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THIS WEEK'S EDITION:
- Registration deadline for Sorry Works! audio conference
- Learning customer service from Southwest Airlines
- Question & Answer
- Observations from the road: CHS Hospitals and Southern California Risk Managers
- More observations from the road: North Carolina and Reading , PA hospital
- Sorry Works! webinars
REGISTRATION DEADLINE FOR SORRY WORKS! AUDIO CONFERENCE
Today is the registration deadline for next Wednesday's Sorry Works! audio conference at 1pm EST featuring Dr. Aaron Lazare and Dr. John Banja (stragglers will be accepted next week, but please hurry).
To register, contact Melanie Gober at 517-886-8226 or e-mail her at mgober@rmpsi. For complete details on the conference, please past this link - http://www.sorryworks.net/conference1.phtml - into your browser.
The audio conference counts for CME/CEU credits, and a CD is available for purchase if your schedule does not permit you to listen live. Furthermore, the CD can be used for CME/CEU training. Contact Melanie at 517-886-8226 or mgober@rmpsi.com - today!
LEARNING CUSTOMER SERVICE FROM SOUTHWEST AIRLINES
The main thesis of The Sorry Works! Coalition is that the med-mal crisis is a customer service crisis miscast as a legal problem to be fixed by politicians. Another way of saying it: The med-mal crisis is a customer service crisis that medical professionals can fix anytime they desire, and they can do so with Sorry Works!
Defense attorneys we work with - including Stevens & Lee - tell us time and time again its poor customer service after adverse events that creates most medical malpractice lawsuits.
Customer service is the key - all the time. With good customer service in mind, this week we're providing a glimpse into the customer service mindset of Southwest Airlines.
Southwest is the true champ of customer service in the airline industry. People often think cheap fares are the sole reason for their success, but seasoned travelers know that Southwest's attitude towards customers wins loyalty which translates into success in the bottomline. There's plenty of cheap fares out there today, but only one Southwest Airlines.
Please read the column below from Southwest's President Colleen Barrett. She shares the Southwest approach to customers, which healthcare professionals need to embrace to fix their customer service crisis. Study closely how they promote customer service to their employees and keep it alive within the Southwest culture. Also, pay special attention to what Colleen writes about their approach to adverse events, and see how she ends the column!
Customer Satisfaction
by Colleen Barrett, President
Southwest Airlines
May 2007 Spirit Magazine
If you have read this column over time, you will be aware that Customer Service is my mantra, my focus, and my passion. It's one thing for me to proclaim that Southwest will offer great Customer Service, but I am so proud that the 32,000+ Southwest Employees deliver on that promise.
Since the Department of Transportation (DOT) began tracking Customer Satisfaction statistics in 1987, Southwest has consistently posted the lowest ratio of complaints per passengers boarded of all the major U.S. airlines. Just last year, we once again placed first in this category that is so important to you (and to us!). Of course, I am thrilled about our first-place ranking, but I also know that we are only as good as your most recent flight with us. If ever there was an issue for which complacency could be our own worst enemy, this is it, and that is why we are loath to rest on our laurels.
To fight complacency, we have several major Customer Service initiatives in place for this year, and we are just "tuning up" what we have already been doing all along. This year, we began an internal campaign that stresses the importance of three key factors that affect our Company's performance, and one of those factors is Customer Satisfaction. Our folks often hear me talk about the importance of sharing their Servant's Heart and Fun-LUVing Attitude with Customers, even (actually, especially) during those times when our best-laid plans go astray. Because of the nature of air travel, every day brings the possibility of poor weather and unforeseen mechanical issues, along with their resulting complications. Fortunately, we keep those problems to a minimum, but when the situation turns into "lemons," our Employees try to make those lemons into "lemonade."
In the case of major weather events such as hurricanes and blizzards, the Operations Coordination Center oversees our Weather Disruption Plan to minimize the inconvenience you will encounter, and our Proactive Customer Service Communications Team delivers information about the event to you through southwest.com and our Reservations Centers. In addition, this Team proactively communicates on a daily basis with Customers when the situation warrants, usually as a result of other unusual flight circumstances.
When it comes to Customer Service, we refuse to be complacent. Even though we dominated the DOT rankings for years, when we slipped to second place in 2004, it was a wakeup call reminding us that we can't take Customer Service or your patronage for granted. Our goal is to own the DOT's Number One ranking in Customer Satisfaction through a smile, a thank you, and when necessary, a heartfelt, "I'm sorry."
Welcome Aboard!
QUESTION & ANSWER
Question: If we disclose, apologize, and compensate a patient/family for an error, do we have the patient/family sign a future liabilty waiver? Would making a patient/family sign such a waiver anger them and reverse all the progress that has been made?
