Eli Broad A Major Philanthropists Giving Away Millions For Medical Research and More (Video)

Eli Broad is one of the most generous philanthropists in the US today.  It is interesting to hear the comments and Eli Broad wants to die relatively poor.  In the wild west we live in today with disruption and distraction, thank goodness philanthropy at this level exists.  Los Angeles is a major recipient and the view of what has occurred in downtown LA. The one parking lot shown is one that I know well as park there when attending Microsoft User Group meetings, been there many times, right on Grand avenue and watch the Disney Hall go up.  As the video states he practices “venture philanthropy” in other words he wants results and if he doesn’t see them he stops funding.  Bloomberg has some kind words as he has contributed to New York Schools and addresses the fact that people say Broad is hard to work with and says “its his money” so you play or you don’t play, makes sense to me. 

The Broad Institute of course is in Massachusetts and have one of the world’s largest genomic centers.  I have covered some of their news here from time to time and each time it seems there’s always a mention of buying more genomic sequencing machines. 

Broad Institute of MIT Purchases 51 Sequencing Machines from Illumina – Genomics

In January stem cell research at UCLA Edith and Eli Broad Center had some major news relative to regenerative medicine for repairing brain injuries. 

UCLA Stem Cell Study Creates New Roads for Potential Repairing Brain Injuries-Regenerative Medicine

Broad is one of the Giving Pledge members, a campaign initiated by Warren Buffet and Bill and Melinda Gates.

Bill Gates & Warren Buffett – Call for Philanthropy To Give 50% of Their Fortunes To Help Others With “The Giving Pledge”

He talks about his own children not having the same ambition that he has and they are well taken care of and he states he has plenty to go around and Mr. Broad also makes his art available for display at museums too.   Both California and Massachusetts are miles ahead with research thanks to his donations.  His wish is to just be the “most respected” person around.  BD 

In this era of belt tightening, it's kind of refreshing to take a look at people whose happiest pastime is to give money away. Such a man is 77-year-old Eli Broad, a self-made billionaire, art collector and for the past ten years one of the most consistently generous philanthropists in America - supporting education reform, medical research and the arts. Broad also wants to transform that sprawling monster of a city Los Angeles into a cultural capital.

Broad thinks big, but his critics say he can act very small: that he may give billions away, but that he tries to micromanage almost every dollar he gives. Broad doesn't really care what they say - all he wants to do is die poor. Well, relatively poor.

"When you've got one 800 pound gorilla in the room, you're scared to death of the guy. Everybody does want something from Eli. And since he is the biggest game in town, nobody wants to alienate him," art critic Christopher Knight said.

Why and how Eli Broad is giving billions away - 60 Minutes - CBS News

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President Obama–Absolute Brilliance on Playing His “Literal Trump” Card on His Birth Certificate At The Right Time! (Video)

If you didn’t see his speech at the 2011 Correspondent’s Dinner, this is a “must watch” as to whether or not you like him, agree with him or the opposite, this was a fabulous strategic move by the President and his staff.  Also by being able to poke fun at himself, this also shows a great deal of confidence that comes with knowledge.  Here’s the full moment as captured by C-Span and you can watch his entire speech.  What at “Trump” card was played!  You hear the President all the time talking about those who get distracted and disrupted and pull our attention away from what really matters and what is important and that’s clearly the message I saw here <grin>.  It makes those very uncomfortable who do this too as transparency today shows everything <grin>. 

THIS EVENT ALSO HAD A HIDDEN BENEFIT TOO FOR THE DATA SCRAPERS OF THE WEB-ALMOST 3 FUN PACKED YEARS OF BEHAVIORAL ANAYTICS INFORMATION AVAILABLE ALMOST DAILY!

The sound on the video is a little low so turn up your sound a bit to hear.

President Obama Proves Disruption/Distraction of Many

I watched and it was certainly entertaining and I think goes to show that we have a much smarter President in office than some think, and this relates to his birth certificate.  He knew it was there and yet let the news and the public play on this for 3 years and look at the junk news it created, but on the other had it brought up face front all those today who get distracted, disrupted to the point of seeing beyond reality and what is important and the news did a good job of portraying those who do that, and it doesn't look good or give much credibility.

The President literally had a "Trump" card in hand and waited to play when he felt it was most appropriate and would serve to show some of the inadequacies we have today with those out of touch with what is really important today and those who are “non participants” in the world of technology and ignorant of the facts of how it can help them better do their jobs.  It was a fantastically well thought strategy and I think a huge less for all to think about and when you think of it in those terms, he's one smart man and had the last laugh for sure.  I'm sure they use predictive modeling and for sure collaborate on all of this and stay focused as you can hear him make such comments in his speeches today, many times mentioned.   Here’s the example the White House put out making fun of the President’s prompter, very funny and shows up Biden snoozing away too.

