Most hospices sub optimize the use of their Medical Director(s). As I look back on all the Medical Directors I have hired, I see all the faults and mistakes I have made. But great lessons learned and opportunities to improve. My biggest mistake was hiring Medical Directors based on the number of referrals I thought they would refer (this hardly panned out anyway). I neglected to explore with them their attitudes and believes about opening doors to physician’s colleagues, helping problem solve pending referrals that had a physician barrier, hosting physician dinners and the like. My bad!!! Live and learn because once I corrected this blind spot, I ended up working with some of the best Medical Directors. My program’s quality, reputation and patient census grew.

I also learned one important thing along the way, physicians liked to be asked to help. So ask!!