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
    improving patient experience
    6 Ways to Improve Patient Satisfaction Within Hospitals
    December 1, 2021
    degree for healthcare job
    What Are The Health Benefits Of Having A Degree?
    March 9, 2022
    custom software development is changing healthcare
    Digital Customer Journey Mapping and its Importance for Healthcare
    July 21, 2022
    Latest News
    Grounded Healing: A Natural Ally for Sustainable Healthcare Systems
    May 16, 2025
    Learn how to Renew your Medical Card in West Virginia
    May 16, 2025
    Choosing the Right Supplement Manufacturer for Your Brand
    May 1, 2025
    Engineering Temporary Hospitals for Extreme Weather
    April 24, 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
    Can Thinking Younger Make You Live Longer?
    April 20, 2011
    Image
    Obesity’s Outlook Unchanged
    June 13, 2011
    When It’s An Emergency Elderly Not Treated As Well in Hospitals
    July 16, 2011
    Latest News
    Building Smarter Care Teams: Aligning Roles, Structure, and Clinical Expertise
    May 18, 2025
    The Critical Role of Healthcare in Personal Injury Recovery: A Comprehensive Guide for Victims
    May 14, 2025
    The Backbone of Successful Trials: Clinical Data Management
    April 28, 2025
    Advancing Your Healthcare Career through Education and Specialization
    April 16, 2025
  • Medical Innovations
  • News
  • Wellness
  • Tech
Search
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Perspective: The State of Patient Experience [Podcast]
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 > Policy & Law > Public Health > Perspective: The State of Patient Experience [Podcast]
Public Health

Perspective: The State of Patient Experience [Podcast]

Stewart Gandolf
Last updated: March 15, 2016 3:05 pm
Stewart Gandolf
Share
6 Min Read
James Merlino, MD
SHARE

James Merlino, MDJames Merlino, MD

[Leadership Podcast Series] In this conversation with Stewart Gandolf, CEO of Healthcare Success, Dr. James Merlino, president and chief medical officer of the strategic consulting division at Press Ganey provides an insightful perspective on healthcare’s evolving landscape, significant leadership issues and the state of patient experience.

James Merlino, MDJames Merlino, MD

[Leadership Podcast Series] In this conversation with Stewart Gandolf, CEO of Healthcare Success, Dr. James Merlino, president and chief medical officer of the strategic consulting division at Press Ganey provides an insightful perspective on healthcare’s evolving landscape, significant leadership issues and the state of patient experience.

More Read

Gadzooks! There’s Gluten in my Cheerios!
The Traditional Patient “Sick Role” Is A Major Barrier To High Quality Health Care
Smart Vending Machines Use Facial Recognition
5 Aspects of CMS’s 2015 Proposed IPPS Regulations
Immuno-oncology: The Challenging Road Ahead

Prior to joining Press Ganey, Dr. James Merlino—also a practicing surgeon—was the Chief Experience Officer of the Cleveland Clinic Health System. In this leadership podcast, Dr. Merlino draws on his practical and diverse knowledge and experience and speaks with us about contemporary issues for hospitals and the nation’s health care delivery system.

listen now podcast interview

Among today’s topics, Stewart Gandolf and Dr. Merlino discuss patient safety as a strategic priority, transparency in healthcare, healthcare reform and patient experience. Some highlights include:

ON PATIENT SAFETY AS A STRATEGIC PRIORITY:

In the United States, patient safety and quality of care are among the most significant issues. And while hospitals have made tremendous improvements in patient safety, much more remains to be accomplished. If you treat patient safety as if it were a disease, it would be the third leading cause of death in the United States.

“When you look at organizations that have achieved high performance and high reliability like the airline industry, the reality is that [the hospital industry] can be more like them. We can do a better job of delivering safer healthcare. We have to standardize more of what we’re doing, we have to elevate reduction of harm to a top strategic priority, we have to make safety an uncompromisable core value of our organization. We have to do more to protect people.”

