Hi Everyone:
I have waited for this week since I began this blog back on February 9th. I have finally learned of a business where common sense has been implemented and the results are pretty impressive. I read about this in my local Gannett newspaper.
When a treatment goes wrong at a U.S. hospital, fear of a lawsuit means never daring to say you're sorry. That's not the way it works at the University of Michigan Health Care System, where lawyers and doctors say admitting mistakes upfront and offering compensation before being sued have brought about remarkable savings in money, time and feelings.
The University of Michigan Health Care System's unique approach with their admitting mistakes goes well beyond decency and common sense. It has proven to be a shrewd business strategy, according to a 2009 article in the Journal of Health & Life Sciences Law written by Richard Boothman, a malpractice defense lawyer and Chief Risk Officer for the health care system with 18,000 employees and a $1.5 billion annual budget.
Boothman stated that since the new practice was implemented, malpractice claims against his health care system fell from 121 in 2001 to 61 in 2006, while the backlog of open claims went from 262 in 2001 to 106 in 2006 and 83 in 2007. Between 2001 and 2007, the average time to process a claim fell from about 20 months to about eight months. In addition, costs per claim were cut in half and insurance reserves dropped by two-thirds. The health care system's doctors and officials offer to meet with patients and their families, sometimes to explain that treatment was appropriate and sometimes to admit a mistake.
Dr. Joan Reede, dean of the Harvard Medical School, said patients and their families can find great comfort when a doctor promptly admits an error. When you get what you consider to be a sincere apology, you always feel better.
In my opinion, using this common sense approach is a much better way of handling an error rather then the usual alternatives of either denying an error and/or hiding behind a team of defense lawyers. The old way almost certainly creates an atmosphere of wanting some kind of "revenge or getting back".
So I heartily congratulate the University of Michigan Health Care System and award them my very first CSA for their taking the unusual step of using a common sense approach that helps first of all the patient/family and then also their own bottom line.
Common sense rules!
Til next week.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Patience is a virtue?
Hi everyone:
Well it seems that the old adage, patience is a virtue, no longer holds much water in our society. In this age of instant information and instant gratification, patience seems to have fallen by the wayside or at the very least been put on the furthest back burner.
President Obama has been in office for about 6 months. He inherited 2 wars and a terrible economy, compounded by the worst recession since the great depression of 1929. Former President Bush tried to help the economy by giving banks and investment firms about $750 million but without any strings attached. The recipients didn't use to money to lesson the lack of money being loaned, and since their were no strings, the money was horded to only help their bottom lines.
When the October 1929 stock market crash happened, that started a terrible recession which then became the great depression. The federal Government did nothing to help either the American people or the banks that were failing. Instead the government watched from the sidelines as the recession worsened. As it turned out, the lack of government intervention most likely created the perfect ingredients to create what turned into the great depression. The great depression was in full swing by the time that newly elected President Roosevelt took office, for his first term in 1933. Once in office, FDR realized that watching from the sidelines wasn't working and would never work. FDR also realized that government intervention was needed and necessary to help the American people and the ailing US economy.
Jump to present day and President Obama is beginning to try, like FDR in 1933, to help the American people and the ailing economy by using government intervention. As history has showed us, FDR's policies didn't help immediately. It took time for the recovery to begin. Why then are their people out there saying that President Obama's stimulus package isn't working and will fail? What happened to patience is a virtue? Our economy would not and obviously did not turn around after only 3 or 4 months. President Obama even told us on numerous occasions that things would get worse before they will get better. But, there are people who want an instant turn around. That thought process doesn't have any common sense basis to it.
I am not saying that President Obama's plan will or will not work, I am only saying that we have to give it more time. How much more time? I don't know. What I do know is that if we are to learn from history, right now is the perfect time to learn from it. I believe that more time is obviously necessary for the recovery to commence and that the naysayers should also be more patient and not be so premature in their very vocal doomsday message!
I cringe to think about what would happen if the government did nothing except watch from the sidelines. Great depression 2.0?
Common sense rules!
Til next week.
Well it seems that the old adage, patience is a virtue, no longer holds much water in our society. In this age of instant information and instant gratification, patience seems to have fallen by the wayside or at the very least been put on the furthest back burner.
President Obama has been in office for about 6 months. He inherited 2 wars and a terrible economy, compounded by the worst recession since the great depression of 1929. Former President Bush tried to help the economy by giving banks and investment firms about $750 million but without any strings attached. The recipients didn't use to money to lesson the lack of money being loaned, and since their were no strings, the money was horded to only help their bottom lines.
