Shutting Institutional Communications Post-Event: UP Book Excerpt

UP BOOK EXCERPT: SHUTTING DOWN "INSTITUTIONAL COMMUNICATIONS" POST-EVENT

Below is an excerpt from the soon-to-be released Sorry Works! UP Book --- you can reserve your copy now by clicking on this order link.  The UP Book is loaded with practical advice/tips from your colleagues around the country...tips and advice that will help you elevate your disclosure efforts from good UP to GREAT.

Best,

- Doug

Doug Wojcieszak, Founder, Sorry Works!, 618-559-8168

UP Book Excerpt Approximately a week after my brother Jim passed away, my parents were retrieving mail at his house and found a card in the stack addressed to "Mrs. Jim Wojcieszak."  It was a mechanically generated sympathy card from the hospital where he died.  Not only was it cold and unfeeling, but my brother wasn’t married.  There was no "Mrs. Jim Wojcieszak!"   Insulting and hurtful on multiple levels.  Our attorney, however, loved it.A little later a bill came for Jim's care.  My Mother was furious, and our attorney told her to rip it up and throw it away --- but only after we sent him a copy. As you develop your disclosure program, you need to design your systems that so that with one click of a button all institutional communications come to a halt post-event.   No exceptions.

• No survey questionnaires.   "How do you rate our care on a scale of 1 to 10?"    You guys suck, that’s what I think.
• No fundraising letters.  "Would you like to contribute to our new cancer center?  Perhaps purchase a brick with your name on it?"  I would like to throw a brick through your office window.
• No marketing magazines.  "Read about Jenny, our latest success story at Memorial Hospital."  Where was my miracle?
• No bills.  "You owe us $10,543.24.  All bills over 30 days will be charged 1.5%.   Call today to set up a payment plan."   Are you serious?  You killed my loved one and now you expect me to pay for it?   Screw you!
• No form letters, including mechanically produced sympathy cards.  

What I am defining as "institutional communications" can literally push angry patients and families over the edge, and create terrific evidence for a medical malpractice lawsuit.  Yes, we need to communicate post-event, but we need to be very, very thoughtful.   All post-event communications need to come directly from a person the patient or family knows, not the "organization."  Successful disclosure programs have designed their systems so that literally with one click of a button all the institutional communications come to a halt, and only the disclosure team can turn them back on. Think about it!

*********************************

There is a weath of practical advice and tips in the UP Book -- reserve your copy today for just $29.99.