Why do we lose students from our dojos?

[Bill Glasheen]

While I teach for free (they need to get access to the health club facilities), I would not like folks to think this is "the norm" or "superior" or "politically correct." I happen to be someone who makes a living with math and science, and martial arts is an all-consuming extension of my broader self.

A full time professional instructor deserves to be paid well. And you know what? Charge 70 bucks in this town and people feel compelled to stay. Charge nothing and they come and go as they please. If you don't charge something, I find people don't put value in what you give them. It's one of the most insulting aspects of human nature when you think about it... We were forced to charge a $50 "mat fee" for new students just so they wouldn't treat us like crap. We now have a few nice mats, and the beginners stay long enough to teach them something.

Good for Ric I say. He should charge what the market will bear and sleep well at night. I pay Raffi to come down and teach FMA via fees we collect from people, and Raffi deserves it.

You socialists and commies can come study with me any day; I make enough money in my day job. Just remember to treat whomever you learn from with respect. Most instructors deserve it. There are many, many ways to show it.

End of rant...

- Bill

[Glenn]

Glenn...

There has to be a clear and coherent teaching path that leads "FROM THE FAMILIAR, INTO THE UNFAMILIAR".

Words that should be part of every teacher's lesson plan.

I agree...but it was 2Green who said it, not me!

[benzocaine]

Just to clarify, I see nothing wrong with being well off as a karate instructor..unless you water it down and have a belt factory just to collect fees.

[Bill Glasheen]

One thing you'll find in the martial arts world, Ben, is that there's very little correlation between price and quality of the good. It's baffling!

This happens in a free market system when the average consumer has no way to measure the quality of the goods. The same problem exists to some extent in health care.

Hmm... I wonder what would happen if someone started evaluating dojos in Consumer Reports, or if someone started publishing a HEDIS-like report card on the quality of dojo services. Wouldn't that tick off quite a few "belt factories"...

I'm finishing up a white paper on a software product that measures the quality of care across a broad range of MD services. It's been a long time coming in health care. Maybe one day in martial arts...

- Bill

[benzocaine]

I'm finishing up a white paper on a software product that measures the quality of care across a broad range of MD services. It's been a long time coming in health care. Maybe one day in martial arts...

What is the name of this software Bill? My department is trying like crazy to make protocol driven Respiratory care the norm. People would be amazed at the crap we have to deal with..like chest physiotherapy on a patient with a pleural effusion. Nebulizers "for cough" , and many other wastes of time that could be spent with people we can actually help.

We are constantly gathering data on the outcomes of therapist driven protocol patients VS. MD driven therapy.

That software is going to ruffle some serious feathers Bill... 'lotta waste in healthcare.

[Bill Glasheen]

This is the software product, Ben.

Symmetry EBM Connect

This software package costs in the six figure range, and is sold to health plans and disease management companies. It will be used by them to measure the quality of services by the physicians in their networks, and monitor the care of critcal patients across the fragmented health care system. It is enormously complex. Just measuring quality in diabetes care alone involves 30 different measures.

We've been ruffling feathers for a long time, Ben, starting with measuring how efficiently physicians deliver care (morbidity adjusted) and predicting the future financial risk associated with a group of patients. This is the third leg of the stool, where the quality of the services delivered is taken into account.

- Bill

[benzocaine]

It is enormously complex. Just measuring quality in diabetes care alone involves 30 different measures.

I bet. There are so many variables involved in patient outcomes.

I'm sure the six fugure software is out of our departments' budget

[benzocaine]

I wonder if Medicare uses anything like this?? There are many docs in my mind that could use an "intervention".

[Bill Glasheen]

If they did, we would know about it. This is brand new stuff, Ben.

They could buy it from us... The government already buys models to "risk adjust" payments to HMOs for their Medicare members. It's all getting very sophisticated.

- Bill