When the October 1929 stock market crash happened, that started a terrible recession which then became the great depression. The federal Government did nothing to help either the American people or the banks that were failing. Instead the government watched from the sidelines as the recession worsened. As it turned out, the lack of government intervention most likely created the perfect ingredients to create what turned into the great depression. The great depression was in full swing by the time that newly elected President Roosevelt took office, for his first term in 1933. Once in office, FDR realized that watching from the sidelines wasn't working and would never work. FDR also realized that government intervention was needed and necessary to help the American people and the ailing US economy.
Jump to present day and President Obama is beginning to try, like FDR in 1933, to help the American people and the ailing economy by using government intervention. As history has showed us, FDR's policies didn't help immediately. It took time for the recovery to begin. Why then are their people out there saying that President Obama's stimulus package isn't working and will fail? What happened to patience is a virtue? Our economy would not and obviously did not turn around after only 3 or 4 months. President Obama even told us on numerous occasions that things would get worse before they will get better. But, there are people who want an instant turn around. That thought process doesn't have any common sense basis to it.
I am not saying that President Obama's plan will or will not work, I am only saying that we have to give it more time. How much more time? I don't know. What I do know is that if we are to learn from history, right now is the perfect time to learn from it. I believe that more time is obviously necessary for the recovery to commence and that the naysayers should also be more patient and not be so premature in their very vocal doomsday message!
I cringe to think about what would happen if the government did nothing except watch from the sidelines. Great depression 2.0?
Common sense rules!
Til next week.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
A Dirty Little Secret
Hi Everyone:
Just this week I learned of a dirty little secret regarding Westchester County, New York's assessment practices.
One's property assessment is the basis for the school, town, county and/or village or city taxes. Obviously the lower the assessment, the lower the taxes will be. So one would think that the assessments are or should be based on fair market value. Not so in Westchester County. The appraisals of condos and co-ops are based on 50% of their market value. Why I do not know. That means that one and two family houses are actually subsidizing the condos and co-ops with higher taxes to make up for the 50% shortfall.
I do not know how long this practice has been going on, but I'm pretty sure that it has happening for a while. I have two problems with this obviously unfair practice. The first is that it does not make common sense to appraise condos and co-ops at 50% and secondly, where is the fairness with this practice? If I owned a home in Westchester County I would raise hell about this. What does this practice do other then put more of a financial strain on the owners of one and two family homes? Why do this in the first place? I would suspect that politicians were definitely involved for some type of political gain. Why else would someone make one group subsidize another? If this practice is old enough there may have even been some kind of greasing the palm (payoff) to implement such an unfair practice.
Common sense and fairness dictates that all properties should be appraised at their fair market value, no more and no less. New York State Senator Suzi Oppenheimer's has written a bill to correct this situation and even the playing field. With the stalemate happening in Albany, New York, (please refer to my 7/6/09 blog), time will tell if this bill makes it to the floor for a vote or even more importantly, will this bill win the majority of votes and become law? Unless this bill is attached to some other silly bill, I think that it should become law and make condo and co-ops pay their fair share of taxes.
I am just amazed at how the lack of common sense especially when not used by politicians can have a serious financial strain on the constituents that they are supposed to be representing.
Til next week.
Just this week I learned of a dirty little secret regarding Westchester County, New York's assessment practices.
One's property assessment is the basis for the school, town, county and/or village or city taxes. Obviously the lower the assessment, the lower the taxes will be. So one would think that the assessments are or should be based on fair market value. Not so in Westchester County. The appraisals of condos and co-ops are based on 50% of their market value. Why I do not know. That means that one and two family houses are actually subsidizing the condos and co-ops with higher taxes to make up for the 50% shortfall.
I do not know how long this practice has been going on, but I'm pretty sure that it has happening for a while. I have two problems with this obviously unfair practice. The first is that it does not make common sense to appraise condos and co-ops at 50% and secondly, where is the fairness with this practice? If I owned a home in Westchester County I would raise hell about this. What does this practice do other then put more of a financial strain on the owners of one and two family homes? Why do this in the first place? I would suspect that politicians were definitely involved for some type of political gain. Why else would someone make one group subsidize another? If this practice is old enough there may have even been some kind of greasing the palm (payoff) to implement such an unfair practice.
Common sense and fairness dictates that all properties should be appraised at their fair market value, no more and no less. New York State Senator Suzi Oppenheimer's has written a bill to correct this situation and even the playing field. With the stalemate happening in Albany, New York, (please refer to my 7/6/09 blog), time will tell if this bill makes it to the floor for a vote or even more importantly, will this bill win the majority of votes and become law? Unless this bill is attached to some other silly bill, I think that it should become law and make condo and co-ops pay their fair share of taxes.
