Large Florida Medical Group Practicing Open, Ethical Risk Management

In the disclosure movement, there are the "big name" organizations that are nationally known for successfully practicing disclosure: University of Michigan, Lexington VA, University of Illinois Medical Center, and several others. These organizations have publicly shared their disclosure successes in peer-reviewed publications, trade magazines, the popular media, and at countless seminars and presentations. Their stories have helped propel the disclosure movement forward. However, I have reported on numerous occasions that there are many more hospitals, practices, nursing homes, and insurers who have successfully yet quietly implemented disclosure. These people e-mail me or I meet them at meetings, and they often say the same thing: "When my docs and nurses learned to run to problems, lawsuits fell and safety increased. Our numbers mirror the University of Michigan" I recently had the privilege of meeting one of these quiet disclosure organizations.

Two weeks ago, the Watson Clinic of Lakeland Florida, one of the largest medical clinics in the southeast with over 200 physicians practicing in 40 different specialities, hosted the Florida premiere of the Disclosure Documentary. Watson Clinic flew Lawrence Kraman, myself, and Dr. Steve Kraman, considered to be Father of the disclosure movement, down to Florida for the premiere. Our Watson Clinic host was Dr. John Ellington. Directly below I copied and pasted Dr. Kraman's Facebook post about Dr. Ellington and Watson Clinic's open and ethical approach to risk management:

"We were invited by Dr. John Ellington to come to Lakeland, Florida to have the first public showing of our film at the beautiful, historic Polk Theatre. Once there, I learned that John has been the head of risk management at the Watson Clinic for 17 years and, over the first few years, evolved a management style that was fully open and ethical, similar to what the risk management staff and I began at the Lexington, KY VA Medical Center several years before and other hospitals have since. But John wasn't inspired or even knew about our experience. He was guided by his common sense and an ingrained belief in doing the right thing. In his own words:

'I do not know that our risk management style was any great epiphany of any sort but more or less 17 years ago when I quit obstetrics after 25 years and took on more of the Risk management role along with hiring Lee Budd we just naturally moved in that direction. You can call it just knowing what is the right thing to do. Or you can call it being raised by a mother and father who were pharmacists and I worked in the drug store from age 12 until 22 and being taught that the customer was always right and to be treated honestly. And I must admit that meeting Dale Micalizzi at the IHI conference in Orlando nearly 15 years ago made an impression on me and we stayed in touch ever since. She was my most significant inspiration without a doubt and still is today.'

Meeting John was the most pleasant surprise of the trip. The second was the response to our film from the approximately 200 members of the audience. Had we known about what was being done at the Watson Clinic, their story would have been in the film also."

So, it was great to meet another group of medical professionals who are practicing open and ethical risk management -- what we call disclosure. Moreover, Watson Clinic did a terrific job hosting the Florida premiere of the Disclosure Documentary. The premiere was extremely well-attended, and we exposed a lot of people and organizations to disclosure. Many thanks to the Watson Clinic!

Here is Dr. Ellington's introduction to the Florida Premiere of the Disclosure Documentary.

Here is the trailer for the Disclosure Documentary.

You can purchase your own copy of the Disclosure Documentary for just $29.99 per copy, or you can purchase the movie as part of the Sorry Works! Tool Kit for $49.99 per unit. To order the movie, click here.

Finally, if you are interested in hosting your own showing of the Disclosure Documentary for your colleagues, please contact us by responding to this e-mail or by calling 618-559-8168.