A Note from Nick Jacobs
On October 23, it was my honor and privilege to speak at the PATIENT-CENTERED CARE CEO CONFERENCE in Chicago with some very impressive CEO’s and Leaders. My topic was “Linking a Patient-Centered Approach to Quality Improvement and HCAHPS,” but my deeper theme was “Leadership with a Heart – Developing Love and Respect in the Workplace by Nurturing Staff, Physicians, and Patients.” For those of you who were able to attend, thank you for your kind words of encouragement and support.
As was explained during my introduction, I have made the very difficult decision to leave Windber Medical Center, but I leave with a commitment to spread the word both nationally and internationally about the journey to Patient Centered Care and how to achieve it.
Obviously, it is a risky time to attempt to begin this endeavor, but, because no time is ever completely safe, it was my decision to reach out to my peers and friends to offer my commitment to work with you with that same passion to help you achieve your goals regarding this effort.
Because Sunstone Consulting is an organization that has specialized in finding additional financial support for hospitals, we can bring you not only the formula for Patient Centered Care, but also the needed additional financial support to achieve your goals in this area.
Although I will not officially complete my assignment at WMC until December 31st of this year, my current schedule permits me two days per week to begin to develop new relationships with my friends and peers. Should you have interest in contacting us for a visit to Windber, or if you would just like to make inquiry regarding engaging us for work at your facility, please feel free to either respond to this letter by E-mail or to call me at the following contact address below.
Once again, thank you for the privilege of working with you on such a significant topic.
Warmest Regards,
Nick Jacobs
Nick Jacobs
F. Nicholas Jacobs, FACHE
International Director
SunStone Consulting, LLC
1411 Grandview Avenue Apt. 803
Pittsburgh, PA 15211
nickjacobs@sunstoneconsulting.com
jacobsfn@aol.com
Mobile: 412-992-6197
Fax: 866-381-0219
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Hi,
Just a few quick questions:
How can you have patient centered care when healthcare is a complex physician prescribed good? The patient it seems matters very little in outcome management. Either the hospital and physicians are competent or they are not. Patients are goods in process. Either the end product has defects (e.g., surgical instruments left behind) or it doesn’t.
What would you do to reform hospital chargemasters? Uwe Reinhardt has written about the wide discrepancy in charges among California Hospitals for something as simple as a chest X-ray varying by as much as 1,700%. The cost of delivering self-administered drugs to patients can be as much as 2,000% of the retail cost of the drugs alone. Many hospital services delivered by nurses or nurses aides carry a simulated hourly rate of $500 or more per hour. How can mundane hospital services be as dear as physician surgical services?