The birth of a healthcare network
BUILDING THE CTR NETWORK SINCE 2012
Making A Dream Reality
I spent 30+ years in hospital management as a patient and physician relations executive. Unsatisfied patients affect the hospital’s performance score, and I began to recognize the difference between "customer service" and "patient relations." I saw patients and families in a healthcare crisis with anxiety and fear, so I wanted to treat them as individuals, not as hospital patients. I became known in southern California as a confidential "go-to" when a cancer patient or family didn't know where to turn for a diagnosis, and I would guide them on this unknown journey. I was experiencing the void in our healthcare system and wanted to help fill the gaps. It was time to leave the hospital environment as a paid employee.
Hammeras Group, LLC was formed as a consulting organization for hospitals in California to share about patients as individuals and not entities. I spoke to hospital staff and doctors about relating to patients and wrote a handbook, "customer service vs. patient relations - there is a difference." As I continued this journey, the private community's requests for help from patients increased, as did the complexity of their healthcare diagnosis. At this point, I also saw many misdiagnosed cancer patients with experiences too difficult to process and even understand. As I assisted these patients, I could impart the wisdom of 2nd opinions (often needed in a research facility due to rare or complex diseases). I developed the patient advocacy role of Hammeras Group, which guided patients through their cancer journey. I stay with patients throughout their cancer journey because relationships and consistency are critical to outcomes. At this point, I realized there were still larger voids in the system and embarked on a deeper mechanism to assist patients.
During my 30+ years of patient contact as a hospital executive or at Hammeras Group, I became keenly aware that I could only assist the PPO patient with access to the experts and or confirmatory consult for a cancer diagnosis. Even as someone who wants to help, one of my first questions to a patient is, "what insurance do you have"? I could no longer be satisfied with turning patients away whose insurance would not cover consults with researchers and sub-specialists. So, continuing to strategize with my hospital network and as a solution to what I was experiencing daily, Cancer Teamwork Response was born. As a charity, it stands ready to fully fund the cost of a 2nd opinion when health insurance won't and cover our cancer advocacy services regardless of ability to pay. As a result, we operate independently to coordinate care with the top experts efficiently, privately, and quickly funded with a "pay it forward" approach from generous previous patients, families, and interested members in the community who want to help other newly diagnosed cancer patients.
