`Mother standard' guides cancer care | Chicago Tribune

`Mother standard' guides cancer care | Chicago Tribune: "To hear cancer hospital developer Richard Stephenson tell it, the U.S. health-care system is finally moving toward medical care that would be good enough for his mother. With a surge in consumer choice initiatives, U.S. care providers are increasingly putting patients first, converting hospitals to all private rooms and offering catered food and massage and nutrition therapies, which were once considered 'alternative' or part of a holistic approach. These are all ideas that have been part of Stephenson's 'Mother standard' for nearly 20 years, since he founded the Cancer Treatment Centers of America . He touts the large and small touches at his three existing hospitals, ranging from the latest $5 million imaging suite to physicians who return patient phone calls within the hour and the hospital's cafeteria servers decked out in cummerbunds and ties."
"At most organizations, the doctor is the center of the health-care system and that is not the case here," said Dr. Edgar Staren, a Chicago native who joined CTCA last year as chief medical officer and surgical oncologist after a stint as a professor and medical/surgical director at Medical College of Ohio Cancer Institute.

This makes a lot of sense as regards patient care ! If it makes business sense too and boosts the bottom-line which Americans worship, then lots more hospitals are going to adopt this "patient-friendly" approach !