Press Room

A proven prescription for our ailing healthcare industry, tapping
relationship-building principles that are revolutionizing corporate America

"Every healthcare leader needs to read this book."
-Gene Beyt, MD, MS, Senior Vice President of Medical Quality, Clarian Health

"Healthcare delivery systems work only when the people in them-line workers and leadership alike-are in highly functional, trustworthy, and productive relationships. High Performance Healthcare is both theoretically sound and eminently practical-a rare combination!"
-Thomas S. Inui, ScM, MD, Relationship-Centered Care Initiative Codirector, Professor of Medicine, and Associate Dean for Health Care Research, Indiana University School of Medicine

"Gittell's book raises important issues and options that need to be considered in any national healthcare reform effort."
-Thomas P. Glynn, Ph.D., Chief Operating Officer, Partners HealthCare

Jody Hoffer Gittell's first book, The Southwest Airlines Way, went behind the scenes at one of America's most successful companies to uncover the secrets of its success. She discovered a corporate culture that was dramatically different from that of other airlines-particularly the way employees communicated and related with each other to coordinate a complex array of specialized functions. Gittell called this approach "relational coordination." Measuring the quality and efficiency of Southwest's flight departures, relative to other airlines, she proved that "relational coordination" was a powerful driver of success. Transferring the relational approach to the field of healthcare-another high-stakes industry-she now offers a powerful call to action in HIGH PERFORMANCE HEALTHCARE: Using the Power of Relationships to Achieve Quality, Efficiency and Resilience (McGraw-Hill; July 2009).

The symptoms are clear: Under pressure to reduce costs while increasing quality, many healthcare organizations are under unprecedented strain, putting patient care in jeopardy. HIGH PERFORMANCE HEALTHCARE provides a dramatic new approach for creating and sustaining a turnaround of this troubled sector. Strengthening healthcare organizations by revolutionizing coordination between physicians, nurses, therapists, social workers and other members of the care provider team, Gittell provides crucial insights, including:

• How to foster relationships of shared knowledge, and mutual respect among colleagues in all ranks and functions

• Why physicians are often the missing piece of the puzzle, not because of personal weaknesses but because of a poorly designed system that excludes them from important junctures

• How to identify-and rectify-weak links in the coordination and delivery of patient care

• Why changes in access to care are insufficiently failing to address the root causes of cost and quality problems whose real cause lies in timely, accurate, problem-solving communication that crosses all organizational boundaries

• The futility of traditional healthcare performance measurement systems, which tend to be reactive and focused on individual or functional flaws when the problems tend to be systemic

• A new paradigm for measuring and rewarding team performance, resolving conflicts proactively, investing in frontline leadership and partnering effectively with unions

• The powerful impact of "relational coordination" on healthcare performance, from surgery care, to medical care, to long-term care

Patients are often required to sort their way through a complex system, receiving diagnoses and treatments from an often-disjointed set of providers. Packed with case studies of healthcare organizations that are already seeing progress thanks to Gittell's approach, HIGH PERFORMANCE HEALTHCARE gives readers specific advice for mastering the principles of "relational coordination" and overcoming these barriers to success. Signaling a significant shift from business-as-usual HIGH PERFORMANCE HEALTHCARE brings a healthy new management style and lasting recovery to an industry that affects us all.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Jody Hoffer Gittell is professor of management and MBA program director at Brandeis University's Heller School for Social Policy and Management. She serves as co-chair of the Health Care Industry Council and is the author of The Southwest Airlines Way as well as numerous articles on healthcare management. She holds a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and taught for six years at Harvard Business School. She lives in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. For more information log onto www.highperformancehealthcare.info or www.jodyhoffergittell.info.

HIGH PERFORMANCE HEALTHCARE: Using the Power of Relationships to Achieve Quality, Efficiency and Resilience; Jody Hoffer Gittell; McGraw-Hill; Cloth; ISBN: 13:978-0-07-162176-2; ISBN: 10: 0-07-162176-8; Price: $34.95.

SUGGESTED INTERVIEW TOPICS TO DISCUSS WITH JODY HOFFER GITTELL
Author of HIGH PERFORMANCE HEALTHCARE:
Using the Power of Relationships to Achieve Quality, Efficiency and Resilience

1. After the success of your award-winning study, The Southwest Airlines Way, why did you turn your eye to the healthcare industry? What similarities do you see between airlines and healthcare institutions?

2. How is "relational coordination" different from other management approaches?

3. What are the greatest woes faced by America's healthcare system and how can "relational coordination" heal them?

4. Describe the research you undertook to produce HIGH PERFORMANCE HEALTHCARE. Which findings surprised you the most?

5. How has specialization affected healthcare? What are the effects of the fragmentation it causes?

6. What are the twelve practices of the high-performance work system that you have identified through your research?

7. Why are doctors often the weakest link in today's healthcare system?

8. What is your advice for healthcare leaders who manage organizations with toxic personnel? Is it realistic to expect everyone to work toward shared goals, demonstrating mutual respect and sharing their knowledge?

9. Why does American healthcare carry such a high price tag without delivering strong results?

10. Discuss your hopes for healthcare reform under the Obama administration.

11. What do you want readers to take with them after reading HIGH PERFORMANCE HEALTHCARE?