Who We ArechiResolutions is an international conflict management firm that specializes in the design of comprehensive conflict management systems (CCMS) tailored to help any organization more fully accomplish its mission. With an extensive network of consultants worldwide, we provide a wide variety of prevention, engagement, and resolution strategies to help our clients build capacity for managing conflict and reaching resolution without costly litigation.
For our healthcare clients, chiResolutions provides an innovative and proven approach to resolving disputes that can occur following unexpected adverse outcomes. Our network of highly skilled practitioners, trainers, and coaches embody the values and commitment of our clients to do the right thing, even when things go wrong. For our organizational and government clients, we maintain a roster of over 200 vetted conflict management practitioners who are skilled at creating more ‘conflict competent’ organizations through such services as: mediation, facilitation, ombuds services, training, curriculum design, conflict coaching, executive and leadership coaching, change management, organization development and strategic planning. |
Blog & Resources |
About CaroleCarole Houk is an internationally renowned conflict management systems designer. An attorney by training and experience, she continually looks for a ‘better way’ to handle life’s challenges, and created the Medic+Om program for the early resolution of unexpected adverse events in healthcare as an alternative to the adversarial litigation route that she saw as an impediment to true improvement in patient safety.
|
Carole's story: From Attorney to Medic+Om
In the mid 90s, Carole’s father was a victim of a medical error when a hospital chest x-ray taken as a part of a routine outpatient visit was lost for an extended period of time. Once it was finally found, Carole was contacted to bring her father in for an exam – and the chest film revealed a large lung mass that turned out to be a fatal cancer. The admission, apology and medical care offered to her father at the end of his life was frankly astounding to her as a lawyer, and that experience stayed with her during her tenure as the Navy’s Dispute Resolution Counsel. There, she received training as a mediator, facilitator and ombudsman, and focused her initial dispute resolution efforts on designing conflict management systems to resolve contractual, environmental and workplace disputes.
When an opportunity arose to introduce mediation for medical malpractice complaints at Navy hospitals, Carole designed the Medic+Om program as an innovative alternative, where the complaint could be handled at the bedside rather than through an adversarial process in court. The quick success of the program at the Navy’s flagship hospital encouraged Kaiser Permanente to implement it beginning in 2003, and 29 fulltime Healthcare Ombuds/Mediators now practice at Kaiser Permanente Medical Centers nationwide, and the Department of Defense has extended the Navy’s Healthcare Resolutions program throughout Navy Medicine and beyond.
A System's Approach
Carole’s unique skill in conflict management systems design honed at the Navy led her to work with other large government agencies when she formed her own company in 2002. She assisted theTransportation Security Agency in the design of their Model Workplace Program from 2003 – 2009, and has been the contractor of choice for the Department of Interior since 2001 as they designed and built their integrated conflict management system, Core Plus, into a nationwide presence. Recently she helped the Air Force implement a conflict coaching program and evaluated their internal conflict management system to see what they were doing well and where they might make improvements.
Internationally, she has consulted with the Australian Defense Forces, Defense Canada, Justice Canada, Public Works and Government Services Canada, and the Canadian Human Rights Commission. and traveled recently to China and Japan to consult with government officials and academics on the use of mediation and ombuds to resolve patient and family complaints about healthcare quality.
Over the past decade, Carole has been asked to deliver a wide variety of customized conflict management trainings for Risk Managers, Physicians, Patient Advocates, Administrators, Aging Services Professionals, Insurers and government agencies, depending on their needs and desired skill development.
Carole has developed and presented learning programs in the form of executive level presentations, intensive skills sessions, and multi-day trainings for the Departments of the Navy, Air Force, Army, Defense, Justice, Agriculture, Environmental Protection Agency, Interior, Veteran’s Affairs, and the Securities and Exchange Commission. She has been invited to speak at many industry functions and conferences, including the National Patient Safety Foundation’s Annual Congress, the American Society for HealthCare Risk Management, the Patient Advocate Conference, the Partnership for Patient Safety, the Pittsburgh Regional HealthCare Initiative, and the American Organization of Nurse Executives. She has presented internationally at the NADRAC and LEADR conferences in Sydney and the ADR Network conference in Vancouver, British Columbia. She has been an adjunct professor of dispute resolution at the Georgetown University Law Center and Hamline University School of Law. She is a contributing author to Achieving Safe and Reliable HealthCare: Strategies and Solutions, by Leonard, Frankel and Simmonds, in a chapter entitled Communicating About Episodes of Harm to Patients, published by the Health Administration Press, 2004, and helped to edit the 2011 edition of Risk Management Pearls, Disclosure of Adverse Events, published by the American Society of Healthcare Risk Management.
Internationally, she has consulted with the Australian Defense Forces, Defense Canada, Justice Canada, Public Works and Government Services Canada, and the Canadian Human Rights Commission. and traveled recently to China and Japan to consult with government officials and academics on the use of mediation and ombuds to resolve patient and family complaints about healthcare quality.
Over the past decade, Carole has been asked to deliver a wide variety of customized conflict management trainings for Risk Managers, Physicians, Patient Advocates, Administrators, Aging Services Professionals, Insurers and government agencies, depending on their needs and desired skill development.
Carole has developed and presented learning programs in the form of executive level presentations, intensive skills sessions, and multi-day trainings for the Departments of the Navy, Air Force, Army, Defense, Justice, Agriculture, Environmental Protection Agency, Interior, Veteran’s Affairs, and the Securities and Exchange Commission. She has been invited to speak at many industry functions and conferences, including the National Patient Safety Foundation’s Annual Congress, the American Society for HealthCare Risk Management, the Patient Advocate Conference, the Partnership for Patient Safety, the Pittsburgh Regional HealthCare Initiative, and the American Organization of Nurse Executives. She has presented internationally at the NADRAC and LEADR conferences in Sydney and the ADR Network conference in Vancouver, British Columbia. She has been an adjunct professor of dispute resolution at the Georgetown University Law Center and Hamline University School of Law. She is a contributing author to Achieving Safe and Reliable HealthCare: Strategies and Solutions, by Leonard, Frankel and Simmonds, in a chapter entitled Communicating About Episodes of Harm to Patients, published by the Health Administration Press, 2004, and helped to edit the 2011 edition of Risk Management Pearls, Disclosure of Adverse Events, published by the American Society of Healthcare Risk Management.