Post written by Lori A. Mallory, CEO of Kansas City Internal Medicine

Isn’t this image GREAT?  What a joy to be in SUPERHERO garb and ready to conquer the world.  This blog post is a tribute to all of the everyday SUPERHEROS that “protect and serve” our community, specifically those in our medical practice!

Serving my career in the health care industry, I can tell you that there are SUPERHEROS that show up every day. Super “powers” include a smile, a hug, a listening ear, and always a spirit of service to our patients. KCIM patients have to be the luckiest in the city because I see first-hand the care level of the team that serves them. 

Our physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, nutritionists, ultrasound team, nursing team, lab technicians, radiology team,  IT team, front office, business office, call center and management team ALL collaborate to ensure that our patients receive the highest quality of care at every turn. 

Whether a new patient, or a patient that has been with us for our 31+ years, we want you to know that we think about you, and how we can best serve you, all of the time. We have over 130,000 patient visits per year and our goal is for each of those visits to provide an experience that makes you feel like a part of our family.

If you have ideas for how we can get better, more innovative, or provide better care, I’d love to hear them!  Email me at lmallory@kcim.com!  

Post written by Lori Mallory, CEO of Kansas City Internal Medicine

As the region’s largest privately owned internal medicine practice, we have health care PREVENTION as our major goal. In fact, our mission statement, “To be An Ambassador for a Healthy Kansas City,” ensures that this is our primary focus. 

In today’s (Thursday, January 26, 2012) USA TODAY, Glen Stream, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians,” reinforced our view point: “As a country we have too much focus on illness treatment rather than on wellness and prevention, which leads to people having problems that could be avoided.” 

At Kansas City Internal Medicine, we help our patients and our community engage in a lifelong quest toward healthy lifestyles. We are all about feeling good, playing ball and being active with our kids and grandkids, or maybe just our college pals who came out for an alumni game. (I will have to say that the 1986 Alpha Sigma Alpha, CMSU team were the #1 Flag Football Champions…Now that is an achievement to remember!)

With that as the backdrop, I have identified three keys to kicking off 2012 with a focus on PREVENTION!

1. As the USA TODAY article outlined so well, PUT IT ON YOUR CALENDAR!  We all know how our days, months and years become full. I encourage you to take some time today to go ahead and put your annual physical on your calendar, as well as other health related appointments, including dental and eye exams. 

You will know best your personal needs, (for example, if you have history of skin issues, go ahead and schedule that dermatology visit as well…).  If you want to get really focused, go ahead and plug in what days each week you will exercise.  I did that last year and it is amazing how much accountability that brings.

2. SET YOUR HEALTH GOALS!  This again is different for each one of us. I personally want to walk/run a ½ marathon this year, and commit to eating healthier. Taking the cookies and brownies out of the equation I feel will help me have more long term energy. In addition, I downloaded an app on my smartphone called “Walk, Jog, Run” that gives me a detailed plan for working up to my goal.  Again, that accountability is great, as well as experts guiding me through a nearly fool-proof plan. Some other tools that are top on a recent search for preventive health include:

a.      US Preventive Medicine- Macaw

b.      SparkPeople: Create diet plans that concentrate on nutrition

c.       Health and Fitness Mobile: Provides workout videos, tips, and articles.

d.      iRx, for patients to get information from the FDA on a variety of drugs.

e.      Lab Tests: Helps clearly explain lab values.

3. BUILD AN ACCOUNABILITY TEAM! So, now you have it on your calendar and you have set your goals. Now the next key to success is to tell someone!  Yep, that is right, tell one or more folks that you care about and that care about you that you are trying to focus on STAYING HEALTHY instead of GETTING WELL. Ask them to be your fan club and to hold you accountable.

IRON SHARPENS IRON! This is by far one of the coolest phrases ever!  It is so cool because it is SO very true!  I am a big fan of learning from others and surrounding myself with excellence.  As a practice, we also like to surround ourselves with excellence in all areas possible.  If we are to truly continue to be the best, we have to be diligent about that goal.  We all do in life if we want to be excellent.

To be consistent with my other “newer” blog posts, I am going to attempt to give you three terrific reasons to spend some time with those who make you “sharper!” 

#1 PEOPLE MATTER!                                       
Any leader knows that your people are the arrows in your quiver!  They are your magic weapons, special powers and the key to your success.  The more time you spend with them, and sharing ideas, collaborating, etc. the more powerful your team becomes.

#2  WE ALL NEED SHARPENED                 
As Albert Einstein quoted, “Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.”  Questioning leads to learning, and learning leads to growth and innovation.  The great news is there are incredible sources of information out there today with terrific blogs, websites, etc. 

#3 IT’S FUN!                                                     
My best days are when I have time to openly brainstorm, “think through” and dream with my team or some of our terrific business partners.  Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to do that in a focus group we had in the practice with some of our key partners and even one of the key founders of our practice, Dr. Al Biggs. 

It was fantastic to listen to others share their opinions and ideas and in the end that conversation will make KCIM a better place. 

I encourage you to be “sharpened” by others in your quest for personal excellence in whatever you happen to be doing to make this world a better place! 

