One of health care’s greatest challenges has been our inability to embrace outsiders. We speak both openly and under our breath about how specialized and complex our work world is, and then we overlook or outright reject assistance from others who, many times have very interesting viewpoints. This occurs mainly because they are not necessarily validated with the designated degrees or obligatory academic background that represents our secret entrance code. Of course we don’t want botanists doing brain surgery, but much of what we do is not rocket science.

After suffering through a series of wretched experiences at a previous health system meted out by nationally celebrated consultants, many of whom are still making a handsome living from doling out the same inaccurate information, one of our board members, a former CEO of a multi-billion dollar automobile plant, turned to me and said, “It’s too bad our businesses are so insulated.” He went on to say that, “The consultants from another division of this same firm ran rampant through our company ten years ago espousing a parallel solution. Then, once the for profit, Fortune 500 world realized that the consultant’s tactics were not viable and fired them, those same firms reinvented themselves and escaped to the non-profit world where they continue their hourly billing from an already botched logic.” “If I had been here sooner and had more influence, maybe I could have saved you millions.”

Upon assuming the leadership position at my first hospital, I looked around the halls, the rooms, the cafeteria and the parking lots, and said, “We need a hotel manager.” I’m sure that this was not the first time this thought ever crossed the mind of a Hospital CEO before, but I acted upon the thought and hired one. He brought hospitality, dedication to a sparkling appearance, room service, fresh flowers, chefs, and a relaxed yet spotless ambiance to our hospital where the brass was shined and the floors sparkled. It’s what he did for a living during the previous 20 years. Why not in a hospital?

When it came time to design a research institute, we found an architectural firm that had previously designed beautiful, landmark buildings, suggested that they add a lab consultant to their team, and ended up with a phenomenal, functional, showplace building that creates an environment that any scientist would immediately embrace.

As we looked at the local neighborhood’s four star spa, it struck us that our patients might like that treatment as well. So we added therapists and specialists in hospitality spas to bring us the expertise to which we then added the health care essentials.

As we began to look at specific research projects, we always tried to find the lead scientists who were NOT bound by their very targeted skill but rather had an appreciation for outer space, or music, or the arts that was well developed. That way they could appreciate better the connectivity of every aspect of the universe rather than be consumed by the minutia of detail that would lead them away from the larger picture, big science.

Many years ago, I began my career as a professional musician and teacher. We played for the Ice Capades, Walt Disney, and the Ice Follies. We also played for Barnum and Bailey and numerous headliners. What we learned from that experience was that the rigid approach to a project that someone with a PhD in clarinet might embrace can be fraught with visionless detail, but the view from the top that the musical director can bring to the score may be immeasurable in comparison.

Maybe it’s time to reach out to our world in new ways, to embrace knowledge learned in interaction with our society and fellow man rather than exclusively in classrooms and residencies. Then maybe, just maybe, we can find a way to have our physicians take care of themselves physically as well as our airline pilots do. Maybe we will find a way to service our patients as well as Hertz or Southwest Airlines, and maybe it will allow us to begin to fix this bubbling stew of chaos that we lovingly refer to as our health care system.