James W. Saxton, Esq. has been a speaker in front of national audiences on health care issues for the last 20 years. His programs are based on real life experience from his years in the courtroom as well as research and work with other national content experts. His evaluations are consistently outstanding and his prominent audiences include the American College of Surgeons, American Society of Clinical Urology, Society of Gastroenterology Nurses and Assistants, American Society of Health Care Risk Management, Medical Group Management Association, American Health Lawyers, American Society of Bariatric Surgery, American Brachytherapy Society and many hospitals, health systems, medical associations and retirement communities. His programs are unique in not only getting to the heart of a problem in a given area, but offer practical solutions. His programs are entertaining as well, a must to enhance the educational value. These programs qualify for continuing medical education, and all the information and materials needed are provided. Do not hesitate to contact us to customize an educational program that will work for you.

Developing the Loss Control Culture
Research consistently shows that often the cause of malpractice claims is miscommunication and service lapses, not actual malpractice. A loss control program that focuses on eliminating service and communication lapses and stresses the importance of service excellence creates an environment where everyone wants to work and practice. More importantly, an environment is created in which the patients feel both cared about and respected. This program utilizes the latest research and examples of how creating a loss control culture can help you reduce risk and improve communications and provides guidance on creating and maintaining such a culture.

Expectation Management … A Reality Check!
Patients continue to have high expectations about their healthcare and are expecting more from service providers. Research indicates this is linked to the ease of obtaining information about healthcare and the glorification of service excellence in healthcare marketing materials. This program provides simple strategies to help healthcare providers manage patient expectations.

Informed Consent for You – Going on the Offensive
Informed consent claims continue to plague physicians across the country. Research shows that although these claims may be among the easiest for a plaintiff to pursue, they can also be the easiest to prevent. Informed consent, often thought of as an overly defensive mechanism, is actually a patient education, involvement and accountability tool that can work to your benefit. Bolstering your informed consent process by using the procedure-specific forms can go a long way toward reducing your exposure to both informed consent and negligence claims. This program reviews how a lack of informed consent can lead to greater exposure and shares strategies and actual forms that can reduce both risks.

How to Be Part of Your Trial Team
Physicians do not realize just how important they are to their own trial team. You can actually increase or lessen your odds depending on what type of partner you are in the courtroom. In this program we dissect the anatomy of a malpractice lawsuit and review specific strategies to enhance your credibility and be a better partner with your lawyer. Learn how to be a powerful partner through appropriate preparation and how to understand the nuances of the courtroom and what jurors are thinking when they observe you. Understanding the process will enable you to appear and be more relaxed. Specific examples and strategies will be shown with case studies to exemplify each point.

Patient Involvement and Accountability … It’s About Time
Research shows that patient involvement, or the lack thereof, is a major source of poor outcomes and professional liability claims and is related to high patient expectations. Patients often do not follow instructions, treatment plans, or allow you to perform certain tests and then suffer complications from their illnesses or fail to accomplish their rehabilitation goals. When this happens, patients tend to assert blame against their healthcare provider. Therefore, it is time to involve patients in their own care. However, it takes more than just telling patients they need to be accountable for their care. Healthcare providers need to put accountability tools, such as the history form or informed consent forms, in place to help patients become more involved in their care. This program details the importance of patient involvement and how accountability is not only an excellent strategy to reduce your liability exposure, but is good for patient care and satisfaction.

The Top Three Ways to Motivate Your Staff
Your staff can play a major role in your risk reduction strategy. After all, they see the patient first, last and cumulatively more, which is a fairly powerful combination! It is important to move your staff up the service excellence ladder toward a five-star rating. Moving toward a five-star service environment leads to a more pleasant and productive environment for your staff and providers and is extremely beneficial to your patients. In this program you will also learn the best ways to motivate staff, what other practices have done and concepts such as “the first 10 seconds,” “the kick-off” and “setting an example.” Specifically designed for physicians and managers, this program details how to initiate a five-star program and strategies for keeping it alive.

Event Management – Creating Your Own Evidence
Managing evidence appropriately after an event occurs is critical to reducing liability exposure and increasing patient satisfaction. Evidence can be anything from documentation, meetings, and returned phone calls to a healthcare provider’s need to consider if the evidence is something that can be used for or against them. It takes special skills and training to communicate appropriately after an event. This program reviews successful event management strategies and teaches healthcare providers how to coordinate evidence, focus on patients to improve satisfaction and reduce liability exposure.

Communication Plus – Enhanced Communication Skills for the Healthcare Provider
Time and again, research shows that poor communication is the number one cause of malpractice claims and can also lead to an increase in the number of lawsuits. This program covers the importance of good communication skills within the healthcare setting and, using actual examples, shows ways in which everyone can change their personal communication skills. We also will review the anatomy of “change,” a topic that is both misunderstood and not often discussed. It is not enough to want to communicate better – change is critical and necessary.

Learning to Be Your Own Best Witness in Court
Positive courtroom outcomes require careful strategy and take great preparation. Learning how to be an effective witness on your own behalf is a critical skill. Stevens & Lee can provide you with information to help you understand what is taking place in the courtroom, body language and what it may mean and how you can become an important part of the team. This program reviews the anatomy of a trial and your testimony in both direct and cross-examination.

Documentation Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them
Clinicians typically approach documentation as a means of communicating effectively with healthcare staff. This approach creates problems when malpractice allegations are made and the plaintiff’s attorney, arbitrator or jury engages in a review of the record and make assumptions that omissions or corrections represent negligence. On the other hand, proper medical record documentation is seen to reflect excellent medical care. This program explores how the medical record is viewed from legal and medical perspectives and offers practical solutions for creating a record that meets expectations for both.

Mandatory Positive Risk Management for Physicians: Time for Collaboration
Healthcare providers and staff have to make a commitment to improving risk management practices in order for positive changes to occur. We know that “programs” alone do not work. The only way to make change happen and to achieve desired goals is to lead by example. A positive change in culture leads to increased patient and employee satisfaction and effective event management – all of which can derail lawsuits. This program provides proven examples of how these concepts work and how you can apply them in your organization. Others have done it, so can you!

Telephone Care: How to Increase Patient Satisfaction and
Reduce Liability
This program examines the positive and negative aspects of telephone care. It identifies techniques to enhance patient satisfaction through telephone service excellence and etiquette and ways to reduce the risk of liability through well planned procedures and documentation.

Disclosing Unanticipated Outcomes and Medical Errors
Clinicians and staff need the skills and understanding to communicate effectively with patients and families when an unexpected or adverse event occurs. When the event is a result of medical error, the clinician, staff and organization need to formulate a thoughtful response. This workshop addresses proper communication through lecture, video examples and discussion and practice of the most effective ways to respond to a patient. (An Institute for Health Care Communication Program). 2 CME credits available.

Clinician-Patient Communication to Enhance Health Outcomes
Clinician-patient communication underlies successful medical care. Until recently, medical training paid little attention to the development of communication skills. Too often clinicians relied on whatever innate communication talent they possessed. This workshop presents critical research findings that demonstrate the linkages between effective communication and enhanced health outcomes. The workshop provides opportunities for participants to analyze realistic videotaped interactions, discriminate between the interactions that are effective and ineffective and practice techniques while receiving constructive feedback. (An Institute for Health Care Communication Program). 3 CME credits available.