Answer: It depends. Again, you have to judge each situation separately and know the players involved. Also, as part of your disclosure progam, you should have discussions about such circumstances ahead of time with your insurers, attorneys, and administrators - long before an adverse event ever happens. Obviously, if you are contemplating a large/significant settlement, you will probably want the patient/family to sign a waiver of future liability. This is where a competent plaintiff's attorney who understands your program can be helpful. They can explain to a patient/family - with credibility - that a liability waiver is normal procedure and they should not be put off by such a request. If you have a smaller case, you need to use your judgment. As always with disclosure and apology, there is no one size fits all answer for most questions. The only factors that truly remain the same across the board are your ethics and intergrity. Those things never change with Sorry Works!
OBSERVATIONS FROM THE ROAD: CHS HOSPITALS AND SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA RISK MANAGERS
This week Sorry Works! spokesperson Doug Wojcieszak made a lap around the left half of the country, flying from St. Louis to Nashville, TN to speak to CHS Hospitals on Wednesday, and then onto Palm Springs, CA to speak to the Southern California Risk Managers on Thursday morning, and back home to St. Louis late Thursday night. Tiring but rewarding trip.
Some observations to share: Risk managers truly get it when it comes to disclosure. These are the folks who working in the trenches every day with patients and families and they understand how excellent customer service fused with good communication and a commitment to fix problems keeps a lid on anger after adverse events and limits litigation for everyone.
While at CHS, a staff member who had worked for a plaintiff's firm for several years prior to working for CHS echoed the points made in Wojcieszak's presentation, namely that anger - not greed - is what drives people to plaintiff's attorney and to file ligitation. The staffer said the vast majority (99 percent) of the phone calls her PI firm received had nothing to do with medical malpractice but everything to do with unhappy patients and families who were brushed off by medical providers after adverse events. Even those cases where medical errors occured the poor customer service was usually the driver of the lawsuits - not the error. If medical providers had only made an effort to make amends litigation would have never been pursued. Interesting and important observations.
Then it was time to fly to California, and once again speak to a large group of risk managers who "get it." However, after Wojcieszak's presentation there was a panel discussion of defense attorneys and insurance/claims people who shall we say..."don't get it." These were the litigators and the folks who fought claims every day of their professional careers, and they tried to repudiate Sorry Works!/disclosure and apology with every excuse in the book. They were convinced that is it greed to motivates people to file medical malpractice lawsuits. They came up with a hundred different reasons it won't work. But after they finished the risk managers in the crowd stood up during Q&A and said no, sorry does work. In fact, it was working in their hospitals - today. Several risk managers from Catholic Healthcare West shared their success stories with the crowd. The defense attorneys and claims people were silent.
After the presentation, numerous risk managers came up and shared their success stories too. Many major hospital systems were represented and risk managers told personal stories of working with families when the chips were down was the single best way to resolve situations. The risk managers were also very apologetic for the attorneys and claims people on the panel who were still clearly in the dark ages.
One risk manager hit it on the head when he quipped, "No case will be settled until all billable hours have been realized!" Well said.
Despite this turbulence, there are many enlightened defense attorneys and insurance professionals who get it - and herein lies the valuable lessons for medical professionals. If your attorneys and insurance companies "don't get it," fire them. Yes, fire them! Plenty of attorneys out there, many who understand the value of apology, disclosure, and good customer service. With interest rates rising insurance companies are posting hefty profits and looking to write more policies, and some of these companies are beginning to embrace Sorry Works. Seek out these companies, and we can help.
If you need help finding new counsel and/or insurer, let us know...we'll be happy to spread the word through our network.
MORE OBSERVATIONS FROM THE ROAD: NORTH CAROLINA AND READING HOSPITAL, READING, PA
Last week Sorry Works! visited the North Carolina Association for Healthcare Quality, and once again spoke to a group of mainly risk mangers, who get it.
Then it was off to Reading, PA to a grand rounds for their physicians. As many of you know, Pennsylvania has seen an incredibly nasty med-mal battle over the last four to five years. Well, we are happy to report that Sorry Works! was well- received by the physicians. Afterwards, many doctors came up and asked questions about how to implement the program, shared their stories, and roll-played through situations they had faced. It was a breath of fresh air in this state that has seen so much fighting over the past few years.
We hope to make more progress in the Keystone State - we want to provide a new and different perspective to physicians and hosptials weary of the tort reform fight. Help us spread the message to your friends and colleagues in Pennsylvania. Thank you!
SORRY WORKS! WEBINARS
You will soon be able to hear Sorry Works! web presentations from the comfort of your office or conference room. Sorry Works! spokesperson Doug Wojcieszak will be conducting webinars through Compliance Online on May 30th, June 5th, June 14th, June 20th and July 11th. Each presentation will start at 1pm EST. Each webinar will cover a different aspect of Sorry Works/disclosure and apology.
For more information on the webinars, visit the Compliance Online website - www.complianceonline.com - and search "Sorry Works!" under training options. Thank you!
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