In fact, the environmental climate’s better than ever. What am I talking about? The discourse…the conversation that’s about to begin between hospitals, doctors, and those they serve—patients and their families.
The year? 2013. Why important? This year signals the ushering in of a new age when hospitals and medical facilities will be obliged to meet standards of patient satisfaction for reimbursement from Medicare.
How will assessment be done? Patients will evaluate those same hospitals.
That’s right. Just like employers assess employees at yearly evaluations…just like administrators in schools evaluate teachers and other staff, hospitals and their employees will be judged for how well they deliver their product and/or care to patients.
That’s never happened before.
And quite frankly, I’m thrilled. You see, I’ve been on the other side far too long—the patient or patient advocate for loved ones, often confused by the too-clinical, indifferent atmosphere of hospital settings.
I always felt powerless against them, for those forces were mighty, indeed. Now the balance is shifting.
To that effect, I’m lending my own experience to the dialogue that will begin, a discussion between health care providers and their patients/families.
Hopefully, hospitals will now listen to patient experience, if only because they must.
Ironically, the HIPAA mandated that all be mindful of patient privacy and rights, but nowhere was it ever mandated that hospitals needed to listen to patients.
That’ll change now.
Many of us out there have a lot to say and hopefully, health industry leaders will want to tap into experiences of folks like me, if for no other reason than to insure future positive interaction… and optimum funding for their facilities.
The hospitals of tomorrow will be responsive to patients’ needs; they’ll seek their input; they’ll recognize patients and their families as viable partners in their own care.
They’ll recognize their own financial well-being rests on those things.
Yes, a new day is dawning, in the health care industry, one we should all be celebrating.
I’ll do my part in my new blog, “Patient Witness” and in the book I’ll release later this year.
In these, I’ll talk about my turbulent health care crises (with a message of how things could be improved); I’ll herald major heroes and heroines in the medical field whom I hope become models of excellence for all who enter this important arena. I’ll also point out some who failed their Hippocratic Oath.…badly.
Some of my posts will entertain (macabre humor, if you will); some will challenge; all will provoke (I believe.) Younger folks or those who haven’t tread my path will benefit from my mistakes.
The image across the top of my new website is a crystal-clear pool of water, for water is the symbol of rebirth (recall the Baptismal font?) Crystalline water seems a fitting image to introduce my new blog. I’m excited for the prospects.
I’d like to encourage you to share your own thoughts on issues. I know you’ve got them. As always, you can weigh in on any topic, if something piques your interest; you can even do it anonymously, if you choose. When you respond, you’ll need to list your e-mail address, but I’ll never post it…and I’ll never share it or give it out to others…
Now, I invite you in to wade in…www.colleenkellymellor.com/blog. To comment, just click on the blue, conversation bubble, top right hand of each post….Hopefully, we’ ll begin a meaningful conversation with the medical industry, letting them know what we patients need and want.
Please list www.colleenkellymellor.com/blog in your “Favorites” to remind you to check in often…or “Bookmark” me, too. And younger folk? As I said, you can learn from my mistakes.
I suggest we pool together to make a difference…
P.S. I will still write my original blog, here, at www.biddybytes.com and www.grandpaandthetruck.com, the site for my children’s trucker tales . Book 3 is in the Creation Stage and will focus on the Woodstock Music Festival (as this trucker experienced it,) and the West Virginia coal-mining territory. The big rig moves on…
Kitty at Momma on January at 4:26 pm said:
Accountability, accountability, accountability…..this is what has been missing for too long, in too many areas. This is great news to hear!
Being the same age as you, Biddy, I’ve also ambled through the health care system for sixty-some years, and in recent years have seen a glimps into my future, and its been a very scary vision indeed! Especially in the care of the elderly.
I am particularly experienced with nursing home care (for both mother, mother-in-law, and step-father), and how precious few are in this field for their compassion and true dedication to their fragile elderly clients! Those wonderful few angels carry the load for the majority, who merely want to put in as little effort as required, maintain quiet, and pick up pay checks at the end of the week. In my opinion, it is a travesty that family members entrust their loved ones to these facilities thinking that mom or dad is being treated with ‘loving care’, when in actuality, if family isn’t monitoring care, these residents are at best only receiving minimal attention.
Woefully sad for those who have no one to oversee care, or whose family is far away or merely too busy! Sad to say, the latter is more prevalent than any other ‘excuse’.
Lest I ramble on with the many injustices I’ve seen and experienced, I am thrilled that there will be some accountability that will affect the pocketbook of these providers. But anyone reading this MUST realize that some people need someone to speak for them, watch over their care, and make some noise when care isn’t what it should be. For the rest of us, speak up, speak out, and don’t be afraid to say your piece…doctors are not ‘god’…and you may be surprised that you know more about your own body than you think.
I want to thank you for doing this. I believe that today we need every bit of shared information we can get about medical treatments and possible medical protocols. Information from those who have already walked a path is invaluable.
To tell you the truth, however, I don’t know how you are doing all that you do–running three blogs, writing children’s books, etc. You’re leaving your mark on this world and it gives the rest of us encouragement to continue on, in our special capacities, too.