Thursday, August 29, 2013

Reflections on first chapter -- Inside the Physician's Mind

I am writing this primarily to you, my students, as an example of the kind of reflective posts you will write in your own blogs soon. I just now read the first chapter of the book, Inside the Physician Mind: Finding Common Ground with Doctors by Joseph S. Bujak, MD. This post is not an attempt to summarize the chapter. It is only a reflection on some specific things in the first chapter that caught my eye. Bujak affirms the value that physicians place in their professional autonomy. They don't want to be told what to do and they avoid presuming to tell other physicians what do to. This makes the role of a Chief Medical Officer in a hospital difficult. This also makes the tasks of CEOs and other administrators difficult. To physicians, time is money -- in many cases a lot of money. Administrators would like to work with physicians in groups to conserve effort and time/money, but physicians prefer one-on-one one relationships with administrators. In group settings, physicians (according to Bujak) prefer a vote to the drawn-out discussion that might (possibly) lead to some kind of consensus. When a (premature) vote is taken it is likely that most if not all of the "participants" will be unhappy with the outcome.

The most shocking statement (to me) by Bujak in chapter 1 is that physicians tend to be linear thinkers and, therefore, do not understand the complexities of administration. Wow! If that is true, heaven help us. If they are only linear thinkers how can physicians diagnosis medical problems correctly, given the complexity of human bodies, and the complex relationships among subsystems within our bodies? I pray that Bujak means that physicians may not appreciate the complexity of administration; not that they tend to be linear thinkers in all domains, including medicine.

In summary, I find this first chapter surprising, interesting, and provocative. I look forward to what I may learn in the other chapters.

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Resource for my students and others

MedicalBillingandCodingOnline.com is committed to providing comprehensive, up-to-date resources on the medical coding industry. As the health care grows and processes evolve, the demand for medical billers and coders will remain strong. We’ve developed these free online courses that cover every aspect of medical coding and billing to help students keep up and remain competitive in the workforce.

It has a compilation of resources including articles that will let students learn everything they need to know about this specialized field. This includes learning about billing and coding, discovering their scholarship options, and knowing what they need to become a certified medical coder or biller.

The directory lets them discover medical billing and coding programs in different schools in each state. This will help them filter the best program/s that will meet their educational and career goals.

Specifically, the project -- http://www.MedicalBillingAndCodingonline.com/ICD-10/ -- is a comprehensive database that provides current and prospective college students with abundant information about the new coding system that will be implemented on October 2014. It also has a conversion tool that you and your peers can use.

Here is the relevant link.

http://www.MedicalBillingAndCodingonline.com/ICD-10/

Friday, August 23, 2013

Module 1 post for my students (and other readers)

This is my Module 1 post for students which you/they are to reply to in a substantial way, including a link to a relevant online resource, by Sunday, September 1. I read every day but I don't often exactly "enjoy" reading books. I read mostly because I want additional knowledge to share with others, especially my students. At the moment I am reading, Charting the Course: Launching Patient-Centric Healthcare by Nance and Bartholomew. It is a recent book book about hospital administration. So far I actually am enjoying the conversations it contains, almost like a novel. At the point where I am into the book now, "Will" has accepted a position as CEO of a hospital in Las Vegas but is presently working "under cover" in departments within the hospital listening to the conversations of people who will soon be working under his administration. My thought is that they are going to be really angry when they realize what he has done by working among them without letting them know who is really is. (But I think readers are suppose to accept that what he is doing is necessary to really gain "situation awareness.")

What he is finding is that the culture of the hospital is characterized by fear and authority, and that he has taken on a major challenge. The authors of the book write that this is the culture in most hospitals today. CEOs come in with their "visions," and employees struggle for their sanity and survival within "sick" organizational cultures. I suspect that there is substantial truth in this perspective. It is not limited to hospitals.

To my students -- please think about the meaning and importance of culture in large modern organizations. What does organizational culture include? How does it relate to the goods, services, or experiences produced by organizations? Without talking about any particular organization, share (if you can) how you have experienced organizational culture. Realize, of course, that culture can be good and that what you may share may be your memory of a good experience, either as an employee or client of an organization.

It is possible to try to "paint" the appearance of a good, healthy culture on the reality of a culture characterized by (dis)stress and/or fear. Fast-food enterprises, for example, are very stressful work environments, and yet employees are required to create the appearance of joy and harmony. As a manager or administrator, how could you address the culture of an organization? (This is not necessary an "essay" question in which you have to respond to every part of the question. Please write at least a paragraph that is relevant and that may be instructive to people reading this blog. Use only your first name, or make up a name and let me know the name you are using. Remember to include a link to a relevant Web page, or perhaps a YouTube video.)

Friday, August 9, 2013

Beginning of PADM 5322 in Fall of 2013

It has been a while since I have posted anything here. I spent the summer teaching an online course and completing an internship in the Master of Public Health program at Georgia Regents University. My intent now is to use this blog for learning purposes in the context of a course in foundations of healthcare administration at Albany State University this fall of 2013. Each week I plan to post one or more new items here and ask my students to each reply. I hope that each reply will be a substantial contribution and will include at least one link to a relevant URL. Each reply (or set of replies) will be due by a specified Sunday evening. The course home page will soon be available at this URL. http://www.robertcat.net/fall2013/padm5322/