In November 2015, I had a heart attack (better known to some of you as acute myocardial infarction and to others as I21.01). I’m not telling you this because I’m looking for sympathy, but rather because this incident led me to dual epiphanies:
- 20-hour days are not good for your health: My wife has been telling me this for years, but there’s something about an ambulance ride that really reinforces the point.
- Life and death is cut and dried everywhere but inside the walls of a hospital: Even after 40 years in the industry, I’m still just scratching the surface of healthcare knowledge. It was never my desire to go undercover and learn more about the patient perspective — and how providers experience their patients — but the recovery process has brought to light even more of the challenges both sides face.
Once it was clear that my prognosis was good, I started with my regimen of prescriptions and rehab. It was clear to me very early on that in the eyes of the cardiologists, I am something of a mythical creature — a unicorn, if you will. I have the means, incentive, and willpower to follow the doctor’s orders and trust in his or her judgment. If a patient is even the slightest bit uncertain about any of these, his or her compliance drops substantially and the adverse effects on the provider (readmissions, reimbursement, etc.) increase.
Despite my unicorn status, I won’t tell you that I have the magic elixir to fix or eliminate similar circumstances for all providers (of course, one-size-fits-all solutions have never been our approach). What I will tell you is that, like all our consultants, I am constantly learning and thinking about how we can make things better for you.
To that end, this is the first entry in our new blog, which will introduce you to our consultants, their personalities, their stories from the field, and some of the ways they can help your organization grow and prosper.
Please feel free to check back here weekly for new insights and content. I believe Stroudwater Associates is a special organization composed of special people; I hope that as you read on, you’ll feel the same. We look forward to hearing from you.
Marc Voyvodich is Chairman and founder of Stroudwater Associates.