CIO Era Magazines

Tom Jackiewicz

Transparency that benefits consumers has filled a lot of air time in the healthcare world. And it should.

Providers should be sharing as much information as possible with patients as they make decisions about treatment options, risks and costs.

But what about transparency within a hospital or health system? Does it matter that much?
 

The answer is yes, and an even louder yes as we battle COVID-19. When honesty and transparency are business values, employees feel more committed to organizations and their mission, and are more likely to believe an organization has high ethical standards.

Teams excel without fear that information they need is being withheld, and they are more likely to collaborate, innovate and share best practices.
 

The best way to bring transparency into an organization is to communicate. And that starts at the top. When senior leaders communicate honestly about their organization’s successes, struggles and current situation, they are building trusting relationships with employees. They are empowering employees to accept challenges and provide solutions that otherwise wouldn’t be achievable.
 

Keck Medicine of USC has thrived on transparency. When we started our journey from being financially strapped Tenet hospitals to becoming a top 20 academic health system, we knew that downplaying what was needed to just stay open, let alone thrive, would set us on the wrong path.

Tackling the challenges we faced would not have been possible if faculty and staff didn’t have access to information they needed, or if they believed bad news could be sprung on them at any moment.

Leaps forward in quality and patient satisfaction happened because trust is strong and transparency is a priority. We experienced growing pains and downturns along with our successes, but our leadership team has remained committed to transparency as a core business value. 
 

Transparency has not been easy, and it’s not any easier now. The COVID-19 crisis is pressure testing every corner of every health care organization across the country.

With the 24/7 news cycle feeding our need for the latest updates, and employees sharing what they have heard, truth, reality and rumors have become muddled.
 

For our organization, we have again chosen transparency. Every staff and faculty member deserves to know where we stand.

And that means current data are shared with everyone, including the number of positive patients, the number of patients under investigation in-house, PPE inventory by type and size, blood supply and census details.

Once per day, everyone at Keck receives this dashboard. It means we, as an organization, are operating from the same information. We’re in this together. No secrets, no spin. 
 

Transparency could make our organization vulnerable to criticism. But at Keck, we believe the benefits of transparency far outweigh the risks, particularly at a time when we are asking more from our care teams than ever before.

Other hospitals and health systems, including those in our market, are not openly sharing data. The aftermath of that choice is seen in the interviews and personal postings across social media where physicians, nurses and other caregivers speak about their fear of the unknown.

Will I have adequate PPE tomorrow, or will I be handed a poncho from Disney? How many beds do we have left? What’s the status of our blood supply? 
 

The fear is palpable, and much of it could be mitigated by sharing the most timely, accurate information we have. Our physicians and staff are making patients their number one priority.

The least we owe them is honesty about the battles we are facing. Our communities are depending on us. Our patients’ needs have never been greater. Our physicians and staff deserve nothing less than full transparency.