I am just amazed at how the lack of common sense especially when not used by politicians can have a serious financial strain on the constituents that they are supposed to be representing.
Til next week.
Monday, July 6, 2009
A True Story
Hi Everyone:
For those of you who do not live in New York State, you may or may not be aware of the political turmoil that is currently happening in Albany, New York (New York's state capital). After the November 08 elections, the Democrats won a slim majority in the NY Senate and had a 32 to 30 majority. Then about a month ago, there was an ambush in the NY Senate. It appears that the republican minority did not like being the minority party and losing majority control that they had held for decades. The republicans held some private meetings with at least 2 democratic State Senators and eventually got 2 democratic senators to vote on the republican side. This then turned who held the majority upside down. The republicans then held a 32 to 30 majority. Around a week later, one of the 2 democratic senators, decided to jump ship and return to the democrat side. Now that meant that the split was even at 31 to 31.
From my understanding this was all legal. Unfortunately for the people of New York State this was a disastrous occurrence. So what is the problem you may ask? Well the NYS Senate has since been fighting over who has control of the state senate. One side locking out the other and visa versa. For a month now, the state senate has not done any of the people's work since this has happened. All they have done is fight each other. It is painfully obvious that those elected senators have forgotten that they were elected to represent the people of their districts. Instead, all that is happening in Albany is fighting for control of the Senate and to hell with anything else. This bothers me and probably a lot of other NY residents to no end. But, to add insult to injury, all of those State Senators are and have been collecting their full salaries without doing any of the work that they were elected to do. Would someone please tell me what jobs are available out there that allows you to not do any of the work you are supposed to do and still get your full pay? If someone doesn't do their job in the real world, you would be terminated from that company. Unfortunately, politicians obviously feel that they are above the rest of us and they can do whatever they want to.
Sadly, NYS state senators have made it very clear that party affiliation and control is more important than the needs of the people. The NYS government has previously been called the most dysfunctional state government in the country. Go figure that they have now been able to go above and beyond that label. This is politics at its very worst. This is not politics, this is a circus without a ringleader. Politicians have again proven to me that they either do not possess common sense or refuse to use it. What a shame that supposedly intelligent people can act so stupidly!
My solution to this ongoing problem is a bit radical, but I believe that the only way to fix this is at the next election and every election after that, all of the state senators involved should be voted out of office and replaced with people who will get the job done that they were elected to do. If the new replacements don't do the job, vote them out also!
What do you think? Let me know.
Till next time.
For those of you who do not live in New York State, you may or may not be aware of the political turmoil that is currently happening in Albany, New York (New York's state capital). After the November 08 elections, the Democrats won a slim majority in the NY Senate and had a 32 to 30 majority. Then about a month ago, there was an ambush in the NY Senate. It appears that the republican minority did not like being the minority party and losing majority control that they had held for decades. The republicans held some private meetings with at least 2 democratic State Senators and eventually got 2 democratic senators to vote on the republican side. This then turned who held the majority upside down. The republicans then held a 32 to 30 majority. Around a week later, one of the 2 democratic senators, decided to jump ship and return to the democrat side. Now that meant that the split was even at 31 to 31.
From my understanding this was all legal. Unfortunately for the people of New York State this was a disastrous occurrence. So what is the problem you may ask? Well the NYS Senate has since been fighting over who has control of the state senate. One side locking out the other and visa versa. For a month now, the state senate has not done any of the people's work since this has happened. All they have done is fight each other. It is painfully obvious that those elected senators have forgotten that they were elected to represent the people of their districts. Instead, all that is happening in Albany is fighting for control of the Senate and to hell with anything else. This bothers me and probably a lot of other NY residents to no end. But, to add insult to injury, all of those State Senators are and have been collecting their full salaries without doing any of the work that they were elected to do. Would someone please tell me what jobs are available out there that allows you to not do any of the work you are supposed to do and still get your full pay? If someone doesn't do their job in the real world, you would be terminated from that company. Unfortunately, politicians obviously feel that they are above the rest of us and they can do whatever they want to.
Sadly, NYS state senators have made it very clear that party affiliation and control is more important than the needs of the people. The NYS government has previously been called the most dysfunctional state government in the country. Go figure that they have now been able to go above and beyond that label. This is politics at its very worst. This is not politics, this is a circus without a ringleader. Politicians have again proven to me that they either do not possess common sense or refuse to use it. What a shame that supposedly intelligent people can act so stupidly!
My solution to this ongoing problem is a bit radical, but I believe that the only way to fix this is at the next election and every election after that, all of the state senators involved should be voted out of office and replaced with people who will get the job done that they were elected to do. If the new replacements don't do the job, vote them out also!
What do you think? Let me know.
Till next time.
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