This image gives me the feeling of climbing that last, and grueling few feet to get to the top of the proverbial mountain top.  It is pushing toward the end of the year, and whether it is a new year’s goal set 11 months ago, or a corporate goal to achieve certain metric(s), I would like to think that all of us are striving for ongoing improvement.  Improvement in how we serve, how we live and improvement in how we take care of those things and people important to us!

I would like to share three strategies for achieving your personal goals that I have found powerful.  My hope is that they will add value to you, as you REACH for your year-end goals.

#1 SPREAD GOOD ENERGY!                                      
Don’t you just love being around people that bring GOOD ENERGY and make you feel like a better person hours after you have left their presence.  Do whatever it takes to bottle up that good energy and SPREAD it. 

I call it “spreading JOY” here in our offices….Send a quick email, a handwritten note, or even a text or voice message to let those you know that you value them.  It is so much fun to work and live with people that make each other better!

#2 BE INTENTIONAL WITH YOUR TIME!                 
We all know that having a good work ethic is critical to ultimate success, however, we are easily distracted during the holiday’s weeks by parties, gatherings, evening events, family activities, and you name it….

I encourage you to plan for your success. That means taking time to put into your calendar time for whatever goals you are trying to reach. If it is a balance, then be sure add time to exercise, planned meal time, family time and work time.  You can truly live “well” by working this plan consistently.

#3 USE YOUR RESOURCES!                                       
I absolutely love social media tools, because they allow me to filter through literally hundreds of great ideas, and sometimes in one day or one hour.  Using the collective knowledge of the universe allows me to be better. 

The greatest innovators, thinkers, leaders, teachers, etc.  provide us with an endless amount of knowledge that can help us achieve our goals!  USE THEM, USE THEM, USE THEM!  I am sure you love sharing your knowledge, so please remember that you ARE NOT ALONE in your quest.  Gain power from others and it will propel you toward your goals faster.  (Oh and by the way, if you don’t love social media, then a good old fashioned trip across the hall to ask for help and seek knowledge and wisdom is a great place to start!)

In the end, it is all about achieving well.  I’ll be here cheering you on!

Other than the breakout sessions, which take a deep dive into all things health care reform and the changing infrastructure of how health care is delivered, the keynote sessions focused on people and technology.

I would guess that no matter at what point in time you ask to identify the top challenges of any generation, you might arrive at the same two answers. Interesting.

The meat and potatoes of Cam Marston’s session was the major role the boomers are having on a health care system that is not ready to take on their needs, as well as the power (due to their size) of the millenials, who are characterized as 31 years old and younger. The health care imperative is that we are dealing with multiple generations of caregivers and understanding what drives people will be a key to success in managing needs.

Marcus Buckingham has a simple theory that is easy to understand, although it may require some discipline to ensure that it is always remembered: “You are the most productive and the most creative in those areas where you have natural strength.”

He proposed a nifty personality-type tool called “Standout” that classifies you. The whole idea of “catching excellence and reflecting it back,” is no doubt solid. The difficult part is changing our focus from developing weaknesses to driving strengths to higher levels.

Presenter Eric Dishman was able to bring home the idea of the critical role of rethinking technology in order to meet the needs of our communities. The crux of this focus was in driving care to a home-based model, where there is evidence that patient compliance and better outcomes often are the result. Dishman is the director of health innovation and policy for Intel’s Digital Health Group. Good stuff.

In the end, I am reminded — as you all should be — that the focus should be on our No. 1 resource, our people, and providing the tools to engage and empower, or technology.

Kansas City Internal Medicine recognizes that the strong and growing trend to transform our nation from a largely paper-based medical record to an electronic model can help patients receive necessary and timely medical care, reduce medical errors and enable public health officials to more quickly identify and respond to threats from naturally occurring diseases and potential bio-terror attacks. 

Like our existing practice goals, our goal with this new division is to take the high quality care we deliver 'on the road,' and provide concierge type services to our community employers," said, Keith Jantz, M.D., President.

OK, so what was the conversation?

My team is discussing the need for a more in-depth attendance policy. Apparently, we have some managers who would like more guidelines to follow … a play-by-play GPS to managing those detractors who are having a hard time getting to work each day, if you will. To me, I read that to mean: more rules.

I am not a rule maker; I am a rule breaker. Not in the sense of the law, but in the sense of challenging the status quo. So, I challenged my director, based on culture.

She admitted: “I am really looking for a corporate crutch.”

I loved that! Not only is the term great, but the honesty was outstanding.

So, where is the problem in this new proposed policy? Classic: “Corporate Crutch v. Culture.”

To me, my company has an amazing culture. It is worth protecting at every decision point. Culture is worth protecting at every company. It is who you are.

We do have an employee handbook and are not one of those “progressive” companies that feel you can do without any rules. After all, we must abide by the laws our society has placed around us.

So, what is this culture I speak of?

Our culture is the core of who we are: We believe in treating patients, business partners and staff like family. We believe in a good Midwestern work ethic, setting people up to succeed, truly caring, being patient and kind, being innovative, serving as ambassadors for our community, and, finally, believing in each other and our service so much that we give 110 percent every day, both on and off the job!

