by Holly Hayes We recently came across this Pew Project on Medical Liability that contains four detailed recommendations for healthcare professionals. The demonstration project for Pennsylvania titled “Medical Error Disclosure, Mediation Skills, and Malpractice Litigation” is authored by Carol B. Liebman and Chris Stern Hyman. The acknowledgement page thanks Bill Sage, now the Vice Provost for Health Affairs at the University of Texas Law School. The four recommendations include: Train Physicians to Communicate Better During Disclosure Conversations, Create a Consult Service of Communication Experts, Apologize When Appropriate and Use Mediation to Resolve Claims Promptly. The report includes a two-day training agenda for healthcare professionals titled “Communicating about Medical Error: Challenging Assumptions and Enhancing Skills. For more posts on enhancing patient/provider communication, see here and here. 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.

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.

This weekend, in honor of our 1000th post and our 5000 regular monthly readers, we shifted our blog hosting to a new service, WPengine. The faster speed and more robust functionality should improve the blog experience for everyone — readers and posters. Also we hope you like the new look on swipeable mobile devices like the iPad.  

by Holly Hayes The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). The blog Disruptive Women in Healthcare has developed a scorecard that summarizes the views and votes. Their website also has a timeline of the PPACA and a recap of the oral arguments. 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.