Post Author: Scott Ellner, DO, MPH
Scott Ellner has been a general surgeon for over 20 years, and can be reached at PEAK Health. He has transitioned into health care executive roles due to his passion for patient safety, quality, and value-based care delivery. His authentic leadership style inspires team members to navigate challenging situations, such as resistance to change and innovation, in order to bring about meaningful transformation. Most recently, he served as the CEO of Billings Clinic, the largest health system in Montana. During his tenure, Forbes recognized the clinic as the best place to work in the state. It was also at that time that he formulated a strategic growth plan that included the development of a level 1 trauma network and a rural-based clinically integrated network.
Prior to this role, Dr. Ellner led large physician groups and clinically integrated networks in major health systems. He holds a master’s degree in health care management from the Harvard School of Public Health, a master’s degree in public health from San Diego State University, and he completed his general surgery residency at the University of California, San Diego. Currently, he is enrolled at the University of Oklahoma College of Law, pursuing a health care law degree.
Scott Ellner has been a general surgeon for over 20 years, and can be reached at PEAK Health. He has transitioned into health care executive roles due to his passion for patient safety, quality, and value-based care delivery. His authentic leadership style inspires team members to navigate challenging situations, such as resistance to change and innovation, in order to bring about meaningful transformation. Most recently, he served as the CEO of Billings Clinic, the largest health system in Montana. During his tenure, Forbes recognized the clinic as the best place to work in the state. It was also at that time that he formulated a strategic growth plan that included the development of a level 1 trauma network and a rural-based clinically integrated network.
Prior to this role, Dr. Ellner led large physician groups and clinically integrated networks in major health systems. He holds a master's degree in health care management from the Harvard School of Public Health, a master's degree in public health from San Diego State University, and he completed his general surgery residency at the University of California, San Diego. Currently, he is enrolled at the University of Oklahoma College of Law, pursuing a health care law degree.
Despite their idealized oath to do no harm, physicians are still human, and as such, mistakes, errors, and the unpredictability of life still occur. Although the stories that grab headlines are of doctors intentionally harming patients, such instances are exceedingly rare. Far more prevalent, however, are the cases of physicians who begin their careers with the best intentions, only to encounter challenges along the way. According to the American Medical …
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Imagine a day when you wake up from a perfect six hours and thirty-six minutes of restorative sleep. Overnight, a wearable device or implanted chip has been continuously monitoring and capturing a comprehensive set of your biological and physiological variables. The ingested data from the variables collected is processed through an adaptive machine learning algorithm to create a physician-directed longevity score to increase health span—the length of time a person …
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It’s a narrative that has become disturbingly familiar: different health care providers, yet the same traumatic story.
Ramon, an idealistic new nurse, was drawn to nursing to make a meaningful impact in the lives of the most vulnerable. But in an instant, his love for nursing changed. After just six months as a nurse, a patient’s son viciously attacked Ramon, enraged over his mother’s COVID-19-related hospitalization. In a blind fury, …
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It’s no secret that health care workers are some of the most stressed and burned-out professionals in the workforce. Health care was a tough job even before we had to bear the brunt of the worst of the pandemic. Even now that we’re nearly four years out from the initial outbreak of COVID-19, we’re still contending with a myriad of challenges, such as mental health disorders and ever-diminishing staff.
Amidst …
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I want to preface this story by stating that Sarah has given written authorization to share her story, allowing my colleague and me to transform a challenging experience into a valuable lesson in the inevitability of mistakes and the profound capacity for forgiveness and growth.
Ten years ago, I was approached by a distressed physician and colleague who had unintentionally harmed a patient during the course of an elective colon operation. …
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The practice of medicine involves a delicate interplay between medical expertise and the unique needs of each individual. Ideally, medical decisions should prioritize the health and well-being of patients while being rooted in science and evidence-based practice. However, this noble mission inevitably becomes challenging in the context of reimbursement structures that inadvertently incentivize unnecessary procedures rather than focusing on the quality or necessity of care provided.
In an all-too-common scenario …
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