Becker's Hospital Review

85 FINANCE CMO / CARE DELIVERY Ochsner to pay tuition for future physicians, nurses who pledge to 5 years with system By Emily Rappleye N ew Orleans-based Ochsner Health System created a $10 million tuition fund to grow its own workforce amid current labor market challenges, according to The Advocate, a Louisiana news outlet. The system will begin by paying tuition for 30 primary care physicians and psychiatrists. The physicians must commit to working in Louisiana with the health system for at least five years to receive the funding. Ochsner has plans to offer similar scholarship oppor- tunities for employees who want to become licensed practical nurses or registered nurses. It plans to ulti- mately cover tuition for about 1,000 employees, ac- cording to the report. n Texas' physician population hits 10-year high By Mackenzie Bean T exas' physician population has been increasing at a record pace for the past decade, according to new data from the Texas Medical Association. The state added 4,869 newly licensed physicians in 2019, up 7.9 percent from the year prior. Texas' current physician work- force translates to a ratio of 190 physicians for every 100,000 Texas residents — a ratio that has grown every year since 2009, according to NBC affiliate KXAN. The Texas Medical Association credits this growth to medical liability reform laws that passed in 2003 to better protect phy- sicians and hospitals from lawsuits. "I think if you look at the statistics since the reforms were enact- ed, they really show a tremendous increase in the number of physicians coming to Texas, but not only that, the overall rates of physician growth has been higher than the rate of population growth," Stanley Wang, MD, a cardiologist and sleep medicine specialist at the cardiology practice Austin Heart, told KXAN. n Press Ganey's CMO shares his 'big epiphany' on patient experience By Mackenzie Bean T homas Lee, MD, has more than three decades of experience in healthcare performance improve- ment, serving as a primary care physician and a past leader at Boston-based Partners HealthCare. Dr. Lee serves as CMO of Press Ganey and spoke with Becker's about the most important lesson he's learned on delivering excellent patient experience. Here's what he had to say: "This is my big epiphany, which I only figured out in my 50s: You are starting by scratch with every single patient. "Great athletes find a way to concentrate and be at their best every single day. In medicine, it's with every single patient. It doesn't matter how wonderful you may have been in the past. Everything depends on how you're going to be with the next patient you see. "The effort to improve patient experience is really about creating a context in which caregivers feel sup- ported and motivated to be at their best with every single patient. It's about the future, not the past. It's about being highly reliable at being empathic. This perspective was useful for me, and I think it's the right one for healthcare." n Study identifies solution for physicians' unprofessional behavior By Anuja Vaidya P rofessional development programs can help stop some physician unprofessional behavior, according to a study published in The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety. Researchers conducted a 35-item, web-based survey that helped determine the effectiveness of a professional development pro- gram. In total, 28 physicians completed the survey before and after attending a program focused to replace unprofessional be- havior with professional behavior, promoting peer accountability and support, and developing effective leadership skills. An accompanying editorial describes unprofessional and dis- ruptive workplace behaviors among physicians, such as using language that is profane, disrespectful, insulting, demeaning, insensitive or abusive; verbal intimidation; inappropriate argu- ments with patients, family members or colleagues; boundary violations; outbursts of anger; among others. Twenty-four of 28 physicians in the study experienced an improve- ment in professional behavior, which was measured by a decrease in low-rated workplace behaviors as listed on the survey. Negative behaviors curbed after the program included pas- sive-aggressive behaviors. Positive behaviors such as working as a teammate and show- ing empathy improved after the program. n

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