RWL Newsletter #28
Greetings from Durham! I am a day late in releasing this week's newsletter because my computer crashed yesterday and, well that just overwhelmed my day.
So yesterday we had a change of the national executive. As a student of political economy, regardless of how you feel about the old leader or the new leader, it's no small thing that the change of leadership happened without bloodshed. In human history, this is an anomaly and it is one that we have come to take for granted in the West. I realize that some of you who are reading this may have participated in various protest marches, but the fact that those seem to be peaceful is a testament to how far we have come as a society.
Read
What: EXECUTIVE ORDER, MINIMIZING THE ECONOMIC BURDEN OF THE PATIENT PROTECTION AND AFFORDABLE CARE ACT PENDING REPEAL
http://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000159-be90-da97-a9dd-bed5de1b0002
Why: On his first day in office, Mr. Trump issued this executive order. There is plenty of interpretation by news outlets about what it means (I liked this one from FiveThirtyEight), but there's something special about the fact that we live in an open society where things like laws, regulations, and executive orders are public. That's a thing that is also an anomoly in human history. While our government is far from perfect, it's so much better than what existed in the past, and transparency is one of those things that ensures this improvement. So I recommend you read the actual order - it's only a couple of paragraphs. By actually reading these documents, we help to maintain transparency.
For those of you who have not worked in government, this is a significant order. When I was working in the military, if this sort of order came down, it triggered serious efforts as is appropriate, whether you agreed with the order or not. While the Executive Branch cannot change law passed by Congress, it can exercise a great deal of discretion where Congress has not been explicit about execution, and Trump is being quite clear about how he wants the discretion exercised. He could essentially undo the mandate by using the authority of the Sec HHS to grant hardship exemptions to everyone who asks for one. The amount of discretion built into the ACA was a flaw in my opinion, and Trump is about to show everyone just how much of a flaw it is, I suspect.
Watch
What: TEDMed, Lieutenant General Patricia Horoho, Confront harm and prevent medical casualties
https://youtu.be/m3wzAEKy-HU
Why: I was Googling around looking for an interesting video to share and I was pleasantly surprised to find a TEDMed talk by my former boss, LTG Horoho. She mentions during her talk that she was the CEO of a community hospital - I was her CFO at that community hospital. She was (still is, I'm sure) a charismatic and personal leader and a very good speaker. I'm pleased to share this video.
"The problem is we ignore the errors." When she took command as the Surgeon General and Commander of the US Army Medical Command, she started our journey toward being a high reliability organization (HRO). This is a good talk about the need to deal with medical errors at the system level.
Listen
What: Health Leader Forge interview with Gary R. Ulicny, PhD, President and CEO of the Shepherd Center
http://healthleaderforge.blogspot.com/2017/01/gary-r-ulicny-phd-president-and-chief.html
Why: The Shepherd Center is the largest rehabilitation hospital in the US. Gary has been the CEO for 22 years and is coming to the end of his career, so it was a real privilege to retrace his journey from a special education teacher for the profoundly disabled to where he is today. He's got a great story. If he hadn't been bitten by a water moccasin, he might not have become CEO. You have to listen to the interview to get that part of the story.
That's it for this week! Have a happy and safe New Year and I'll talk to you again next year!
If you find these links interesting, won’t you tell a friend? They can subscribe here: https://tinyletter.com/markbonica
I' d love to hear what you think of these suggestions, and I'd love to get suggestions from you. Feel free to drop me a line by e-mail, or you can tweet to me at @bonicatalent .
Thanks for reading and see you next week!
Mark
Mark J. Bonica, Ph.D., MBA, MS
Assistant Professor
Department of Health Management and Policy
University of New Hampshire
(603) 862-0598
mark.bonica@unh.edu
Health Leader Forge Podcast: http://healthleaderforge.org
Twitter: @bonicatalent
"I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavor." - Henry David Thoreau
That's it for this week! Have a happy and safe New Year and I'll talk to you again next year!
If you find these links interesting, won’t you tell a friend? They can subscribe here: https://tinyletter.com/markbonica
I' d love to hear what you think of these suggestions, and I'd love to get suggestions from you. Feel free to drop me a line by e-mail, or you can tweet to me at @bonicatalent .
Thanks for reading and see you next week!
Mark
Mark J. Bonica, Ph.D., MBA, MS
Assistant Professor
Department of Health Management and Policy
University of New Hampshire
(603) 862-0598
mark.bonica@unh.edu
Health Leader Forge Podcast: http://healthleaderforge.org
Twitter: @bonicatalent
"I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavor." - Henry David Thoreau
That's it for this week! Have a happy and safe New Year and I'll talk to you again next year!
If you find these links interesting, won’t you tell a friend? They can subscribe here: https://tinyletter.com/markbonica
I' d love to hear what you think of these suggestions, and I'd love to get suggestions from you. Feel free to drop me a line by e-mail, or you can tweet to me at @bonicatalent .
Thanks for reading and see you next week!
Mark
Mark J. Bonica, Ph.D., MBA, MS
Assistant Professor
Department of Health Management and Policy
University of New Hampshire
(603) 862-0598
mark.bonica@unh.edu
Health Leader Forge Podcast: http://healthleaderforge.org
Twitter: @bonicatalent
"I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavor." - Henry David Thoreau