Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/649323
20 The PCB Magazine • March 2016 had for years adversely affected profitability and patient satisfaction. I responded that, if leader- ship was willing to grow and change, I could be of assistance. A conference call was set up with CEO John Rossfeld and members of his executive team and board. John asked me if I had ever worked in a hospital. I said no. He asked me if I knew anything about healthcare. Except that the en- tire system appeared to be a basket case, I said no. His next query was why a hospital would want to hire a consultant/trainer who knew vir- tually nothing about their business. I answered that not knowing anything about healthcare was a plus. I had no preconceived ideas. I used a line I am quite fond of that I stole from Mark Twain: "John, it's not what you don't know that is hurting your business; it's what you know for sure that isn't so." I added, "Besides, your prob- lems are mostly systems based, and systems the- ory and practice are universal." After a month of vetting, I was hired and one of the first places management wanted me to work was the Rehabilitation and Wellness Center (Rehab), which was Brian's responsibil- ity. To say Rehab was a mess was being kind; it had been losing money for years. Morale of em- ployees was at rock bottom while turnover was sky-high. Worse, patient satisfaction levels had sunk to the lowest levels possible; Rehab was dead last out of 272 similar facilities nationwide in patient satisfaction. Stating the obvious, Bri- an appeared on the hot seat to lose his job. When I met with Brian to begin the process of fixing Rehab, he was demoralized and anx- ious. I think he feared for his job and thought I might be the bearer of bad news. I assured him we would get the place running right, but he had to be willing to grow and change. I also asked him where he saw himself in the future if everything worked out perfectly. He said he'd like to one day be the chief operating officer of a hospital. I said that sounded good but he was shooting too low; he should aspire to be a CEO. I told him that, if he was will - ing to learn and practice what I would teach him over the year or so we would be together, he would be a great CEO. He enthusiastically agreed to learn and apply as much as possible in our time together. At Rehab, we did all the things required to turn around the center: We implemented new systems that produced the desired results. For the first time in many years, the center became profitable. Within one year, patient satisfaction scores moved into the 96 th percentile, a move we believe to be unprecedented in the history of healthcare. the four new agreements to explode profitability Figure 2: Patient (customer) satisfaction moved from last to the 96th percentile in 12 months.