President Obama Speech Trailer–Lost of Prompter

Unfortunately we have the other branches of government that need to use some intellectual technology to do the same as some of them were in fact all in the news with not pursuing a smarter method combined with ethics to make their points.  I give him and his staff a big thumbs up for this, brilliant.

We saw some efforts by having the US Constitution read out loud and that also turned out to be a mockery as pages stuck together and things were missed-why not read it from an Ipad for a simple example:) Digital illiteracy is causing problems at all ends of lawmaking today and the mockery continues as they are lost when finding real paradigms today and flat out just don't know where to take a stand when modern day business methodologies come in to play and we see all the items that played importance in the 70s and 80s resurfacing for some great soap opera antics that we get to view every night on the news, sadly as most is all non productive and puts us further behind the 8 ball.

Digital Illiteracy Still Plaguing Lawmakers With Not Using High Powered Technology to Model and Simulate Healthcare Laws–Ryan Hasn’t Figured Out He’s No White Hope Yet (Video)

Our Congress didn't even recognize the tech solutions when it was given a demonstration and put flat in their face and since IBM Watson was used on Jeopardy I seem to believe they thought this server aggregation and smart query seeking technology was only a game.  The ability of judges to have all their information in full and the ability to make intelligent decisions that can eliminate some unintended consequences is too being challenged today, so again the President in holding his literal "Trump" card was brilliant.

Healthcare Reform Law– Is Any Judge Fully Capable of A Decision on a Law That is Challenged By Constantly Changing Algorithms?

The links in here go back to my prior posts on the topic of digital literacy and again hats off for some absolute brilliance here and as we watch the news and see where the world and the US is moving today, this is perhaps both a funny yet important message to not forget and hopefully it will stand to spur on the government “non participants” who make our laws today to come in to the 21st century and look at themselves (like we see them on the news).  Hopefully they will think again about current methodologies as I’m sure they want to be seen with respect and knowledge with a full understanding of how technology is both impacting and changing the world we live in today. So many of the dog and pony shows that clearly elaborate on politics and lack of digital illiteracy could certainly stand to be put in the “recycle bin” forever and maybe Joe Biden will make a bigger effort to remain awake in time too <grin>.  BD

YouTube - President Obama at the 2011 White House Correspondents' Dinner

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The Search for The Elusively Perfect Hospital CEO Today-El Camino Hospital Board Using Executive Search-Current CEO Contract Will Just Expire

This is interesting to see today as in the last 6 months to a year I am starting to see a bit of a revolving door with hospital CEOs, some had have had problems outside of running a hospital but now it appears that the search for the “great white hope” seems to be working it’s way over on to this frontier.  El Camino Hospital as far as their use for technology, advanced genomics and so forth is clearly so far ahead of many others in the US and I have written a few times about how they use technology.  They are like the “role model” hospital in that respect and they do some really neat stuff, not to mention the lives they save and treatments they offer with some unique clinical trials and treatments. 

El Camino Hospital Offers New Treatment for Severe Asthma–Bronchial Thermoplasty Approved by FDA in April

In reading this article about the board, of which I know little about other than reading, they are just going to let the current CEO contract expire and feel the need to get help with finding a CEO that can help them reach their goals.  In this case too with the hospital being so technologically advanced, i.e. wireless system running in the walls, I am guessing there’s no CEO candidate going to get in the door here without some technical skills of his/her own, as otherwise they would drown in the technology.  Also noted here too with as much as they have invested in technology and sit in the heart of the Silicon Valley, goals are not being met, in other words there’s so much revenue needed to keep the doors open and staff at current levels.  Now dig a little deeper here with getting good feed back from employees and their goal was 55% happy and they received about half of that.  The board is not citing any reason or wrong doing here either and recognized his efforts of how they came through some really hard times after the 2008 fall out and the opening of two opening in Mountain View and Los Gatos. I wonder is that “miracle CEO” out there"?

