As with so many good stories, this one begins with a fall. In the summer of 1992, while climbing a tree with his young son, Dr. Kenagy fell out of the tree and into a new perspective on healthcare. Suffering from a broken neck, he spent three months in a halo brace and another three disabled and in therapy. This experience showed him the view from the other side of the privacy curtain: as the patient.
The New View
What he saw was inspiring and troubling. He watched as dedicated individuals at all levels of the organization were working diligently to help him, but struggling against a system that often got in their way. He recovered fully, but his view of the system would never be the same.
While continuing to work as a surgeon, he joined the management team of a progressive health system in the Pacific Northwest as Vice President of Business Development. However, the resources and flexibility he needed as a clinician were a nightmare to him as an executive trying to keep the system afloat. In turn, as a clinician, he found his hard-won efforts as a manager were barely making a dent in problems he faced daily at the front line.
Inspiration and Revelation
Puzzled by this experience, he sought new solutions at Harvard University’s Kennedy School and as a Visiting Scholar at Harvard Business School. Studying those few companies able to consistently adapt, such as Intel, Toyota, IBM, and Southwest Airlines, he found common characteristics that could apply to the complex, unpredictable world of the patient. Translating those characteristics to healthcare has led to the revelation of Adaptive Design. Adaptive Design clears the way for those in management and at the front line of patient care to share a common purpose: getting patients exactly what they need at continually lower cost.
Dedication
Dr. Kenagy has made Adaptive Design his life’s work. His book, Designed to Adapt: Leading Healthcare in Challenging Times, is a guide to working adaptively. He dedicates his time to teaching managers and frontline caregivers how, working together, they will make a difference. It’s an inspiration and a revelation to see that patients can get exactly what they need at continually lower cost. It’s the way to fix healthcare.
