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Leslie Matthews: A Collaborative Approach to Grateful Patient Fundraising
The concept of fundraising initiatives within a healthcare setting traditionally involves patient-focused fundraising. Most often, this is incredibly uncomfortable for providers. As an orthopedic surgeon and Chief of Orthopedics for MedStar Health, I was of the same thought. For my colleagues and me, the idea of talking to a patient about a philanthropic investment felt like a breach of the doctor-patient relationship, unethical, and a HIPAA violation. As a physician, I did not want to be in a situation where I needed to ask a patient for money. However, I’ve been introduced to a new concept and approach, which is in place at Med-Star Health, that is much more comfortable for the provider and removes the typical ethical objections physicians voice in partnering with philanthropy.
Our Philanthropy approach at MedStar Health focuses its fundraising efforts around the concept of facilitating patient gratitude and building a culture of gratitude among caregivers and employees across the organization. The methods are rooted in the definition of philanthropy as “The love of humankind.” Conversations with providers at all levels are centered on this concept through a series of education and relationship-building efforts held with the philanthropy team members. Understanding that grateful patients, their families, and community members may have a desire to express gratitude by helping other patients like them through philanthropy is key. Education and conversations with providers and staff are centered around gratitude—how gratitude is personal and meaningful to patients and their families, how to recognize and “accept” those expressions of gratitude and then when and how it’s appropriate to connect them with a colleague in philanthropy. Providers are not asked or expected to offer differing levels of care nor to ask patients for donations....