Hospital System Admits Errors And Walks Out A Winner

By Author: Jaun Paul
Total Articles: 53
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Here's an example of a hospital system that did not shy away from admitting its follies and walked home a winner. The University of Michigan Health System (UMHS) is certainly getting attention and seeing favorable results from its unique claims management system.


Way back in 2001, UMHS had began putting into place a new philosophy soon after hiring a new chief risk officer (CRO). The philosophy was based around the idea of improving quality and patient safety by creating an open atmosphere. Since the CRO was a former trial lawyer who had different ideas about how to avoid med-mal claims, it certainly helped.


According to UMHS's CRO RICK Boothman, it is impossible to improve without being honest first. If you do not admit a problem, you won't be able to fix it either.


The hospital's Claims management system is based on three principles. First, there's the idea of doing the right thing by admitting errors, which has the concomitant benefit ...
... of keeping cases out of the courtroom. In recent years, claims against UMHS has decreased, but the more telling statistics is the percentage of those claims that go to the courthouse.


Yet another key principle in the hospital's approach is that the staff should be supported and not only defended if the care provided was reasonable, but also made to feel safe about coming forward with information about errors and misses in Hospital systems.


Finally, UMHS sees to it that everyone learns from these experiences. When information is brought out in the open, not only do cases get resolved more efficiently, the institution is also able to quickly make changes to its clinical care protocols and policies so that similar errors can be avoided in the future.