HA: Welcome, new Chief of Staff.
CS: Thank you, Madame Hospital Administrator.
HA: I look forward to the many meetings and conversations we’re going to have. But I just wanted to kick things off informally by letting you know what our top priority is in terms of administration. It’s something that will impact many of your decisions regarding the allocation of staff resources.
CS: I’m intrigued, Madame. And I’m a believer in first things first. Please proceed.
HA: It’s really quite simple, Chief. And it’s critical to our bottom line. Obviously we’re here to provide health care, but we can’t do that the way we’d like to if we’re scraping by with insufficient funds, can we.
CS: Of course not. As I like to say, the Hippocratic Oath is merely the Hypocrisy Oath without a good portfolio!
HA: Well said, Chief. OK, so here’s how we operate to, as you say, build a portfolio. For every patient we see, and that includes outpatients and ER patients, you must ensure that as many appropriate specialists visit each patient as many times as possible while the patient is in the hospital building.
CS: Say no more, madame. I’ll just put a punctuation mark on that sentence by saying pity the poor souls who are merely DOUBLE dipping!
HA: I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship, Chief.
