Working with organizations all over the country, I find that common sense is not always common practice.  One great example is that while so many health care organizations claim that their top priority is to create great customer service, they base the lion’s share of their physicians pay on RVUs.   

Imagine how a doctor must feel to be told that they need to take time, be kind, not rush… but then not be able to take a vacation because they will lose productivity points.  Rather than a paid vacation, they are actually paying to take a vacation in some organizations.

It is not an easy problem to solve.  Health care is business.  Productivity matters.  But we can’t promise to put the human side of healthcare first on our billboards and then push only the business side in the board room.  When the promises we make to our customers don’t match our priorities, there is a disconnect that patients and families can feel.

The solution is to identify your priorities, communicate them to everyone, and reward the team for living up to them.