Better Heart Attack Care Stems from Innovative Leadership

"Historically hospitals have thought of themselves from an inpatient point of view," he says. "They haven't understood the whole continuum of care to the community. But as we get closer to understanding how delivery of care and accountability are changing, we are redefining our borders and thinking differently."

Indeed they are.

It started about a year and a half ago with an attempt by Crouse and Suehs to improve the hospital's emergency department patient experience. They focused on former patients and recognized that EMS services in the area, despite being completely independent from the hospital, were key players in the delivery of the hospital's emergency services.

Suehs facilitated "listening sessions" with 10-12 different EMS providers from central to upper New York. He asked them questions about how the hospital interacts with them, what it does well, what it doesn't do well, and what they wished the hospital would do that it didn't do currently.