Overhauling the patient experience can be one of the most challenging hurdles that a health system can undertake. Honoring the work that clinicians have done in the past, while also gaining buy-in for future transformation can be a very small needle to thread. Despite the difficulties that come with a top-to-bottom transformation of a health system, it can often lead to better outcomes for every stakeholder in the healthcare ecosystem.
On this episode of In Network’s Designing for Health podcast feature, Nordic Chief Medical Officer Craig Joseph, MD, chats with Gary Kaplan, MD, CEO emeritus of Virginia Mason Franciscan Health. They discuss how Dr. Kaplan spearheaded a revolution in the patient experience at Virginia Mason, how a car company headquartered on the other side of the world inspired transformational change, and how his organization gained from openness and honesty in the face of adversity.
To learn more about Dr. Kaplan and Virginia Mason’s journey, check out the book Transforming Health Care – Virginia Mason Medical Center’s Pursuit of the Perfect Patient Experience by Charles Kenney.
You can find complete show notes on the originally published article on Nordic’s blog.
Meet the Host
Craig Joseph, MD
Chief Medical Officer
LinkedIn: Craig Joseph MD, FAAP, FAMIA
X: @CraigJoseph
Read his articles
Dr. Joseph is the Chief Medical Officer of Nordic Consulting Partners, a global healthcare management consulting firm. Craig has 30 years of healthcare and IT experience. In addition to practicing medicine as a primary care pediatrician for eight years, he worked for Epic for six-plus years and has served as chief medical information officer at multiple healthcare organizations, using both Cerner and Epic.
Craig is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and American Medical Informatics Association. He remains actively board-certified in both pediatrics and clinical informatics.
About the Show
When it comes to how healthcare works in the U.S., one wonders, who designed it? Well, no one. And that’s the problem. Dr. Craig Joseph speaks with luminaries from across the health ecosystem about how to make healthcare work for humans. The upshot? The way out of the frustrating, expensive, and frequently ineffective quagmire of the U.S. healthcare system is to take a step back and bring intentional, human-centered design to an ecosystem that works for the people giving and receiving care.
Follow the show’s social hashtag #DesigningforHealth.