The Triple Aim Depends on Developing Leadership With Commitment to Mission, “Soft Skills,” and Integrity
Does the Triple Aim depend on leaders who demonstrate a commitment to the larger mission, have  “soft skills,” and obvious integrity? The answers seem to be obvious: yes, yes, and yes. My friend Michael Soman, the retired president of the Medical Group of the old...
We Must Be Inept Because We Do Spend Enough To Do a Better Job
When my own wellspring of inspiration and self proclaimed insight seems to be temporarily running dry, I compensate by passing on to readers what I am learning from others. There has been a lot to learn from others and to pass on recently. I was particularly intrigued...
Is the Triple Aim Slip Slidin’ Away?
When I think about the Triple Aim Paul Simon’s song “Slip Slidin’ Away” feels like it has a special message for me. Near the end of the song he sings: Slip slidin’ away You know the nearer your destination The more you’re slip slidin’ away God...
A Request That Got Me Thinking About How We Practice
Recently my 97 year old father was readmitted to his local hospital in North Carolina with another episode of CHF and aspiration pneumonia. He was discharged to the rehab facility at his life care community on a Monday. My sister from Birmingham drove over and spent...
If Innovation Is the Answer, Do You Know What You Need To Know?
“Innovation” is frequently offered as the “way out of the woods” for American healthcare. And why not? As Americans we are reminded of the power of innovation to reshape our world many times a day as we tap on our cell phones to find our way through traffic to a place...
Poverty, Race and Poor Healthcare: The Toxic Combination that Threatens Us All
Over the last year the consideration of the social determinants of health has become my greatest professional interest. This shift in my thinking has not been because I have lost interest in or am less committed to the noble ideals and objectives of the Triple Aim,...
Trump’s Genius and Knowing What Divides Our Righteous Minds in Politics and Healthcare
Someday the presidency of Donald Trump will be a subject for historians. Whatever historians say, I am sure that they will begin the story long before we thought of Trump’s bid for the presidency as anything more than a joke.  The story will not begin with a review of...
Applying Dr. King’s Dream to Healthcare in 2018
Not much has changed in the experience of many since Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr In the days before the fiftieth anniversary...
Between Is and Ought
I have been reading/listening to Martin Buber’s classic work I and Thou (Ich und Du). I was encouraged to returned to this difficult book after several years by Ezra Klein’s podcast of a conversation with Jaron Lanier, one of the pioneers of virtual reality and the...Case Study – Elizabeth Mcarthy
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