El Camino Hospital Will Lay Off 140 Employees - 5 to 6% of The Hospital Workers

These are the folks that take care of the “Silicon Valley” geeks when they get sick.  Maybe a hint here for the all the tech companies to perhaps give some support to your local hospital?   Check out this video from a short while back and see what I mean.  When you get sick there’s more than just social algorithms needed to help you <hint>.
So where does a talented CEO come from that has a strong healthcare ethics background and a strong use and understanding of Health IT?   I guess we can sit in the peanut gallery and watch to see who they are and if in fact such a person does exist today.  Sure there’s a bit of tongue and cheek here but mentioned as this is where everyone is going today to find the sometimes magical leaders that they hope still exist out there.  How can one so far advanced hospital in the Silicon Valley with all the talent they hold in their back yard pursue this effort I wonder? 
The geeks are all over making bucks with social network algorithms and if there were perhaps enough interested in the healthcare sector, maybe the board wouldn’t have to be taking this direction of finding the ultimately talented  CEO. 
Something else to make note of too is that they are searching for a CFO and have been since May of 2010 with an interim replacement who just stepped down.  Let me tell you the demands of such positions are high and folks are demanding “winner” results here and it’s getting to be slim picking out there to find not only the talent with Health IT, but also the one who has good public and patient relations in check, a tough balance.  Right now an interim CFO was hired from Kaiser Permanente to fill in, so see something matching up here with where they found talent?  We all know that Kaiser Permanente stands out in the field of Health IT and has worked very hard to unite both the patient and doctor experience with combining both where many are still scratching their heads. I look at is this way too in the fact that the board says we need help and can’t do this task alone and risk making a decision that will not work.  Not too long ago too I wrote about CIO burn out and that’s happening all over the US with demands and expectations that are above and beyond what some can physically do with budgets and technology.  I received some fan mail on this topic saying “thanks” for noticing. 

Survey Shows CIOs Stressed About Work/Life Balance–Don’t Burn Them Out-Chapter 2

The folks usually setting these requirements from what I post and read in the news are usually the “non participants” today and fail to use a lot of their own consumer Health IT technologies and then are easily swayed by someone’s presentation quoting a long stream of algorithms from an “expert or consultant” telling them it can be done, again most of it “proof of concept” and when the plans go into action in some areas the concept fails to implement correctly and then it seems “witch hunts” of some sort begin as someone has to be the fall guy and justification for a new person or process begins.  This is all over today and it’s the process used at time to kind of blame shift with expectations that are perhaps a little over the realistic side. The news makes this complicated too a we all compare technologies and the social networks as an example, are touted as the everything and anything world of today, and they are not.

Tech Robots at work El Camino

When I get sick a social network algorithm is not going to help me, is the healthcare system and good doctors and hospitals that are needed.  Somehow we get distracted with all of this and lose out sense of balance.  I have done some consulting over the years and I had one hospital with a CEO that used to “run for the hills” when I came in to suggest and worked with them, executive staff knew what was going on but his fear of technology literally put so many restrictions out there that so many left in frustration so we have a few of those out there too.  I used to laugh a bit at this is I never thought I had such power of fear when I was only there to help move things forward and do what the other executives brought me in to do. 
“The facility takes full advantage of new technologies, ranging from a wall-to-wall wireless network, to patient beds with built-in translators for 22 languages, to robots that move around the hospital carrying medical supplies and patient meals. Robotic devices help doctors perform surgeries and electronic lifts help get patients into beds safely.”
So in summary I think with all the budget talks and search for a new CEO and meeting goals, it’s fair to ask where are all the investors, venture capitalists and folks with all the big bucks up there when it comes time to supporting your local hospital?  We all fall sick and have health problems and one day you or someone you know is going to need them.  Also worth noting is the hospital is in the black again due to some changes and so forth, so on the other side of the coin here too is this maybe looking at how much profit they want to make too and drive more, and  more importantly, is this sustainable  as a business model and for how long?
The hospital is of course on schedule to work to meet all the government requirements (there’s a lot of this going on too for all hospitals that takes time and algorithmic planning) for safe patient care, meaningful use and to become an ACO.  Today things are a bit fragile out there and confusing too with some of the somewhat unrealistic goals to meet as some of those goals are also created by “non participants” too and we keep seeing those models adjusted all the time as some are just flat out of reach when applied beyond a “proof of concept” and where does this leave everyone else in the game? 
Is this an elusive butterfly out there trying to find this one “perfect CEO” and how do they fit every bit of this into the game plan at once as just missing one area of the compliance issues today ends a hospital right up front in the news as “failing” as some measure and then the distorted view of the news then carries on further to the public who read this stuff, I know because I’m a consumer and read the same stuff out there.   BD

