and safety work continues to be recognized. Top pediatric hospitals make the list by having a quality score of
By: Kate Setter | 0
Health Care Public Policy
 

03
Dec 2009
Plan for improvement: ‘Just do it’
Somewhere I read that excuses are like noses. Everybody’s got one, so go ahead and pick one. Efforts to improve health care are kind of like that: seems everyone has a reason not to tackle this tough issue. Some of the excuses are legitimate enough. Some are just excuses. As the nation’s leaders in health
By: Thomas McCormally | 0
Health Care Quality
 

01
Dec 2009
What a day!
Today’s a special day in Cincinnati, even though most people in our fair city don’t know it. Today is James M. Anderson Day, as proclaimed by our mayor, Mark Mallory. It is so named to mark the accomplishments, and to say thank you, as we near the day, the first one of 2010, when Jim
By: Thomas McCormally | 0
Patient Safety
 

01
Dec 2009
Patient safety … a journey, not a destination
Standing in front of an auditorium full of bright-eyed (given the early-morning hour, that is) medical residents and other doctors today delivering Grand Rounds, I wanted to convey to them that they’re in a special place. The title of the talk was “A Patient Safety Update: Can Cincinnati Children’s Become a High Reliability Organization?” I
By: Dr. Steve | 0
Patient Flow
 

24
Nov 2009
All in favor of saving money …
It just makes sense: the right patient in the right place at the right time. In other industries, a lot of time and energy is devoted to making sure things operate smoothly; that equipment is used as efficiently as possible; that staff aren’t sitting around waiting for work; and customers aren’t waiting to be served.
By: Thomas McCormally | 0
Health Care Reform
 

17
Nov 2009
Setting an example
At the heart of our mission to “change the outcome” is sharing what we learn so others can benefit. That’s why the collaborative network ImproveCareNow, in which caregivers collect and share data and progress about patients, is so exciting. We need to keep sharing and keep pushing beyond the walls of our singular institutions and
By: Thomas McCormally | 0
Chronic Care Networks
 

13
Nov 2009
New system of care: A good day for kids!
Who says Friday the 13th is bad luck? For lots of people with chronic diseases and the doctors, nurses, parents and others who care for them, Friday the 13th of November, 2009, may go down as one of the luckiest days in a long, long time. It was on this day the data was released
By: Thomas McCormally | 2
Health Care Public Policy
 

11
Nov 2009
Healthy families … healthy kids
A lot has been happening in the child health public policy arena. Sometimes it’s hard to keep track of it all. To help, the Child Policy Research Center at Cincinnati Children’s, part of the Division of Health Policy and Clinical Effectiveness, publishes a newsletter. The fall edition just hit the newsstands this week. (Well, OK,
By: Thomas McCormally | 1
Health Care Reform
 

09
Nov 2009
A step in the right direction
The victors celebrated. The critics kept critiquing. The general public wonders “what’s in it for (or against) me?”And those of us in the health care industry just keep on working. I’m talking, of course, about the passage, on Saturday, of what some are calling the first major congressional overhaul of health care since the 1965
By: Thomas McCormally | 0
Health Care Reform
 

09
Nov 2009
We can’t forget the children
The New York Times Magazine yesterday featured a cover story about work that’s being done in Utah to reform the health care system. Good stuff there, no doubt. Higher quality, lower cost. Who can argue, right? The article, like most in the Times Magazine, is long in words, but it seems to be missing a
By: Thomas McCormally | 0
Patient Safety
 

04
Nov 2009
A thousand little things — the culture of safety
People sometimes ask, “What’s the one big thing you do to create a culture of safety at your medical center?” There isn’t one, I say. Building a culture of safety seems to be a combination of a few big things and thousands of little things. The big things seem to get noticed, but I have
By: Dr. Steve | 0
Health Care Public Policy
 

29
Oct 2009
Waste not, want not
The headline of this post is something I heard my grandmother say over and over. Or maybe it was my mother. Anyway, it’s something those who lived through the Great Depression learned and it became a part of their being. There have been reports that suggest as we learn to live with less through this
By: Thomas McCormally | 0
Chronic Care Networks
 

23
Oct 2009
Social networks can enhance health care
You are,  no doubt, familiar with Facebook and Wikipedia and similar sorts of sites. After all, you’re reading this blog.  And those kinds of networks are known for helping people connect to others despite physical distance. Wikipedia in particular harnesses the brain power of millions to create an amazing on-line resource. (We can debate the
By: Peter Margolis, MD, PhD | 2
Health Care Public Policy
 

18
Oct 2009
Top doc says it’s time for health reform
The room that is housing the Department of Federal Affairs for the American Academy of Pediatrics this weekend at its National Conference and Exhibition is a busy place. Doctors and other interested people are stopping by to talk about various health care proposals and learn what they can do to help. As I visited with
By: Thomas McCormally | 0
Health Care Reform
 

16
Oct 2009
Don’t Forget the Little Ones in Health Care Reform
With the Senate Finance Committee’s action this week, there’s a lot of buzz over Congress’ work on health care reform. Making law, especially when it’s as controversial as this bit of legislation, is never easy and it’s not always pretty. It’s also pretty darn confusing. Just like Jim Anderson, in his commentary on this site earlier today,
By: Thomas McCormally | 0
Health Care Reform
 

16
Oct 2009
Win, win — Health care reform from within
Seems like everywhere I go, people ask me about health care reform like I have some inside track. But as I said at a Town Hall meeting last month with Sen. Sherrod Brown, I’m not taking one side of the aisle over the other on this one. We need reform. But the thing that’s most
By: James M. Anderson | 2

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