Conflict Management in Health Care Systems
Health care is a significant concern for most people. The nature, quality, and cost of that care is frequently a subject of controversy within families, within the health care team, between the family and the health care professionals, and increasingly, between the family and/or the health care team and the health care management organization. Often conflicts add stress and expense to already overburdened patients, families, professionals, and managers that sometimes compromises the quality of the health care.Resolving health care disputes requires taking into account economic, legal, and personal considerations. Whatever the origin or context of the problem, roles, rights, responsibilities, and relationships need to be realigned and the issues must be resolved so that the parties can move beyond the conflict.
Most professionals who work in the health care system recognize the need to have a thoughtful, sensible, and efficient process to settle disputes. Mediation is now being used regularly to settle every variety of dispute that might arise in the health care system, including treatment decisions and disputes ("malpractice") and risk management. Health care issues can encompass, for example, the treatment of short-term or chronic medical illnesses or the care and treatment of the elderly, developmentally, emotionally, or physically disabled.
Mediation offers an effective means for the parties to maintain direct control and informally settle disputes in health care matters. The mediator, skilled in effective negotiation and problem-solving strategies, facilitates the process to allow disputing parties to obtain effective settlements. As a result, the unnecessary delay and expense that often occurs in the more traditional legalized procedures can be reduced and unnecessary stress and expense minimized.
Course Objectives
In addition to the basic objectives of mediation training, this course will also focus on the legal and substantive information, and considerations relevant to mediation practice in the health care context.
Who Should Attend?
The course is designed for professionals who want to learn the basic theory and skills necessary to formally practice mediation, and for those who desire to understand how mediative strategies, negotiation skills and problem solving techniques might be effectively integrated into their present work.
Those who have had the course and found it directly relevant and beneficial have included:
- Doctors, nurses, and other health care providers
- Business and risk management professionals, agency administrators, and clergy in the health care field
- Legal professionals: judges, lawyers, and legal assistants who work in the health care context
The course will focus on the basic skills, strategies, and techniques of the generic mediation process, from the commitment of the parties to mediation through the preparation of an effective agreement in some of the more frequent contexts of health care disputes.
Day One:
ROLE OF THE MEDIATOR AND THE STRUCTURE OF THE MEDIATION PROCESS
- Overview and Introduction to Conflict Resolution: Negotiation, Mediation, Arbitration, and Adjudication
- Assessment of Parties; Who Can Mediate?
- The Role of the Mediator as "Neutral"
- The Consultation/Orientation Session; Gaining Commitment to the Process
- Demonstration of Mediation
- Participant Mediation Simulation
NEGOTIATION STRATEGIES
- Structuring the Process and Setting Agendas
- Skills, Strategies, and Techniques in Mediation: Identifying and Framing Issues
- Systems and Communication Theory and Practice
- Conflict Analysis and Management Issues
- Gender, Cultural, and Racial Issues in Negotiation and Mediation
- Mediation Demonstration
- Participant Mediation Simulations
BARGAINING AND PREPARING EFFECTIVE AGREEMENTS
- Negotiation and Settlement Strategies: Analyzing the Dispute
- Controlling for Mediator Bias
- Preparing Effective Memorandum of Understanding: Legal and Working Agreements
- Ethical Issues in Mediation
- Participant Mediation Simulations
- The Economics and Marketing of a Mediation Practice
Certificates of completion will be presented after the completion of the course. This course has been approved for Continuing Education Units and Continuing Legal Education credit in most areas, including Missouri, Kansas, Ohio, Indiana, Oklahoma, and Illinois. The faculty will provide the necessary documentation or verification to aid participants in securing the credit desired. This course has also been approved by the courts where required for mediation practice in most jurisdictions.
Fees and Arrangements
The course is typically three days (24 hours) arranged over a weekend although the course can be tailored to the special needs of participants. This format has been designed to minimize the amount of time participants are required to be out of their offices and to lessen travel and lodging expenses.
The cost of the course is $675 per person, which includes extensive forms and practice materials. Participants will be encouraged to purchase other specific selected texts. Costs and expenses may be tax deductible according to current IRS regulations.
Generally, sessions will begin at 8:30 a.m. and finish at 6:00 p.m. each day. Full attendance is required for the Certificate of Completion.
Specific details for a particular training program will be sent to you at the time of registration. To insure a quality learning experience, the number of participants will be limited.
There will be a complete refund of fees if for any reason the course is canceled. A $50 administrative fee will be charged for participant cancellations within three weeks of a scheduled program.
Tuition discounts can be arranged for students and others, depending on financial circumstances.
Generally, a course is most effective with approximately 15 or more participants.