Microsoft Healthcare Common User Interface: Now available free worldwide

Last April I posted a piece on this Blog entitled "If Disney Did Healthcare". I commented that there was a lot the healthcare industry could learn from Disney about customer service, customer experience, and customer satisfaction. It was one of those posts that generated a number of comments. The following month, I posted a piece called "If Wal-Mart Did Healthcare" where I discussed some of the factors contributing to the rapid growth of the retail health clinic industry and its focus on customer relationship management, convenience, value, and price transparency.
Yesterday, I received an e-mail from Jake Poore, President of a consulting firm called Integrated Loyalty Systems. As soon as I read it, I just knew I had to share it with Channel 10 readers. So, here it is:
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Bill:
I enjoyed reading your April Blog regarding Disney and Healthcare, mainly because that is exactly what I chose to do in my life...translate Disney service and leadership principles into healthcare delivery of care. I went from the happiest place on earth to...well, healthcare (smile).
My career at Disney spanned nearly two decades and I created and managed the healthcare consulting team at the Disney Institute for 6 years, but it was obvious we were only allowed to be a benchmarking company and unable to help clients take it through fruition. Not anymore. For the past 6 years my team of ex-Disney and Southwest Airline execs have done just that. I invite you to visit my web site www.WeCreateLoyalty.com or call me so I can share many of the tools of how we are changing the face of healthcare one hospital at a time!
Kindest regards,
Jake
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So there you have it. Hospitals can now learn from Disney (and Southwest) on how to transform their industry to better serve patients. And yes, I know that healthcare with all its complexities, regulations, bizarre market dynamics, etc. is a very different business than theme parks or airlines. But then again, some of the most dynamic and successful healthcare organizations, including many that I have personally had an opportunity to advise, have revolutionized the way they do business by studying the best practices of other industries; Denver Health and Virginia Mason Medical Center being just two examples that come to mind.
And by the way, since contemporary information technology is such a vital component of the organizational transformation that is needed in the healthcare industry, I invite you to that conversation as well. We have an entire team of folks who would be delighted to tell you more.
Bill Crounse, MD Worldwide Health Director Microsoft Corporation