Do we need more rules, or does this go against our culture?

In my opinion, the answer is that it might. If we can do a better job of managing those detractors without establishing new rules, that is my preference. We should consider our hiring practices. Do we have the right people on the bus? (Reference: “Good to Great,” by Jim Collins) If not, we should manage those folks off the bus. Do the 95 percent-plus of the people who do a great job every day really need another rule to follow? Just some questions to pique your thinking….

I wonder if we are going to start having shopping homes, automobile homes … . It just seems plain strange!

Medical home, however, is a concept that is in the news frequently and will be receiving more press as the months go by. It is all a part of a national focus on improving health, so I would think that paying attention is a good idea. So here goes a short primer on the medical home.

I thought I’d start with the basics. According to Wikipedia, the medical home, also known as the patient-centered medical home (PCMH) is defined as “an approach to providing comprehensive primary care that facilitates partnerships between individual patients, their physician and, when appropriate, the patient’s family.”

More simply, the medical home will most likely be a medical practice that coordinates and provides for your medical needs and has put together a team approach to ensure an excellent and complete health care experience.

Who is on this team?

• You
• Your primary doctor
• Your primary nursing staff and office staff
• Care coordinator
• Urgent care
• Midlevel providers/educators
• Dietitian services
• Subspecialists, when appropriate

Why should I care if I am a part of a medical home?

Simply said, because you want to be sure that someone is holding you accountable for maximizing your health. (Come to think of it, I might benefit from having someone holding me accountable for my exercising schedule and eating habit. Gotta love Wednesday family Mexican food night!)

More specifically, a medical home will work with you to ensure your best possible health. Some specifics include:

• Preventive health — being proactive to keep you healthy
• Yearly complete history review and physical examination
• Yearly recommended laboratory and other ancillary studies appropriate for your age and health status
• Ensure preventive care, including immunizations, is up to date
• Provide educational opportunities for living a healthy lifestyle
• Online resources
• In-house educational programming
• Dietitian
• Classes on a variety of topics
• Aggressive education and treatment for chronic health conditions
• Care coordination with your physician and you
• For chronic health conditions, your personal advocate
• Follow-up of emergency room and hospital visits to ensure all needs are addressed
• Strong focus on education for chronic conditions
• In-house educational opportunities, individual and group
• Online resources through our website
• Referral to excellent outside educational class opportunities

A medical home also will offer you improved access and communication, including:

• Patient surveys to continue improving processes and services
• Expanded hours
• Increased access to same-day appointments with physicians and midlevel providers
• Possibly a patient portal, offering such online services as bill payment, prescription refill requests and lab results

According to the National Committee for Quality Assurance    (NCQA), pretty much considered the governing authority on certification programs for health care processes, PCMH is an established model of care coordination. Medical practices can receive accreditation as a PCMH, which I will tell you is not easy, and that I am proud of our team for recently achieving the highest level (level 3) via NCQA. In Kansas City, those certified in the past 18 months, include: Clay Platte Family Medicine; Encompass Medical Group; BarryPoint Family Care; KU Med West; and Kansas City Internal Medicine.

Most, if not all of these practices, had the support of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City in achieving this recognition.

It truly has been a terrific collaboration, where a major local player such as Blue Cross has taken on a leadership role to demonstrate its legitimate interest in serving Kansas City, not only as an insurer, but as a partner in creating a healthier and higher quality of health care for our population.

It is hoped that the medical home model will provide better access to health care, increase satisfaction with care and, in the end, improve health outcomes for our patient populations. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that?

Thanks to the leadership of the current Chairman Greg Graves and President and CEO Jim Heeter, the chamber is taking on the task of pulling our region (bistate KC metropolitan area) together by identifying five goals that we can all truly circle around. These ideas were clustered into the major categories of economic systems, health systems, arts/culture/sports, urbanization/demographic systems, education systems, transportation/infrastructure, selling/marketing the region and governance.

I have been fortunate to be born and raised in Kansas City, and I will tell you there is nothing us Midwest folk cannot do when we set our minds to something worthy.

After the meeting, I had every reason to believe that, with the energy in the room toward collaboration in our region, the momentum is strong enough to pull this off. What was genuinely cool about this exercise was that the team gathered and continued to hold everyone accountable for the premise that these ideas had to promote the region, and not simply one particular part of the city. We even started with an exercise in which everyone mapped where they live, work and play.

The point was well made that each of us uses the amenities (if you will) of the entire region.

I, for one, live in Overland Park, work in Kansas and Missouri and play at the stadiums, City Market , Zoo, Power & Light, Sprint Center, Legends and Livestrong Sporting Park.

We truly do use the entire city, and that was true for most in attendance.

The group was able to narrow down the list and the Top 5 will be selected very soon. I can assure you that the process was well done, and I am certain everyone in our community will have the opportunity, if they desire, to get engaged and make a difference for many years to come.

Here’s to building excellence into everything we do and leaving a legacy for our children and those that come of a terrific Kansas City!