Dr. and Mrs. Grinnan support MSV Foundation through Silver Society donation
19 October 2010
A Silver Society was established last year to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Medical Society of Virginia Foundation (MSVF), an organization with a mission that Richmonders Richardson Grinnan, M.D. and his wife Leila respect and whose history they helped create.
Giving back is a natural response to the ongoing success of the work of MSVF, according to Dr. Grinnan and other physicians who have been involved as leaders in MSVF. Currently the Silver Society, which is still relatively new, is honored with the participation of an extraordinary group of eight physician couples, each of whom have pledged $25,000 in addition to their annual support.
Dr. Grinnan, a former MSVF board member, now happily retired, spoke recently of his career path as not that of the typical Medical Society of Virginia (MSV) member. However, his path led directly to his involvement with MSVF. While a practicing pulmonologist in 1982, he was recruited by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Virginia to be its chief medical officer, a position he held for 20 years. Because of this tie to the insurance industry, his relationship to the Medical Society was unique and became an important background for a portion of his life’s work.
“A need evolved to bridge the gap between the insurance industry and the Medical Society to look for ways to build consensus between the two organizations, to improve the quality of care for patients, as well as to look for ways to improve the value propositions for employers and people who were paying the bills,” said Dr. Grinnan.
“It took a long time and it was a bumpy road,” he noted, “but we eventually developed communications around significant care issues and by working together we were able to make some substantial progress. It was rewarding to move from the battleground to the common ground of working together on issues that focused on the patient.”
“It was mutually beneficial,” Dr. Grinnan continued. “Rather than arguing about money all the time, we began looking at ways to improve quality. Eventually our efforts lead to my involvement with the Medical Society of Virginia Foundation. Working through the Foundation, we were able to support a number of different programs in conjunction with the Centers for Disease Control and other organizations, including the Virginia Department of Health.”
“The cool thing about it was that, rather than everybody working in silos according to their business objectives—whether political or financial, we opened up dialogues and started working together,” said Dr. Grinnan. “It allowed us to then turn our focus on the individual who was benefiting from better coordination of care and better safety initiatives in hospitals, at the same time, looking for ways to improve the value proposition for employers.”
“The MSV Foundation played the pivotal role of leveraging expertise and ideas to make health care for people in Virginia better,” said Dr. Grinnan. “I don’t think there is any doubt about it. I don’t think it would have happened without opening these doors all those years ago and working with these types of organizations to focus on a common interest. The irony is that as the value for the patient improved, because, for example, you have fewer patients admitted to the hospital because of problems with antibiotic resistance, health improved and the cost side of the equation improved.”
“I’m glad to support the Foundation and I think it is an extremely worthy cause,” Dr. Grinnan said. “Unless people talk, particularly with all these changes going on in health care, and collaborate and look for ways to implement good ideas and activities to improve patient care, the future is bleak. If people are just working in silos for their own interests, the individual patient is not going to be well served.”
“I am glad to participate in something that leverages this kind of expertise. We’ve always had crackerjack people on the board that supported it for the same reasons that I have—they see value in it for the patient. That’s exciting and that’s good.”
“There is no better time to have the MSV Foundation in place, trying to do what’s right,” concluded Dr. Grinnan.