Medical Mediator

by Holly Hayes

We recently blogged about the role of the “standing neutral” in healthcare and listed the advantages and disadvantages of this approach. Premier, a healthcare alliance with approximately 200 hospital and healthcare system members, posted a presentation about the “The Role of a Medical Mediator”, see here.

The presentation provides details on the objectives of a medical mediator (MM) program, its goals, organizational structure, MM qualifications, cases appropriate for referral to a MM, guiding principles for the program, costs and benefits. Benefits include:

Demonstration of the organization’s commitment to:

– Truthful communication following an unanticipated adverse event
– Supporting its workforce
– The principles of a “just culture” supporting patient safety

Restored patient (family) trust in the organization and provider(s)

Emotional support for clinicians following an adverse event

Possible program outcome measures include: “number of cases referred to MM by service and by type of case per month (surgical complication, perinatal case, etc.), average number days from opening to closing a case, average daily caseload volume, informal feedback from patients, families, providers.”

The presentation concludes with the following data about medical mediation:

Bethesda National Navy Medical Center has increased the number of Medical Mediators to 2 FTEs. MM programs in other military medical centers are planned.

Kaiser Permanente initiated this program in most of their Regions, beginning in 2003. To date their HCOMs have provided service to over 18,000 patients and/or their families.

Holly Hayes is a mediator at Karl Bayer, Dispute Resolution Expert where she focuses on mediation of health care disputes. Holly holds a B.A. from Southern Methodist University and a Masters in Health Administration from Duke University. She can be reached at holly@karlbayer.com.