Our Healthcare Team: Taking a Page from Baseball’s Playbook
Mike Lauf, CEO and President of Cape Cod Healthcare, emphasizes we must think differently to remain a strong, independent and high-quality healthcare system.
This past weekend, I watched the movie “Moneyball” with my sons. For those who haven’t seen it, the movie is based on the true story of Billy Beane, the General Manager of the Oakland Athletics. After winning 102 games and making the playoffs in 2001, the A’s were defeated and lost all of their big stars to bigger markets like Boston and New York. Given their limited resources, Mr. Beane decided that he could no longer simply judge talent by eyes and sound alone. Something needed to change and change the A’s did. They developed a system that relied on analytics—information that valued things like on-base percentage, exit velocity and quality at-bats. In 2002, the Athletics ended up winning 103 games, including 20 consecutive games, clinched the American League West division and made the playoffs. It changed baseball forever and the Red Sox ultimately followed the forward-thinking playbook. In the process, the Sox built a championship franchise that has forever ridden this area of the Curse of the Bambino.
So why am I talking about baseball? With summer on the horizon, there are many lessons to be learned from this relevant sports story. I believe Cape Cod Healthcare and others like us have to begin to think differently if we are going to remain a strong, independent, high-quality healthcare system. We have to value key metrics like Falls, Room Turnover, Readmissions, Sepsis, Throughput, Patient Satisfaction, Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections (CAUTI) and Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infections (CLABSI), and refine many of our processes and protocols. We have to be better because we are a safety net organization that is mission-driven and we are here to care for everyone. This line of thinking is essential to our calling. We can’t spend our way to greatness nor can we get paid from insurance companies like those in Boston. To do this, we have to commit to a process and see it to fruition.
Refining process is not only safe, but highly satisfying to our staff. Empowering you, our experts, to change the way that healthcare is delivered in markets like ours will be our key. We will commit to train, to educate and to change. However, we won’t change just to change. We will focus on what is most important and move with purpose.
Today’s healthcare environment is unlike anything we have ever witnessed. Things are challenging and at times, defeating. However, when times are difficult, there is always a ray of sunshine on the horizon. To reinforce this, I want to tell you about the incredible opportunity I have had to meet and get to know our Riverview students. Each of these young adults inspire me and teach me things every time I get to speak with them. They are optimistic, eager to learn and help, and because of you and your willingness to care, they are receiving life-changing training that will enable them to have meaningful careers in their future. Life is full of so many difficulties and this is why I wanted to share with you this example of people overcoming incredible odds with the help of their family, friends, school and you. These students never ask why—they simply ask what is next.
Thank you for caring for our community and for our patients. Thank you for letting others experience your incredible kindness and selflessness. Thank you for choosing to work at Cape Cod Healthcare.
Sincerely,
Mike
