Mark Barner (right) interviews Michael Dell at HIMSS16, Feb. 29, 2016 in Las Vegas.
Following the keynote by Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell at the HIMSS16 opening session late Monday, Dell founder and CEO Michael Dell took the stage at the Venetian in Las Vegas.
Dell was rather boring, but that wasn’t the real news.
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Dell participated in a fireside chat (without an actual fireplace) with Mark Barner, senior vice president and CIO of St. Louis-based Ascension Health and CEO of the organization’s affiliated Ascension Information Services. Barner made a statement that made everyone watching the live video feed in the press room stop and look at each other in disbelief: He doesn’t care about patients going on Twitter to complain about problems with such banalities as hospital food or parking at Ascension facilities.
Let me repeat: The CIO of a major health system doesn’t care what people say on Twitter about many of the day-to-day elements that form the patient experience. He might as well have said that he hates puppies.
I’ve been tweeting for five-plus years. Not one of my previous 6,900 tweets has been “liked” or retweeted as much as this one.
Big mistake by @mark_barner at #HIMSS16 saying he doesn't care abt Twitter complaints about hosp food, parking, etc. #patientsatisfaction
— Neil Versel (@nversel) March 1, 2016
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Some of the responses were incredulous.
Seriously big mistake. They should be taking these complaints and using them to look at what needs improvement. https://t.co/wINWuaBaSR
— Matt Soleyn (@MattSoleyn) March 1, 2016
@nversel @DrFerdowsi Has he heard of HCAPS?! Those who care about HCAPS CARE about social medial comments#HIMSS16
— Matthew Taber (@matthewtaber) March 1, 2016
Granted, this is Twitter, the same forum that Barner dissed, so it’s not surprising that the Twitterati vehemently disagreed with him. But, as the saying goes, Barner and Ascension need to adapt before the world — and patients — leave them behind.
.@nversel @mark_barner will when it starts to hit the bottom line. #patientsfirst #HIMSS16
— InboundMD (@InboundMD) March 1, 2016
It matters what patients say about their entire healthcare experience, even if it’s not directly related to patient care. Healthcare executives like Barner had better figure this out.
Photo: Twitter user Don Fluckinger