By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
  • Health
    • Mental Health
    Health
    Healthcare organizations are operating on slimmer profit margins than ever. One report in August showed that they are even lower than the beginning of the…
    Show More
    Top News
    physical health
    5 Ways Playing Games Can Improve Neural and Physical Health
    September 9, 2022
    Reasons For Hair Loss and Its Treatment
    Reasons For Hair Loss and Its Treatment
    February 16, 2022
    healthcare organization
    5 Actionable Strategies For Healthcare Organizations
    August 15, 2022
    Latest News
    7 Most Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs: Which Should You Use?
    August 20, 2025
    Hospital Pest Control and the Fight Against Superbugs
    August 20, 2025
    Hygiene Beyond The Clinic: Attention To Overlooked Non-Clinical Spaces
    August 13, 2025
    5 Steps to a Promising Career as a Healthcare Administrator
    August 3, 2025
  • Policy and Law
    • Global Healthcare
    • Medical Ethics
    Policy and Law
    Get the latest updates about Insurance policies and Laws in the Healthcare industry for different geographical locations.
    Show More
    Top News
    4 Reasons Chris Cornell’s Death Raises Medical Ethics Questions
    December 19, 2018
    What If You Could Sell Your Vote?
    August 24, 2017
    The Sleepy American
    September 12, 2017
    Latest News
    How Social Security Disability Shapes Access to Care and Everyday Health
    August 22, 2025
    How a DUI Lawyer Can Help When Your Future Health Feels Uncertain
    August 22, 2025
    How One Fall Can Lead to a Long Road of Medical Complications
    August 22, 2025
    How IT and Marketing Teams Can Collaborate to Protect Patient Trust
    July 17, 2025
  • Medical Innovations
  • News
  • Wellness
  • Tech
Search
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Leadership First, and Other Critical Lessons to Improve Patient Experience
Share
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Health Works Collective > Business > Hospital Administration > Leadership First, and Other Critical Lessons to Improve Patient Experience
BusinessHospital Administration

Leadership First, and Other Critical Lessons to Improve Patient Experience

Stewart Gandolf
Stewart Gandolf
Share
6 Min Read
James Merlino profile photo
SHARE

James Merlino profile photoIn our continuing series of leadership interviews, Stewart Gandolf, CEO of Healthcare Success talks with Dr. James Merlino, Chief Experience Officer and Associate Chief of Staff for the Cleveland Clinic.

James Merlino profile photoIn our continuing series of leadership interviews, Stewart Gandolf, CEO of Healthcare Success talks with Dr. James Merlino, Chief Experience Officer and Associate Chief of Staff for the Cleveland Clinic.

A fundamental success factor for improving patient experience in any organization is a “from-the-top” mandate, Dr. James Merlino told us. As evidence, Cleveland Clinic transformed itself into a respected leader in improving patient experience.

In our podcast today, Stewart Gandolf and Dr. Merlino discussed leadership and other critical success factors for improving the patient experience:

More Read

Who Leads Whom?
How Performance Programs Will Transform Healthcare
Health Care Buzz Today
The GOP Replacement Plan: Common-Sense Consumer Protections?
Effective Healthcare Campaigns Start With These 4 Elements

14 150x143 Leadership First, and other Critical Lessons to Improve Patient Experience

  • 2014 Patient Experience Summit: Leadership and other Critical Lessons for Success
  • Cleveland Clinic Speaker Series: James Merlino, MD, Chief Experience Officer

“It’s critical,” Dr. Merlino said. “The CEO, the president, or whoever is the top leader, is critical to making the patient experience happen. If Doctor Cosgrove [CEO and President] at Cleveland Clinic didn’t own responsibility for this, it wouldn’t change. The only individual who has scope to mandate change everywhere is the top person.”