ON TRANSPARENCY IN HEALTHCARE:

Healthcare has made a lot of progress on the topic of transparency—more and more organizations are transparent in their information—but we still have a lot of work to do. There’s more and more information available, and when we are transparent about it, it drives change.

Dr. Merlino observed that transparency applies to accolades as well as opportunities. At the University of Utah, for example, when doctors’ scores and comments were published on their website, several things happened.

First, the scores improved. Second, the doctors had many, many more positive comments than negative comments; and they liked seeing their positive comments out there. And third, it had a significant impact on their brand because it changed the search dynamics on a site like Google.

ON HEALTHCARE REFORM:

“The bottom line is that healthcare reform has fundamentally brought some good things to healthcare. The thing that I get excited about is the focus, finally, on metrics that matter.

“For example, this has taken things that are really important to patients—things like safety, equality, the service experience—and it has linked provider performance to reimbursement. And that is driving significant attention and change in healthcare.”

ON HOW ORGANIZATIONS PRIORITIZE CRITICAL ISSUES:

A significant insight is that, “you can list the top issues that hospitals across the county are paying attention to today. But it was somewhat surprising for me to find that the priority of those issues is very different. Some organizations are focused on market share, some are focused on safety, and some have elevated patient experience to the top [of the list].

“But what is most surprising to me is just how differently organizations approach problems. The variability of how organizations execute a solution is fascinating. There are a lot of “right ways” to do things, but the variability of approach is striking.”

For more in this series…

Additional podcasts and previous Healthcare Success leadership conversations are available on this page. For other podcast conversations with Dr. Merlino, listen to:

  • Service Fanatics: Required Reading for Superior Patient Experience
  • Leadership First, and other Critical Lessons to Improve Patient Experience

# # #

Dr. James Merlino is president and chief medical officer of the strategic consulting division at Press Ganey. As an accomplished surgeon and industry leader in improving the patient experience, Jim draws from more than two decades of health care experience to oversee Press Ganey’s consultancy division. Prior to joining Press Ganey, Jim served as chief experience officer and associate chief of staff at the Cleveland Clinic health system, and as a colorectal surgeon at the Clinic’s Digestive Disease Institute, where he continues to practice. 

Author information

Stewart Gandolf
Stewart Gandolf
Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder at Healthcare Success Strategies
Stewart Gandolf, MBA, is CEO of Healthcare Success, a medical marketing and health care advertising agency. He is also a frequent writer and speaker. Most importantly, he is happily married and a “rock-n-roll daddy” to two wonderful girls.
TwitterGoogle+LinkedIn

The post Perspective: The State of Patient Experience [Podcast] appeared first on Healthcare Success.

TAGGED:Patient Experiencepodcast
Share This Article
Facebook Copy Link Print
Share

Stay Connected

1.5kFollowersLike
4.5kFollowersFollow
2.8kFollowersPin
136kSubscribersSubscribe

Latest News

Clinical Expertise
Building Smarter Care Teams: Aligning Roles, Structure, and Clinical Expertise
Health care
May 18, 2025
Grounded Healing: A Natural Ally for Sustainable Healthcare Systems
Grounded Healing: A Natural Ally for Sustainable Healthcare Systems
Health
May 15, 2025
Learn how to Renew your Medical Card in West Virginia
Learn how to Renew your Medical Card in West Virginia
Health
May 15, 2025
Dr. Klaus Rentrop Shares Acute Myocardial Infarction heart treatment
Dr. Klaus Rentrop Shares Acute Myocardial Infarction
Cardiology
May 13, 2025

You Might also Like

Racial Disparities in Health Care: The Hundred Years’ War

May 18, 2011

Man Bites Police Dog Then Sues

April 15, 2011

Personalized Prevention, Part I

February 23, 2012

Healthcare Innovation: Moving from Stewardship to Leadership

September 9, 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?