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Lessons Learned from Managing Emergency Departments During a Historic Flu Season
Unless you’ve been living under a well-sanitized rock the last three months, you’ve certainly experienced the epidemic flu season raging across the United States January through March. While the flu season peak has passed, we’re not totally out of the woods yet. Here are six guidelines provider teams can follow to accommodate the surge while…
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Relish the Opportunity to Teach
Teachers are truly special individuals who deserve our admiration and respect. They dedicate themselves to educating and shaping the lives of students. It is for this very reason we should relish the opportunity to teach those who cross our path.
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Profile of a Physician Leader for National Physicians Week
During National Physicians Week, I’m highlighting a physician that exemplifies Sound’s core values of quality, service, teamwork, innovation, and integrity. Dr. Greg R. Johnson, Regional Chief Medical Officer for Sound Physicians, has developed a team culture that focuses on delivering measurable improvements in health outcomes by building a foundation of strong teamwork, camaraderie, and collaboration.
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Improving Healthcare Through Innovation
Innovation is a core value at Sound Physicians. Every year we encourage our colleagues to submit research and pilot projects designed to drive improvements in quality, satisfaction, and financial performance to our Clinical Innovation Council. I’m excited to share upcoming work accepted for presentation at the ACHE and SHM Annual Conferences this spring.
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Preparing for Residency: 6 Tips for Success
Excitement around Match Week and Match Day is palpable. Medical school is coming to a close, and residency is about to begin. Reflecting on my experience with Match Week and residency, I’m sharing some advice I wish someone had given me as I embarked on this chapter of my life.
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Transitions of Care: Beyond the Diagnosis
At times, it can be frustrating when patients are readmitted to the hospital for not following discharge instructions. A recent experience with a patient post-discharge provided a good reminder to consider the reasons for non-compliance and to think beyond the diagnosis.
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From the Appeals Desk: Congestive Heart Failure
Detailed documentation is required for payors to approve claims for reimbursement. Increasingly, claims are denied for patients with congestive heart failure (CHF). Learn what physician advisors are seeing in their reviews and how to properly document for patients with CHF.
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Don’t Just Do the Job. Be Passionate About the Purpose.
Sometimes the difference between providing average and excellent care is taking the time to communicate clearly with patients. Taking advantage of opportunities to exceed expectations gets to the heart of improving the patient experience.
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Proud, Grateful, and Inspired
I recently received an invitation from the White House to meet with senior officials and ten other healthcare executives to discuss the challenges of electronic health record system interoperability. Read about my experience here.
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Trust: The Center of Patient Care
As physicians it is our responsibility to honor the trust our patients give when we care for them. The recent trial of (former Dr.) Larry Nassar, ex-USA Gymnastics team doctor, caused me to reflect on the importance of provider-patient relationships and the sacred role of trust.
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Taking a Career Leap
I’m a researcher and life-long learner. The Sound Ambassador career offered me a chance to study many health systems, understand how they function, and provide process improvements when change is needed.
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Aspire to Be “Untouchable”
This month marks my 10th anniversary at Sound Physicians, prompting me to reflect not only the past 10 years here at Sound, but on my entire professional career. I couldn’t be happier where I landed, as I am privileged to work with an organization reshaping healthcare delivery where I make an impact daily. I have a career…
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Healing Self and Healing Others
Building resilience has been shown to improve provider happiness, career satisfaction and clinical outcomes. In this post, Dr. Peoples shares an innovative approach he used to deal with the stress of residency training and later as a practicing physician.
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The Gift of Life
Sometimes, to our terrible chagrin as healers, we cannot save everyone. We can, however — with compassion, sympathy, and meticulous patient care — try to bring life to others through organ donation.
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3 Thank You Notes No One Will Ever Receive
Have you ever received a personal note thanking you for the care you provided to a patient? Communicating the right information to patients can have a profound impact on their hospital experience. It’s not what you say, but how you say it that can make the difference.
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Avoiding Sepsis Denials
The difference between an insurance claim being approved and denied can be miniscule. Physicians need to remember that payors can’t read minds – they can only read the documentation provided. The better the documentation, the easier it is for everyone involved.
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Bad Air
Lessons from history are important. Learn how Dr. Joseph Lister’s research in the 1860’s paved the way for sepsis reduction and how his persistent efforts to change best practices finally prevailed. How do you approach change? Healthy skepticism or an open mind?
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Everything We Say and Do: The Physician Patient – A physician and cancer survivor walks in her patients’ shoes
In May 2007, Dr. Neha Sharma received two pieces of big news. The first, she was accepted into medical school. A month later she was diagnosed with cancer. Her experience has given her a unique perspective when it comes to treating patients, after all she’s walked in their shoes.
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Trust Us, We’re Doctors: 3 Critical Practices for Establishing and Maintaining Patient Trust in the Inpatient Setting
Do you wonder how some providers are great at establishing trust with their patients that ultimately leads to higher HCAHPS scores? If so, read Dr. Mark Rudolph’s Op-Med blog post on gaining trust.
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A Great Day
Accurately documenting a patient’s medical condition ensures acuity is accounted for to achieve proper reimbursement and performance metrics. It also promotes clear communication between providers and others involved in the patient’s care.