Just ahead of this year’s Patient Experience Summit (May 18-21), Dr. Merlino provides our listeners with several exceptional insights about success in any organization. These include:

What Patient Experience is (and isn’t) about…

At Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Merlino explained, “patient experience is not about making patients happy; it is about how we deliver care. And that impacts safety and quality. “If you touch processes that impact all three areas—safety, quality and satisfaction—you drive value and effectiveness. And that’s the point. This is about how we deliver care. It is about the experience of care. It is not about patients being satisfied; it is about safety, quality and satisfaction—they are linked.”

Patient Experience is a high-level initiative…

Hospitals that are struggling with improvements don’t have the CEO or president’s mandate. Conversely, Dr. Merlino said, “I would point to the organizations that do it well…if you talk with their leaders, they will confirm that it’s an initiative that’s lead by the top person.”

Advice for getting started…

You have to begin tomorrow. “I don’t think you can tackle the entire experience as a global problem. You have to break it down into pieces. This is about how we bring in new processes, how we align our people around a service culture, and how we start to have better conversations with patients. It has to start at the local level and then scale up.”

Our greatest reward is in what patients tell us…

In part, patient experience improvement is reflected in the metrics, and that’s how we lead and manage. “But what is most rewarding here at Cleveland Clinic is the palpable change from our patients. People talk about how we’re different. That’s the most powerful statement because people feel it, they talk about it, they see it. And that, to me, is the greatest reward.”

Future importance is growing…  

“As more people understand how patient experience relates to what they do in healthcare, it will get better traction. But what is clearly helping to drive this is the government’s appropriate focus on it. They are linking the two things—outside of taking care of patients—that doctors and hospitals care about the most, which are public-reported metrics [linked] with reimbursement.

“You’re seeing this not only from the government side, but from the private payor side as well. They are just as interested in the patient experience metrics as the government is. So increasingly you’re going to see more incentives linked around private payors as well.

Benefits of attending the Summit…

“We are excited that this is our fifth year. This will be the largest independent patient experience Summit in the world. We’ll have a huge international presence, and we’re expecting over 1,500 people to attend. What makes this summit unique is, as I say when opening the event, that [we are all] trying to drive improvements in my organization to help patients. And that is what everyone who comes to the Summit is trying to do…to improve their organization to help patients.

Healthcare Success Strategies believes in and supports the Patient Experience Summit. Lonnie Hirsch and I are also honored to be among the speakers, and we encourage you to attend.

# # #

James Merlino, MD, is the Chief Experience Officer of the Cleveland Clinic Health System, and is a practicing staff colorectal surgeon in the Digestive Disease Institute. He is also the founder and current president of the Association for Patient Experience. As a member of the Clinic’s executive team, he leads initiatives to improve the patient experience across the Cleveland Clinic Health System.

 

TAGGED:cleveland clinicPatient Experience
Share This Article
Facebook Copy Link Print
Share

Stay Connected

1.5kFollowersLike
4.5kFollowersFollow
2.8kFollowersPin
136kSubscribersSubscribe

Latest News

travel nurse in north carolina
Balancing Speed and Scope: Choosing the Nursing Degree That Fits Your Goals
Nursing
September 1, 2025
intimacy
How to Keep Intimacy Comfortable as You Age
Relationship and Lifestyle Senior Care
September 1, 2025
engineer fitting prosthetic arm
How Social Security Disability Shapes Access to Care and Everyday Health
Health care
August 20, 2025
a woman explaining the document
How a DUI Lawyer Can Help When Your Future Health Feels Uncertain
Public Health
August 20, 2025

You Might also Like

Bariatric Surgery Linked to Reduced Risk of Cardiovascular Death

January 7, 2012
BusinessSocial Media

Should Government Control Big Pharma Marketing?

March 4, 2011
medicaid
BusinessFinanceHealth ReformHospital AdministrationMedical EthicsPolicy & LawPublic Health

Making a 5% Commitment to Medicaid

November 21, 2013
BusinessSocial Media

3 Reasons For Healthcare Professionals To Use Social Media

April 2, 2012
Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!
Follow US
© 2008-2025 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?