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32 Hartford Business Journal • March 26, 2018 • www.HartfordBusiness.com OTHER VOICES Fortifying ties between physicians, specialists By Jess Kupec and Dr. Ronald Kimmel T here has been an unintended consequence of today's changing healthcare landscape: private care physicians and hospital-based surgeons and specialists throughout the Hartford region just don't know each other anymore. This has become a concern because primary care physicians (PCPs) need information about specialists to pro- vide the best referrals for patients. Similarly, specialists who are asked by patients for PCP referrals are sometimes at a loss because they don't know who to recommend. While several factors contribute to this growing divide among care providers, the biggest has been the advent of the "hospitalist," the physician who treats patients at the hospital only. Hospitalists have been developing as a specialty since 1996, and today there are more than 44,000 in the country. Each hospital in Connecticut has a team of hospitalists on staff. By using hospitalists, PCPs are better able to focus on patients in their office, providing a greater level of care and consultation. This has led to increased quality of com- prehensive patient care and has greatly reduced physician "burn out" trying to manage both office and hospital patients. However, by being away from the hospital setting the PCP has lost the chance to truly network and get to know specialists. Simultaneously, surgeons no longer have as many chances to meet and interact with PCPs to build relation- ships necessary for targeted referrals, consultations and shared expertise. Early on during the introduction of hospitalists, surgeons and physi- cians with existing relationships were able to maintain them; but as doctors retired or relocated, there was no program in place to bring profession- als together. St. Francis Healthcare Partners (SF- HCP), which works with more than 750 primary and specialty care physicians and 325 clinicians, began to address this problem by developing an outreach program with educational and net- working opportunities for our medical professionals. This includes connecting and introducing providers and prac- titioners within the SFHCP network through one-on-one personalized meetings, as well as organizing larger "speed networking" evenings. Designed by our professional development committee after the speed-dating model, each event allows surgeons and specialists to rotate around a room and meet with small groups of PCPs at tables. Each group spends 10 to 15 minutes sharing con- tact information, discussing specialties and simply getting to know each other. The first two events held in Windsor and Glastonbury had larger-than-expect- ed turnouts (185 people total) with physi- cians staying well past the scheduled end time. They enjoyed the face-to-face interaction and expressed enthusiasm for similar programs in the future. This physician speed-networking event proved to be a great way to build and reinforce connections among the SFHCP group. It's a concept that could easily be applied by any other service- based organization. As one of the oldest physician hospital organizations in the country, SFHCP recognizes change in health care is ongoing and that medical pro- fessionals need to continuously adjust. So many of these changes are positive — such as the introduction of hospital- ists, the growing use of electronic medi- cal records, and the increase in the level of care provided at the physician's office — but they sometimes have downsides that need to be addressed. Jess Kupec is St. Francis Healthcare Partners' president and CEO; Dr. Ronald Kimmel is vice president and chief medical officer. COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS Effective leaders must develop toolkit to create 'defining moments' By Karen Senteio M oments matter to leaders. They can mark the time when they realize things are not working and it is time to change course or when they've found a product that can change the world. How can we anticipate, recognize and learn from those moments that have the power to redefine our experience? One of my coaching colleagues has a mantra that is simple but very relevant to this topic: pay attention. Paying attention is an underrated but critical skill for leaders. Paying attention to moments that deserve punctuation can help us transform them into defin- ing moments when special things happen. Paying attention paves the way to self-reflection, insight, explo- sive change and more. Effective lead- ers develop a toolkit they can reach into and utilize to create those defining moments. The toolkit contains an eclectic collection of classes, notes, experiences, success- es, failures, quotes, books and other items that have made an impression and are saved for future access. I reserve my toolkit for items that get in my bones and become a part of me, things that have changed or impacted how I see the world. They are personal entries because they touch on a value that I hold for myself or one that I hope is expressed in how I treat others. The book, "The Power of Moments," by Chip Heath and Dan Heath, is in my toolkit and in my bones. They ex- plain why certain moments have ex- traordinary impact and endure in our memory. These moments can bring us joy or pain, but they can shape our lives and the lives of others. "The Power of Moments," the book Leadership Greater Hartford is currently studying as part of our Lessons in Leadership series, de- scribes the characteristics of defin- ing moments. They rise above other day-to-day moments, rewire our understanding of ourselves or the world, capture us at our best and/or connect us to others. Leaders pay attention to opportu- nities to transform ordinary mo- ments into defining moments. When we have the responsibility for leading an effort or people, we can create moments that encourage people to take a step forward or backwards or even stop for a moment and be still. The leader can define the direction that is needed, and that movement can become a defining moment. Another book in my toolkit is "212°: The Extra Degree," by Sam Parker, a small but powerful book about inspiring people to new and higher levels of performance. Parker draws on a metaphor: at 211 degrees water is very hot, but at 212 degrees, it boils and becomes the steam that powers a train. That train cannot move until the water reaches 212 degrees and turning up the heat at exactly the right moment determines whether the train stalls or flies down the track. A defining moment can be a 212- degrees event. Effective leaders anticipate these moments and turn up the heat at the right time to move our teams, projects and organiza- tions down the track. Too many potentially defining mo- ments get missed. Leaders run the risk of missing moments because busyness is stealing or dulling our capability for letting them sink in. Instead, we move on to the next mo- ment, the next and the next, without giving ourselves a chance to grow from these experiences. The poten- tially defining moments are missed and become forgettable. "The Power of Moments," teaches leaders how to "think in moments" so that we can anticipate those that can become defining moments for ourselves and others. Let's re-inspire ourselves and become students and watchers for moments. Karen Senteio is the director of consulting and training at Leadership Greater Hartford. Opinion & Commentary Jess Kupec Dr. Ronald Kimmel Karen Senteio