As El Camino Hospital prepares to celebrate its 50th birthday next month and continues its search for a new CEO to replace Ken Graham, the board of directors voted at its March 19 meeting to ease those transitions by assigning new leadership for the board.
Normally scheduled for July in the new fiscal year, the board voted to appoint John Zoglin as chairman, replacing Wesley Alles. Other new officers are directors Uwe Kladde, vice chairman, and Dr. Patricia Einarson, secretary-treasurer.
Zoglin and Einarson will oversee the executive-officer search as sole members of the CEO search committee, which appointed the firm Russell Reynolds last month to conduct a national search for a new hospital leader. Without citing specific reason, the board voted 3-2 in February not to renew Graham’s contract, which expires in June.
“Overall, the hospital is not quite achieving its volume objectives year-to-date because of lingering recession effects, but there are positive signs of volume improvements across the major service lines,” he said in a March report.
In a corporate scorecard measuring quality, finances, growth and employees in the second fiscal-year quarter, October-December 2010, the orthopedics, urology, cyberknife and infusion center departments surpassed their goals.
In the scorecard’s final metric – employees rating El Camino Hospital as a place to work – 25.3 percent of its employees gave it a thumbs-up. The goal was 55.1 percent.

Los Altos Town Crier - El Camino Hospital board names firm for CEO search

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Community Hospital of Long Beach Officially Becomes Part of The Memorial Care System

I am guessing now as far as medical records they will become part of the Epic system since the current hospitals are either currently using the system or are or will be in the process.  The original front of the hospital is actually a state landmark and over the years has been through some turbulent times, with being closed for a few years and during that time was used for movies and television show sets. When it re-opened employees came back with files, patient files as when it was purchased by the Catholic Healthcare system years ago it was closed down immediately and employees saved the files and took them home for storage and safe keeping as they knew one day they would be needed.  When the hospital re-opened everyone brought the files from home they had stored and most came back to work.   By today’s standards that would not happen of course by we are going back a number of years for a bit of history here. 

It is not too far from Long Beach Memorial which is always busy and have seen patients from time to time when situation over flow would occur.  Last year the merger was announced and it appears now to be final with everything in place.

Community Hospital of Long Beach Becomes a Part of Memorial Care

Last year I did a walk through tour of the brand new children’s hospital at Long Beach which is adjacent to Long Beach Memorial and also part of Memorial Care.

Miller Children’s Hospital Long Beach – Brand New Pavilion Carries Focus on Patients and “Green”

Actually a few years ago I consulted at this hospital with providing some data work here with writing custom data base programs and setting up the software and training for their outreach nutrition program working with students from the nearby university to help seniors with better eating and exercise habits and a few other various Health IT projects.   Recently to in the news their independent physician’s association in Terminal Island was assumed by OptumHealth.

OptumHealth (Subsidiary of United Healthcare) Takes Over Memorial IPA in California-Subsidiary Watch

Here’s a nice video showing some of their community outreach programs with Goodwill and you get to see the original building quite a bit here as well.

Press Release:

Fountain Valley, Calif. (April 29, 2011) – Community Hospital Long Beach today joined MemorialCare Health System as its sixth hospital facility in Los Angeles and Orange Counties and third hospital in Long Beach.

“Our ownership of Community Hospital Long Beach will enhance the ability of these remarkable hospitals to continue providing exceptional care for our communities well into the future,” says Barry Arbuckle, Ph.D., president and CEO of the not-for-profit MemorialCare Health System.

“We are excited to add such a dedicated and talented team of employees, physicians and volunteers to the MemorialCare family. They embody the can-do spirit that has made Community Hospital a provider of choice in East Long Beach,” says Diana Hendel, PharmD, who has led Long Beach Memorial Medical Center and Miller Children’s Hospital Long Beach for more than two years and becomes CEO of the three Long Beach hospitals.

With 1,006-licensed beds, the three Long Beach hospitals include 5,900 employees, 1,400 affiliated physicians and 1,000 volunteers.

“Community Hospital Long Beach will continue to benefit East Long Beach for decades to come,” says Nancy Myers, who served as the Community Hospital of Long Beach board chair. “Being part of MemorialCare brings new opportunities for our dedicated physicians, nurses and other professionals to provide the local community with greater health services while maintaining the level of highly personalized care that Community Hospital offers.”

Terms of the transaction include assuming the lease of Community Hospital campus from the City of Long Beach, which includes the hospital and medical office building.

Community Hospital’s leadership team will continue in their roles, reporting to Hendel.  A search for a hospital administrator responsible for overall operations and business development is underway. Current employees of Community Hospital have been encouraged to remain, with most continuing in their roles. Plans to integrate and expand services offered by the Long Beach-based MemorialCare hospitals are in development.

