MCG's patient-centered approach draws interest

Focusing on patient and family concerns and integrating them into how care is delivered makes Medical College of Georgia Hospital and Clinics a model for how health care could be reformed, two national experts said Thursday.

The health system is hosting a two-day Patient- and Family-Centered Care Learning Lab for health care executives. It includes not only patient advisory councils to give feedback but also incorporates patient suggestions into how care is delivered and how buildings are designed and rooms are furnished, staff and family advisers said.

"It's little bits and pieces," said patient adviser Mike Cliatt. His late wife, Debra, for instance, looked over plans for the new Cardiovascular Center and noticed there weren't enough bathrooms; more were added, he said.

Rules were changed in post-anesthesia recovery, and chairs brought in, to accommodate family "so they can be with a loved one when they wake up," said Patricia Sodomka, senior vice president of patient- and family-centered care at MCG Health Inc.

"It's a huge culture change," said Mrs. Sodomka, who is also the director of the Center for Patient- and Family-Centered Care at MCG.

It is her expertise and the reputation of the health system that attracted Laura Linn, the project director for the Center for Health Transformation, founded by former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich in 2003. The health system's approach fits with the center's idea that health care should become more focused on the individual.

"I believe in a very consumer, patient-centered approach where, if it's worked right, it's just going to turn everything upside down," Ms. Linn said.

That reputation also brought in Karen Luxford, Harkness Fellow with the Commonwealth Fund in New York and the general manager for the National Breast and Ovarian Cancer Center in Australia.

"Really, this is a microcosm of how things could be, if you're going to reform your system and you're really going to make it more patient-focused," Dr. Luxford said. "And MCG is showing how that could happen at a local level. That needs to be translated to the structures of a state and national level."

It improves work for the staff as well, said Karen Catchings, a charge nurse in the adult day surgery unit at MCG Hospital and Clinics. "It's been a good experience," she said.

Reach Tom Corwin at (706) 823-3213 or tom.corwin@augustachronicle.com.