TeleCon19 – Living the Mission

To ensure that no one will ever have to wait for the care they need—that’s the mission of TeleTracking—and why Living the Mission is the theme of TeleCon19. In fact, the general session opening video brought that to life in an inspiring way illustrating the results many of our client partners realize for their health systems—and most importantly for their patients.

As Kris Kaneta, Senior Vice President of Marketing said when he kicked off the day, “What started as a community of patient flow experts has become an empowered group of trailblazers around the command center model. From the United States and Canada to the United Kingdom and Australia, we are all in this together—working to solve patient access, care coordination and operational complexities.”

TeleTracking’s President Chris Johnson took the stage next and shared his thoughts that while inefficiency in healthcare is not a new problem [It started with the first hospital 64 generations ago in Greece!] it will be solved with a steady, long-term view of what is necessary for success. And that’s again where our mission comes into play—that is our passion, our cause, and our creation that drives visibility and efficiency in operations. 

Chris went on to share a story about a recent conversation he had with a healthcare leader who asked him what “our angle” is. 

“My ‘angle’ is to change the mindset of the doctor who tells their children NOT to go into healthcare—which is happening at an alarming rate. My “angle” is to return healing into healthcare as a calling. Where people who can make the sick become well, who can make the broken whole, and who can help the blind see and the lame walk. These people are our calling―and if we can give the time back to heal―they will change lives for the better.”

“Another ‘angle’ is the story of the expectant mother who went into cardiac arrest during labor at a remote community hospital. Through one call to the system’s command center, they dispatched the helicopter to get her to a higher acuity care setting. Had the right equipment and staff. Had the right bed. Had the OR ready. We shaved 15 minutes off that sequence of events. Minutes that meant the difference between life and death of a mother and her newborn child. Minutes that have now turned into two lifetimes as they both left that hospital as a family. That is our ‘angle’.”

Chris reiterated that we are focused on one mission, one cause―and that our model is based on meaning. And with our clients, we are collectively committed to solving the issues facing healthcare―and through that commitment, we will not fail.

Martin Makary, M.D., M.P.H., a surgeon and healthcare leader from The Johns Hopkins Hospital, as well as the New York Times bestselling author of “The Price We Pay,” was next on the main stage. Dr. Makary presented his thoughts on the importance of taking care of patients by exercising compassion—and that there is nothing more frustrating than a situation where you can’t accept a patient you know you can help because of capacity issues.

He also discussed the fact that with approximately 48% of the federal budget being spent on healthcare, it’s time to really look at three straightforward ways to fix healthcare: 

• Appropriateness: Evaluating care and working to eliminate procedures that aren’t necessarily based on science and research. For example, a recent study showed that up to 50% of spinal surgeries for back pain aren’t necessary. The over-prescribing of opioids and the resulting crisis is another example. The medical community has to start focusing on true quality and not just the consequences of care.
• Care Coordination: Science changes quickly and that’s why care coordination is so important. And when care isn’t being delivered in the most effective way it’s essential to appeal to the best in people and encourage them to self-correct.
• Re-pricing: Billing systems are incredibly complicated. As a whole, the healthcare industry needs to offer fair and reasonable prices to patients. In fact, 64 % of Americans avoid or delay care for fear of what the costs may be.

The opening session concluded with Mark Britnell, Global Chairman & Senior Partner, KPMG International, and author of “In Search of the Perfect Health System” and “Human: Solving the Global Workforce Crisis in Healthcare.” Mark discussed the global workforce crisis—the global shortfall of 18 million healthcare workers by 2039, which is 20% of the total capacity to deliver care. He then went on to discuss ten solutions to combat this problem:   

• Productivity: Health is wealth. When productivity increases, wealth increases and when wealth increases there is the ability to dedicate more resources to healthcare.
• Entrepreneurial government: Governments need to stimulate demand and supply, plan for productivity, pass proportionate regulations and have progressive immigration policies.
• New models of care: This includes everything from virtual consultations, scaling up primary care, delivering integrated/accountable care, and creating clinical improvement standardization to blockchain, robotics, machine learning and AI.
• Patients as partners: Physicians need to move doctor from God to guide and empower patients in their care—which can lead to lower admission rates, lower costs per patient and reductions in mortality/morbidity.
• Communities as carers: Healthcare systems need to find ways to engage family and friends in patient care, with research showing that patients recover more quickly in a non-clinical setting. 
• Professionals: 76% of doctors and 79% of nurses perform tasks they are overqualified for. It’s essential to expand the scope of practice, redesign pathways of care, employ a new cadre of care workers to support professionals and adopt supporting technology.
• New cadre of care workers: Training workers who span health and social care and are supported by cognitive augmentation.
• Digital dividend: Automating the processes that can be automated for improvements in overall efficiency.
• Agile learning organizations: Creating a more flexible, responsive workforce.
• Loving your staff and bringing joy to work: Healthcare staff members need to feel appreciated and engaged, yet less than 30% of healthcare employees have meaningful appraisals; work/life balance is out of sync; and there is not enough time to engage with patients. Changes that need to be implemented include competitive pay; improving retention; and delivering on leadership, culture and agility.

The day also included breakout sessions and boot camps presented by TeleTracking staffers and clients from Kettering Health Network, VCU Health, Carilion Clinic and Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust. In addition, they had the opportunity to take in three experiences: 

• Command Center Experience: The Command Center Experience shows how to bring all the pieces together to conquer patient waits and provide highly coordinated, quality care to an entire patient population, as well as transform disconnected functions into a single, high-performance system. This year’s expanded Command Center Experience will include new roles and views, and will show how the Command Center and the patient-facing areas of a system work together to ensure patients don’t wait for the care they need. 
• TeleBar: TeleTracking patient flow experts are conducting one-on-one consultations. All appointments are being scheduled withTeleTracking’s newest solution Community Scheduling and Workflow, which makes it possible to schedule both the appointment and receive updates on the appointment status, including any delays.
• Learning Lab: The Learning Lab demonstrates how TeleTracking can reinforce the depth and breadth of user’s comprehension. Better training drives better adoption and better adoption drives better outcomes.

The day concluded with TeleTracking clients and staff enjoying a reception on the patio and live Cuban music!

See what you missed in our Day 1 Recap - and stay tuned for the Day Two wrap up!