Rather than just offering an explanation, apology and/or compensation, the Medic+Om is a highly skilled individual who helps manage the event, offers a compassionate organizational response in a respectful manner, and discovers what patients, families and providers truly need when things go wrong. While compensation may be appropriate, often it’s the more relational aspects that also need healing in order to rebuild trust and to fix what’s broken.
And, as proven by healthcare providers in organizations around the country, doing the right thing both reduces medical malpractice costs and fosters improved healthcare systems by feeding changes back into the organization in real time to prevent another error. In thousands of cases at dozens of locations, Medical Ombudsman/Mediators have been quietly resolving disputes, restoring trust, and preserving resources – as well as avoiding litigation. Patient and families have been getting the answers they seek, physicians have been disclosing honestly, and hospitals have been making necessary quality improvements. The Medic+Om has been changing the face of medicine, one case at a time. It is currently a powerful service component of integrated healthcare delivery systems nationwide, including Kaiser Permanente and Navy Medicine. Read more about the Medic+Om.
And, as proven by healthcare providers in organizations around the country, doing the right thing both reduces medical malpractice costs and fosters improved healthcare systems by feeding changes back into the organization in real time to prevent another error. In thousands of cases at dozens of locations, Medical Ombudsman/Mediators have been quietly resolving disputes, restoring trust, and preserving resources – as well as avoiding litigation. Patient and families have been getting the answers they seek, physicians have been disclosing honestly, and hospitals have been making necessary quality improvements. The Medic+Om has been changing the face of medicine, one case at a time. It is currently a powerful service component of integrated healthcare delivery systems nationwide, including Kaiser Permanente and Navy Medicine. Read more about the Medic+Om.
How Does the Medic+Om Program Work?
The Medic+Om serves as an impartial third party who:
- Is dedicated exclusively to the early resolution of patient-provider disputes
- Coaches physicians and other health care providers in initiating and participating in disclosure conversations
- Facilitates discussions between patients and providers, focusing upon underlying issues, needs and interests
- Clarifies perceptions and frames issues
- Helps to create resolution options
- Assists in developing sustainable and mutually satisfactory resolutions to patient care disputes
- Conforms to the Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice of The Ombudsman Association
Why the Medic+Om Program Works?
- The program encourages resolution at the lowest possible level
- The program utilizes a dedicated professional with clinical experience who is also well trained in alternative dispute resolution techniques
- The Medic+Om works on cases as a full-time job, using informality, neutrality, independence, and confidentiality
- The Medic+Om reports to top leadership of the location to establish neutrality and resolve issues fluidly throughout all levels of the organization
- The Medic+Om partners with Risk Management and Quality Assurance to contribute to existing issue resolution systems and performance improvement processes while remaining neutral to the dispute
- The Medic+Om neither displaces nor replaces existing staff or functions
Program Implementation
chiResolutions will facilitate the successful implementation of the Medic+Om program in your health care system. We will:
- Help you design the Medic+Om program to fit your organization
- Involve your stakeholders in drafting operating protocols
- Assist with the selection of the right individual to serve as your Medic+Om
- Provide the expert training to become a Medic+Om
- Coach and mentor the Medic+Om for the first 6 months
- Provide database support and evaluation criteria
- Help you achieve a significant return on investment within the first year of operation
While patients are not asked to waive their right to litigate, and statutory limitations periods need to run, Medic+Om participant organizations should see a reduction in their malpractice claims beginning in their first year. In successive years, this percentage will increase as the medical community shifts from a culture where denial and defense are the standard to one in which participants are free to communicate honestly and with compassion. This is why the Medic+Om Program is a better way.
The Medic+Om Program supplements this innovative approach with customized training for physicians on how to communicate to patients about unanticipated adverse outcomes. Read more about how a Medic+Om can assist with disclosure: Disclosure Story: Part 1 and Disclosure Part 2.