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October 02, 2008

Raising Money From Former Patients

For most hospitals and medical centers, grateful patients are an untapped resource for fund raising, according to John H. Glick, an oncologist who serves as vice president of the University of Pennsylvania health system.

“Every time I read in an obituary of someone who received care at Penn that they left money to the American Cancer Society I see a lost opportunity, said Dr. Glick who spoke here at the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy’s annual meeting.

As the system’s senior physician leader, Dr. Glick asks doctors to devote 10-15 hours a year to fund raising and to attend training on how to identify potential donors among their patients.

Penn Medicine also created a “medical concierge program” that expedites appointments with physicians and provides other administrative services for generous donors. For the fiscal year 2006, said Dr. Glick, the 330 patients in the medical concierge program donated a total of $39.7-million. The hospital also created a 10-room hotel-like medical pavilion for in-patient care available to patients for a $350-$450 nightly fee.

The health system increased its development staff to 88, including 39 fund raisers who work one-on-one with donors and focus on establishing relationships with 150 patients a year within three months of their receiving treatment at a University of Pennsylvania hospital or clinic.

Because of those measures, said Dr. Glick, Penn Medicine now brings in $171.9-million annually, including $85-million from patients and their families.

— Paula Wasley

Thursday October 2, 2008 | Permalink

Comments

1. This is a system similar to the one at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. Those with money can step up to the front of the line and are provided medical care not available to all other patients. Southwestern is a state institution and should be providing charity care as a requirement for their tax exempt status.Is the perfered medical care in keeping with the IRS rules for non profits? Do they use tax dollars to render this service? Do they use donor dollars to create this upper level of service? These are all important questions for the tax exempt status. Southwestern has status medical care while at Parkland Hospital,the county indigent hospital Southwestern serves, has as much as a 19 hour wait in the emergency room.A patient died after waiting in the ER for 15 hours.Texas ranks almost dead last for access to medical care and to focus on the wealthy should put into question their tax exempt status. Where is Senator Grassley when you need him??

   — Jack    Oct 1, 07:41 AM    #

2. I serve as Senior Executive Director of Development at Penn Medicine and was the co-presenter with Dr. John Glick at the recent AHP International Conference in Chicago, IL. I was surprised, therefore, to note a couple of factual errors in Paula Wasley’s article covering our “The Grateful Patient Paradigm: A Prescription for Healthy Philanthropy” presentation. Most importantly, it should be made clear to Chronicle readers that anyone has access to our medical pavilion provided the individual pays the room charges not covered by medical insurance. Moreover, we do not raise $171.9M annually from patients; rather, in FY 2008 we had gifts and pledges totaling $171.9M of which approximately $85M came from non-medical alumni “grateful patient” donors and their families. Finally, the Penn Medicine Development & Alumni Relations Department totals 88 staff members—of whom only 39 are front-line “fundraisers.”

   — Paul B. Mischler    Oct 1, 11:19 AM    #

3. Thank you for pointing out the inaccuracies. We have amended the item to reflect your comments.

   — The Editors, Chronicle of Philanthropy    Oct 2, 12:50 PM    #

4. I was very impressed with Dr. Glick’s and Paul Mischler’s presentation in Chicago in September at the AHP conference. The Penn model for involving physicians in fundraising is right on I think, but not easy to “sell” to physicians in my organization. We will need time to convince them that their grateful patients wish to express their gratitude, that we development professionals facilitate that, and that docs don’t need to “protect” their patients from fundraising. I hope to establish the Penn model in my organization, and the sooner the better.

   — JoAnn M. Marshall    Oct 6, 11:30 AM    #

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