Two Weeks in Business School: Top Ten Take Home Points

After 2 weeks at the UCLA Anderson School of Management Johnson and Johnson Health Care Executive Program what did I learn? This is a program for leaders of community-based health care organizations. You compete to get in and then you work hard with 41 colleagues from around the country for 2 weeks: classroom work for 8 hrs a day as well as additional time devoted to development of a Community Health Improvement Project (CHIP).

Here are my top 10 take-aways in a tongue and cheek format. (A la David Letterman's Top Ten, start from the bottom and read up.) Behind each point below is a story, a lecture, a problem to solve, a challenge to face.

1	During your time at UCLA -- you have visited your own future. Take time to visit your own future. Visit, inquire, investigate agencies and programs which are leaders and innovators.
2	A CHIP is a many faceted tool: It's a tool for your future. Use the tool over and over again to create SMART goals, goals which are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Reproducible, and Time Bound.
3	The faculty director is a groovy guy. And not only him, the entire faculty at UCLA. Excellent teachers. Leaders in their fields.
4	In any process, find the bottleneck. Shift it to the economic bottleneck. The economic bottleneck may be what is generating your revenue (think: the physician face to face component of the total health center visit -- you can't get rid of that!). In terms of process management and work flows, if you spend time fixing other aspects before the bottleneck you're wasting your time.
5	Fly coach. If you won't fly coach, there's Amtrak and Greyhound. Appearance matters.
6	Dust off your Shakespeare. Practice your eeees and ahhhs. Community health leaders must have a public presence and prepare for it.
7	IF cost effectiveness analysis is "Doing the right thing, " and cost benefit analysisis is "Doing the thing right." Then what is doing the right thing right? Clearly that is cost effective benefit analysis. Try to understand both and if you can't, get someone who does to help you.
8	Regarding your EHR (electronic health record system): The initial goal is not "best practice." Instead focus on "no bad practices." The main message here -- get one and GET IT ON.
9	Being a leader is like a big juicy peach. I think this is somewhat related to a big hairy audacious idea, except with fuz. Have clarity as a leader.
10	Build a leadership molecule: Vision and culture, operations, systems. They must overlap. If your leadership team has members with talents in these three areas you have a better chance for success.

Below: The famous on-line CHIP tool.

And, thoughts from class.

Immediate Demand: Federal Dollars to Stimulate Community Health Care, Jobs

In a previous blog post, I wrote about how federal stimulus dollars will flow to community health centers.

Now, we have some more details. Through the American Recovery and Investment Act of 2009, the US Department of Health and Human Services will soon distribute $337.9M to 1,128 community health centers in 50 states, Puerto Rico and other territories.

Named, Immediate Demand for Services (IDS) funds, these dollars are meant to assist health centers in providing primary health care services to a large number of people who have lost jobs and therefore their health care coverage. Currently 8.5% of workers are unemployed in the US. (Read more...)


With these dollars, health centers propose to serve 2.1 million new patients over the next 2 years. Half of the new patients will lack health insurance, and the majority of the other half will likely be dependent of state and federal programs such as Medicaid, which insures the lowest income Americans, including most low income children.

Nationally, community health centers serve almost 18 million individuals regardless of the ability to pay. IDS funds will promote an 11% increase in community health center enrollment over 2 years according to estimates.

Health centers provide economical health care services. The per patient federal outlay through these stimulus dollars is only $159.62. Health centers will likely look to other sources to meet the needs of supporting services to these patients on a long term basis.

Health centers also propose to create or retain 6,400 jobs in primary health care over the next 2 years: health care practitioners and support staff.

More about Illinois:  36 community health centers in Illinois will share $15M in Increased Demand for Services funds over 2 years.  An estimated 66,000 patients will be added in Illinois, a 6.6% growth rate over 2 years,  and 50% will be uninsured.  Approximately 270 jobs will be added or retained. Illinois community health centers currently serve 1 million statewide. 

The challenge for community health centers will be to sustain these new patients after the stimulus funds end in 2 years. (END OF POST.  Thank you for reading.)

If you see something, say something.

On a recent trip to Washington, DC, I could have caused an emergency response to a strange, unclaimed suitcase. With the national terrorism threat level elevated at YELLOW and the airport threat set even higher at ORANGE,  I'm sure the average citizen and security personnel alike are on the lookout for strange packages and unattended luggage.

While boarding the Metro at the National Airport stop last week, I inadvertently left my knapsack on the train platform, boarded he train with my suitcase, and headed into town.  By the next stop, ironically, the Pentagon stop, I noticed my error.  

Envisioning SWAT teams and bomb sniffing dogs surrounding my rucksack, heart in throat, I boarded the next train back to the airport.  For sure, the airport would be locked down, I'd be arrested and shipped off to Guantanamo Bay.  

Back on the platform, I spotted my laptop containing backpack; not a siren or black booted officer in sight.  I nonchalantly claimed my property.  National crisis averted.

If you see something, say something.