>> So I think when you're trained as a physician,
you're trained to provide great evidence based medicine and practices to patients.
What you're not so trained in or well-trained, I would say,
is the experience of being able to relate to patients and
be able to collect information from patients that's
not necessarily pertinent to their medical issue.
And it's that that we tend to focus on, and a few other things we tend to
focus on in One Medical so when we talk about human centered care, for
us it means providing compassionate care, that means being empathetic in our care.
And that requires a lot of communication.
It requires listening to our patients.
So for One Medical specifically it means having long appointment times,
which allow us to engage with our patients for longer periods and
get a good sense of what their background is.
And that provides us more information to be able to direct their care and
partner with them in their care.
In terms of being human centered, we talk about respect for our patients.
>> Mm-hm.
>> And though that's implied, I think to be able to put it in practice
regularly in office practice where often things can get rushed,
it's important to make sure that you are taking your time with a patient and
that you're respecting their schedules.
And for us, patient-centered care means starting the patient appointments on time.
It means respecting our patients' schedules and
being able to accommodate them as often as possible, and be flexible for them.
We also talk a lot about in addition to the compassion and the respect for
our patients about humility.
And so, we talk about it in terms of how we practice.
We want to make sure that we are recognizing
the fact that patients are coming to us at a very vulnerable time in their lives
with very complex medical issues.
And that we want to be able to understand what their experience is with that illness.
And what suffering with that illness means to them.
And so, that's where humility comes into place.
And that's what we feel like we're able to focus on at One Medical.
>> All of this sounds almost obvious.
I mean, this is the way healers and doctors should be.
At One Medical, are you actually trained in nice communication,
or do they just make sure to hire nice people?
>> That's right, and that's exactly it.
I think it comes back to those hiring practices.
And really it doesn't just apply to our providers,
I had mentioned previously that I think it really is the entire patient interaction.
From the moment they walk in that door to the moment they leave our office.
And so, it's that interaction with our admins,
it's a interaction with our administrative staff, as well as our providers.
So we specifically hire administrative staff that are very engaging
with patients.
And so, we look at their backgrounds, or look at their enthusiasm for our mission,
to deliver great care.
And we hire based upon that.
And we do the same thing with our providers.
We look at their level of empathy, what work they've done in the past that
demonstrates that, when we hire on new providers.
We also have certain markers that we like to achieve as providers,
once we've been at One Medical for some time.
And a huge priority there with regards to are you achieving those levels
of excellence is your level of empathy.
It's not just great clinical knowledge, that's important, as well.
But it's also you have love, compassion, and empathy and how the patient receives
that, what kind of feedback we're getting from the patients in that regard, and
that's all used as a whole to
determine how well you're doing in One Medical specifically.
>> As a business model, how does that work in the sense of having taking
much more time with each patient or taking appropriate time for patients?
And I've experienced at this place,
very leisurely meetings with the doctor.