California hospital makes financial turnaround using 'patient-centric' care

The previously struggling Sharp Coronado Hospital in Coronado, Calif., has made dramatic financial turnaround using a "patient-centric" care model, according to an article on the Healthcare Finance website.

In the mid-1990s Sharp Coronado had lost a lot of market share and was struggling. It was only after adopting a patient-centric model of care that the tide started to turn, the article said.

Sharp Coronado noticed that facilities that were doing well had some common elements —  amenities such as massage and acupuncture, and even freshly baked cookies.

"We have volunteers here who bake cookies, and that was a simple thing to implement on some level, but it changes your relationship with the community," said said Susan Stone, MD, the hospital's senior vice president and CEO. "People would go out for walks and time them so they could drop by when the cookies are fresh."

Read the article.