Transparency: The level of harm to patients in clinical settings remains stubbornly high. The issue is not a lack of understanding of the key factors in process improvement. It is rather a lack of sustained engagement on the part of the clinical staff. Externally imposed requirements are not motivational in this setting. Change must come from within. Transparency is the most powerful force in enabling doctors and nurses to hold themselves accountable to the standard of care in which they believe – but it is not easy to introduce. Paul will talk about his experience of bringing transparency to the Board at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre, during his time there as President and CEO (2002-2011). It was at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre where Paul received recognition for saving the hospital from financial disaster. Arising from this he became known as a strong advocate for quality and safety improvement and transparency of clinical outcomes, persuading the hospital’s Board to adopt a goal of eliminating preventable patient harm over a four-year period and disclosing the number and types of patient harm on the hospital’s website. In addition, he received worldwide attention in 2009 for engaging the hospital staff in crowd-sourcing ideas to save money during a financial crisis and thereby avoiding hundreds of layoffs.
Paul Levy is author of the widely read blog, “Not Running a Hospital,” created in 2006, when he was one of very few hospital CEOs in the world to share thoughts publicly about hospitals, medicine, and health care issues. He has written numerous articles and three books including Goal Play! Leadership Lessons from the Soccer Field and (with Farzana Mohamed) How to Negotiate Your First Job.
Mr. Levy is now Senior Advisor at Lax Sebenius, LLC, a negotiation strategy and capability-building firm. He is a member of the boards of ISO-New England, Legal Sea Foods, and Jewish Community Housing for the Elderly. He previously served as a board member of the MIT Corporation and the Risk Management Foundation.