Opened in 1924, the original Community Hospital building is designated as a Long Beach Historic Landmark for its Spanish Colonial Revival Style, its courtyard patio, fountain centerpiece and arcade facade.

As a new member of the MemorialCare family in Long Beach, Community Hospital joins Long Beach Memorial and Miller Children’s Hospital, which rank in the top two in the West in numbers of hospital beds on one campus. With more than a century of caring for the community, Long Beach Memorial and Miller Children’s Hospital have received significant and ongoing accolades, including listings among U.S. News & World Report’s Best Hospitals and Top Children’s Hospital rankings. Recently, they were honored with MemorialCare Health System as one of just 29 businesses worldwide to receive the prestigious Gallup Great Workplace Award.

MemorialCare Health System with 1,549 licensed hospital beds is nationally recognized for leadership in best-practice medicine and advanced technologies. The Southern California Health System includes Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, Miller Children’s Hospital Long Beach, Community Hospital Long Beach, Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center in Fountain Valley and Saddleback Memorial Medical Center in Laguna Hills and San Clemente, plus numerous outpatient facilities and programs.

Technorati Tags: Long Beach Community Hospital,Long Beach Memorial Hospital,healthcare,Health IT,tech denial,acquisitions and mergers,software,IS,IT,Memorial Care

President Obama Issues Executive Order To Federal Agencies to Improve Customer Service And Use Technology To Accomplish

This is good news and it certainly can’t hurt.  Agencies have 6 months to submit their plans and the President says the government agencies are not learning from what private industry does.  The President also knows this move will also save money.  It’s too bad the folks on the other side of the hill don’t fall under this Executive Order.  If you have read here often enough you know I am on a big campaign to get Congress members to do the very same thing.   I used the IBM Watson Server configuration and you can read more at the link below.  Those folks just don’t get it, so off to Wall Street IBM goes. 

IBM Watson Capabilities Being Pitched to Financial Industry-Congress Must Not Have Felt They Needed This So Further Behind We Fall With Effective Intelligent Lawmaking

At the rate we are going there, I hope we don’t end up seeing a sequel to “Inside Job” in a couple years and I would love to be wrong on this one.  "Streamlining Service Delivery and Improving Customer Service, is the name of the order.  The government said we can’t use decreasing budgets as an excuse to get less done.

“Inside Job”–A Learning Experience and Documentary About Financial Algorithms-And Some of Same Exists in Healthcare

GSA in May plans to release a $2.5 billion procurement to consolidate 950,000 email inboxes across 100 email systems and utilize cloud services to do so.  This brings me around once more to Congressional digital illiteracy as last year the Senate refused to fund cloud services and myself and everyone else in IT could not believe what we heard and as it has progressed in only a few months, this really makes the case for folks not knowing what they are doing with budgets and laws and showing a true lack of collaboration skills.

Senate Cuts Cloud Services From Budget That Would Allow for Data Center and IT Infrastructure Consolidation–Back to the 8 Track Tapes Next?

Here’s a good video from Yale University that talks about analytics and what to do with the massive amounts of data and using it effectively.  Both federal agencies and Congress should pay attention here to learn how to use deep analytic tools.  You can’t give good customer service without the right tools so the President is on track here. 

Smarter Education Form at Yale University

More Congressional Testimonies About Health IT–Members of Congress Could Entertain Getting an “Algo Man” on Staff As Wall Street and Health Insurers Have Them–Don’t Leave Home Without One

Heck right off the bat the FDA is one big huge target as I get zero from that agency and it takes 2 weeks to get a canned web response on an email that says thank you, where everyone else does it instantly with an algorithm so I assume they still do that manually.  <grin>.  BD

President Obama issued an executive order on Wednesday instructing federal agencies to come up with ways to use technology to improve customer service within six months.

"Government managers must learn from what is working in the private sector and apply these best practices to deliver services better, faster, and at lower cost," Obama said in a statement.

"Such best practices include increasingly popular lower-cost, self-service options accessed by the Internet or mobile phone and improved processes that deliver services faster and more responsively, reducing the overall need for customer inquiries and complaints.

The agencies have 180 days to develop a plan with the Office of Management and Budget that shows how they will streamline the delivery of online services to improve customer satisfaction. Agencies must also create ways to collect feedback from customers on their customer service.

Obama issues executive order telling agencies to improve customer service online - The Hill's Hillicon Valley

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