Full Description
Proven solutions to transform a healthcare system in crisis
Part biography and part clear-eyed examination of a healthcare system in crisis, Hospital, Heal Thyself: One Brilliant Mathematician's Proven Plan for Saving Hospitals, Many Lives. and Billions of Dollars tells the story of enigmatic healthcare visionary Eugene Litvak, whose research and strategies have already been implemented at many top 12-ranked hospitals to save hundreds of millions of dollars and countless thousands of patient lives. While U.S. healthcare costs continue to skyrocket, Litvak's program described in this book offers tested, effective methods to trim those costs while simultaneously improving patient outcomes.
Written by veteran prize-winning healthcare journalist Mark Taylor, this book includes compelling discussion on:
How hospital and emergency room overcrowding has harmful and potentially deadly effects on patients and staff
How Litvak's algorithms and complex mathematical theories help hospitals staff appropriately to safely manage patient flow
How applying Litvak's unique patient flow interventions improves nurse retention in an era of mass nurse exodus
Litvak's methods have been proven to work in the best hospitals in America and the world. Studies in the top medical journals confirm their success in reducing medical errors; hospital and emergency room overcrowding; nurse and physician burnout and stress and patient mortality rates. They've saved millions of dollars for each hospital adopting them, while improving patient satisfaction and outcomes, nurse retention, hospital efficiency and addressing healthcare disparities and inequities.
Distilling complex ideas into accessible language, Hospital, Heal Thyself: A Mathematician's Proven Plan for Saving American Hospitals Many Lives and Billions of Dollars is a timely, essential read for all medical practitioners and healthcare administrators and staff who want to play their part in transforming modern healthcare, and the world, for the better.
Contents
Preface xiii
1 How One Hospital Adopted Litvak's Methods and Saved $100 Million 1
2 The Human Toll 13
3 A System in Chaos: US Healthcare at a Crossroad 21
4 The Soviet Years: Maybe I Wasn't Supposed to Be Born 31
5 The Litvak Method: A Massachusetts Hospital Became His Test Lab 75
6 A New Research Center as Emergency Department Overcrowding Grows: Finally, the Media Notices 99
7 Physician Burnout and More Hospital Successes 129
8 The Rest of the Hospital and Healthcare 149
9 The Clinic Was Going to Fold 165
10 The Rest of the World Comes Knocking 177
11 Making Change Happen: How to Speed Hospital Adoption of Litvak's Methods 191
Epilogue 203
What You Can Do Now 209
Notes 217
Acknowledgments 247
About the Author 249
Index 251
