MD/MBA Careers in Academic Medical Centers

This morning at the Association of MD/MBA Programs (AMMP) 8th Annual Conference, Peter Slavin, MD, MBA (President of Massachusetts General Hospital and Professor of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School) gave a great presentation about health care management this morning.

He started his presentation by emphasizing the importance of work/life balance. We all need to be reminded of that, don't we?

So, here are some of the key management challenges:

• Operations
• Finances
• Quality/patient safety
• Research
• Education
• Public policy

He went into 3 case studies and I'll highlight some of the points from these case studies:

1) Medical Management:  CMS Demonstration Project at MGH

• 3-year demonstration project that began in 8/1/06 to reduce costs under the Medicare fee-for-service program
• Part of a broader effort to redesign Medicare
• Care coordination for those who are consuming the vast majority of health care resources
• Goals: improve quality of care, patient/provider satisfaction, and reduce costs
• 19 primary care practices with 190+ PCPs, 2,500 Medicare patients, total annual cost was $68M
• Mass customization: services to fit patient needs (end-of-life management, psych/social interventions, transitions of care)
• 90% of patients enrolled, 100% retention of case managers
• Data shows: lower costs, fewer admissions, lower mortality, greater use of hospice
• Extended for 3 more years by the CMS and expanding into additional Harvard hospitals.

2) Innovation and Technology in Health Care: Cancer genotyping

• Real-time screening
• Mutational profiling in lung and colorectal cancers, seeing a broad range of mutations

3) Quality and Safety: Patient monitors - a sentinel event

• Feb 21, 2010 in the Boston Globe front page: "MGH death spurs review of patient monitors"
• Root cause analysis revealed 3 root causes
• Established short-term and long-term responses

Some of the questions from the audience focused around:

• Health care reform thoughts?
• Rotations in medical management for residents (and medical students)?
• Greatest challenges? (work/life balance)
• Thoughts about accountable care organizations?

Make sure to return in a few weeks to find a hyperlink to Dr. Slavin's slide presentation.