Karl Bayer's Disputing Blog » Healthcare Disputes

Healthcare Dispute Resolution Conference

By Victoria VanBuren - October 12, 2012

by Holly Hayes The American Arbitration Association will hold the 2012 Healthcare Dispute Resolution, Innovation and Strategy Conference on November 9, 2012, in San Francisco. The agenda includes the following sessions on incorporating ADR into the changing healthcare arena: Representatives from the major health plans will discuss the significant issues and business-to-business disputes facing their respective organizations. In-house counsel for

Health Care Conflict Resolution Part V: Use Objective Criteria

By Victoria VanBuren - October 5, 2012

by Holly Hayes One month ago, we started our health care conflict resolution series (see Part I, Part II, Part III, and Part IV) focusing on the Roger Fisher, William Ury Getting to YES principled negotiation method involving: 1. Separating the people from the problem. 2. Focusing on interests, not positions. 3. Generating a variety of possibilities before deciding what to do. 4. Insisting that the result be based on some objective standard. Our

Health Care Conflict Resolution Part IV: Invent Options for Mutual Gain

By Victoria VanBuren - September 28, 2012

by Holly Hayes Conflict in health care differs from conflict in other arenas because it can result in significant negative outcomes – in some cases, life or death. Part IV in our series on applying conflict resolution skills in the health care setting follows the Principled Negotiation techniques described by Roger Fisher and William Ury in Getting to Yes with a focus on “inventing options for mutual gain”. Part I in the series can be viewed (her

Health Care Conflict Resolution Part III: Focus on Interests, Not Positions

By Victoria VanBuren - September 21, 2012

by Holly Hayes Our health care conflict resolution series began with Part I, applying the “principled negotiation” method to health care (post available here) and followed with Part II, examining a case study of “Separating the People from the Problem” (post available here). In this post, let’s take an example of a physician and a hospital group negotiating to buy the physician’s practice to see how “positional bargaining” results in failure to f

Health Care Conflict Resolution Part II: Separate the People from the Problem

By Victoria VanBuren - September 14, 2012

by Holly Hayes We started our health care conflict resolution series with applying the principled negotiation method to health care (post available here). Principled negotiation involves: Separating the people from the problem. Focusing on interests, not positions. Generating a variety of possibilities before deciding what to do. Insisting that the result be based on some objective standard. This post will focus on “separating the people from the

The Influence of Roger Fisher

By Victoria VanBuren - September 11, 2012

by Holly Hayes “Through his writings and teaching, Roger Fisher’s seminal contributions literally changed the way millions of people around the world approach negotiation and dispute resolution,” said HLS Professor Robert Mnookin ‘68, chair of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School and director of the Harvard Negotiation Research Project. “He taught that conflict is not simply a ‘zero-sum’ game in which a fixed pie is simply divid

Physician as Team Captain

By Victoria VanBuren - August 30, 2012

By Holly Hayes “The era of ‘one patient, one doctor’ is coming to an end, and so today’s trainees will practice in collaborative teams rather than individually,” Carl Snyderman, MD, David Eibling, MD and Jonas Johnson, MD state in their article “The Physician as Team Leader: New Job Skills Are Required” in Academic Medicine, a journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). Atul Gawande, M

Time to Teach Conflict Engagement Skills in Medical Schools?

By Victoria VanBuren - August 17, 2012

by Holly Hayes The New York Times Health/Science blog posted an article titled, “The Bullying Culture of Medical School” by Pauline W. Chen, MD. The post states: For 30 years, medical educators have known that becoming a doctor requires more than an endless array of standardized exams, long hours on the wards and years spent in training. For many medical students, verbal and physical harassment and intimidation are part of the exhaust

Nurses Addressing Conflict

By Victoria VanBuren - August 10, 2012

by Holly Hayes The Nurse Together blog has posted a four-part series on conflict in the healthcare setting. The first part looks at the sources and cost of conflict. The article states: Attempts to quantify the financial effects of conflict are also eye-opening. A blog post titled The Hidden Cost of Conflict Among Healthcare Teams quoted several studies that calculate these costs. For example: One study done by the American Management Association

The Power of One Leader: Learning from Medical Mistakes

By Victoria VanBuren - August 3, 2012

by Holly Hayes The American Journal of Mediation Fifth Edition focuses on mediation in healthcare. Dale Hetzler, Deanne R. Messina and Kimberly J. Smith write about “Conflict Management in Hospital Systems: Not Just for Leadership”. They contend “communication skills and conflict skills will be primary predictors of the organizations ability to progress in both quality improvement and patient safety, and will therefore equip its