The recent “First Thing” column on challenges facing healthcare leaders (“Where do we go from here?”) was refreshing.
Our three kids played competitive sports. We taught them that the field of play isn’t always fair, so they needed to stop whining about how the other team is stacked or when the referee misses a call. That’s what makes you better.
In healthcare, is more government the answer? We need far less of it. Government is incapable of solving the industry’s problems because healthcare is local. But involvement in the community is what has been lost. It’s like the hospital is disconnected. It has lost its prominence as a respected place of healing.
Too many organizations are reluctant to step out of the box. In other words, there’s an unwillingness to engage community entities, or for our own health systems to counter policies that would harm care delivery. We just need to get in the game and stand up, but it seems like we’re content to sit around, point fingers and be the victim.
I’m a clinic guy at heart. I’ve spent more time in ambulatory settings than in hospitals. Clinic people think differently. Hospitals are too wrapped up in their own rules and what others will do to them rather than stepping out and being innovative. There’s no balance. It’s sad, really, because hospitals have the potential to be so much more.
Some hospitals and health systems have succeeded in getting out of the box. I trust their spark will ignite change within healthcare leadership to be bold.
Richard Birkner
Chief operating officer
Liberty Hospital, Liberty, Missouri
