HJBR Jul/Aug 2019

Healthcare Journal of Baton Rouge I  JUL / AUG 2019 51 Heath Veuleman­ Senior Advisor and Principal The Veuleman Group coat nor scrubs magically prevent life from penetrating us daily. It is sometimes neces- sary to disrupt our thinking to get another vantage point. Sometimes it is necessary to pump the brakes and see the business of healthcare through a different lens. Healthcare is like no other industry in the world. It is a high calling, a sacred work. This is the only industry in the world in which a person entrusts another person with their entire life, andmemorializes that in the form of consent. All too often, many fail to realize the import and significance of this sacred work. For many, a visit to a hospital, clinic, ambulatory surgery center, or provider in any setting, is a rarity (the data bares that out, especially in Louisiana). These rare events are milestones to many people that shape their lives forever. They are discounted by those of us who do this day in and day out, not because we are bad people or poor clini- cians or administrators, but because we are tired, weary, and discouraged human beings. Our dysfunctional lives continue day in and day out, and we get into this work algorithm where we are a production-centered delivery system, and where we live and die by the code, the incentive, the throughput. The pa- tient becomes nothingmore than the widget. Do you want to revolutionize your health- care organization? Maximize your reim- bursement? Minimize your costs? Mitigate your risks? Have better regulatory compli- ance? Enhance patient satisfaction? Im- prove patient outcomes? There is a secret. It involves no special coding books, surveys, software, continuing education, or a voo- doo priestess. The secret is very real; it is not grown upon a verdant pasture where unicorns graze amidst a sky full of rainbows. The secret is care. Stop toiling today. Do not go back into your organization until you can do this one thing: care. When you can return to your organization and see a person not just as a customer or patient, but as an actual hu- man being, then you are poised to be suc- cessful. Individuals who care deeply about other people achieve the business of their dreams. Care drives reimbursement. People respond to care, and your satisfaction will be better. Compliance is better when indi- viduals know they are cared about. Sit back and watch your outcomes improve. Do your associates know that you care about them? If they did, they would be more productive, loyal, and motivated. Of course, this is all science driven and peer reviewed, but this column only has somany words. Study after study confirms what basic human decency tells us and ancient wisdom has taught us— loving others is a sacred work. It is the heart (no pun intended) of healthcare. Patients, staff, and leadership expect apathy. Care is disruptive. Care is transformative. We can talk about throughput and reim- bursement techniques and the most avant- garde delivery and financing systems. We can give you terabytes of policies and proce- dures, best practices, and even take over the management of your healthcare organiza- tion for an interim period of time on behalf of a regulator, but nothing drives radical change like care. After working with some of the largest corporations in the world and some of the smallest clinics in ruralAmerica, I can only offer one piece of advice: it’s not business, it’s personal. n Heath Veuleman is a senior advisor and principal of the Veuleman Group. After earning a bachelor’s degree in psychology and philosophy, he studied healthcare administration at Seton Hall University, and was accepted into both the Tulane University Health Systems Management Program and the Dartmouth Health Care Delivery Science Program. Heath began his career in hospital administration nearly 20 years ago, and is considered an expert in healthcare delivery and financing systems. He un- derstands and appreciates the need for alternative care systems and reimbursement strategies that are consumer centric. Considered to be at the fore- front of health policy, and often referred to as avant- garde, he embraces innovative and disruptive concepts, blurs or eliminates industry morays and norms, and is a zealous patient advocate. Some of the largest corporations in the world, representing various sectors, governments both national and foreign, and a myriad of healthcare organizations of varying size, scope, and utility depend upon his advice, guidance, and insight. Heath’s singular pas- sion is to help healthcare organizations, corpora- tions, and governments create access to reliable, sustainable, and affordable access in communities throughout the world. “This is the only industry in the world in which a person entrusts another person with their entire life, and memorializes that in the form of consent.”