Mediation and Facilitation Services
Our professionals provide mediation and facilitation services across complex organizations, within or between units and practice groups, and for individuals. All services are confidential.
Organizational Disputes
Organizational disputes are a natural component of complex, diverse environments. Mediation is an effective means for resolving conflicts that are creating barriers to effective operations. Health Care Mediations believes that the most productive mediation sessions occur before anyone has resorted to litigation or other adversarial processes. Health care professionals work with mediators to restore their working relationships and get operations back on track.
To accomplish this, neutral experts structure meetings and lead conversations to make it most possible for clinicians, leaders, and staff to have difficult conversations and to develop solutions together. Often, this includes addressing ongoing, unresolved disputes that threaten reputation, organizational resources, and staff retention, and can inadvertently pose a risk to safe patient care.
In mediation, clinicians and leaders participate voluntarily in confidential sessions. Participants are responsible for identifying barriers to collaboration, gathering information, and planning workable solutions. The mediators are responsible for managing the process; the outcomes are determined by the participants.
Quality of Care Disputes
The patient-provider relationship is necessary to good quality care. Breakdowns in communication lead to poor clinical outcomes and damage the bond of trust. Health Care Mediations provides opportunities for health care professionals, patients, and their families to work together to resolve differences concerning quality of care and to restore the trust necessary for ongoing working relationships.
Providing alternatives to litigation allows patients an opportunity to access information and talk directly to those health care professionals who can make a difference in how future care is delivered. Together, they can clarify misunderstandings, develop solutions to improve care delivery, and reestablish trust. Often, having this option prevents the need for costly litigation and preserves resources and reputations.
HCM mediation projects have included:
- Mediated complex academic medical center organizational dispute involving more than 200 participants, including administrators, department chairs, physician groups, nursing, legal and risk management, and quality departments
- Mediated between patient’s family, acute care facility, and skilled nursing facility to generate systems improvements
- Facilitated inter-office dispute involving business office and clinical/back-office staff
- Medication errors- mediated dispute between pharmacist and patient
- Discussion forums for re-integration of nursing staff following labor strike