When it comes to healthcare, it can be said without risk of exaggeration that “revolution is in the air.” The most sweeping legislation in history has just been passed in the United States. Elsewhere, as I’ve been documenting in my blogs, countries, states, provinces, and municipalities are struggling to maintain quality while containing costs of the healthcare behemoth.
Back in January, I talked about the approach being taken in Holland where, in contrast to many countries, the healthcare system was jettisoning their government-run system in favor of private insurance reimbursement. Believe me, it is a change no less dramatic in scope and impact than what is taking place in the U.S. At the time, I noted that Dutch practitioners were, in response “’thinking ahead’, preparing for the change—in particular, understanding what the research literature indicates works as well as adopting methods for documenting and improving the outcome of treatment.” As a result, I’ve been traveling back and forth—at least twice a quarter–providing trainings to professional groups and agencies across the length and breadth of the country.
Not long ago, I was invited to speak at the 15th year anniversary of Cenzo—a franchise organization with 85 registered psychologist members. Basically, the organization facilitates—some would say “works to smooth”–the interaction between practitioners and insurance companies. In addition to helping with contracts, paperwork, administration, and training, Cenzo also has an ongoing “quality improvement” program consisting of routine outcome monitoring and feedback as well as client satisfaction metrics. Everything about this forward-thinking group is “top notch,” including a brief film they made about the day and the workshop. Whether you work in Holland or not, I think you’ll find the content interesting! If you understand the language, click here to download the 15th year Anniversary Cenzo newsletter.
I first heard of practce-based evidence about three years ago and it continues prove effective in my individual work. The more that I think about the concept of letting the client lead the more simple and profound my sessions become and the outcomes reported by the client have far surpassed what I could imagine. The population that I work with, homeless youth and families, has been consider by many in my area to be the most difficult of clients. It has helped me a great deal to covey to my clients that they are experts, with all the skills needed to reach their goals already inside them, and my role is to help them uncover those skills. This grounding has eliminated, at least for me personally, outside pressure to follow a model or prescribed set of interventions. I see it as “Strength Archeology” finding the treasure thats always been there and putting it on display.