A popular segment on the long-running Monitor Mondays weekly Internet radio broadcast was a series that ran once a year, around the winter holidays. The segment was created by Ronald Hirsch, MD, a permanent panelist on the broadcast and Vice President of R1-RCM. Hirsch discontinued the series in 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic was generating an inordinate volume of frontline heroes – too many to name.
Titled “Hirsch’s Healthcare Heroes,” it involved Hirsch selecting three healthcare professionals who, in his opinion, were worthy of honor and recognition for their acts or services.
Notable among them was his 2016 selection of Michael Salvatore, MD, since retired in 2020, but at the time the physician advisor at Beebee Medical Center in Delaware, where he also served as the medical director of palliative care. Here’s what Hirsch said in his introduction:
“Dr. Salvatore practiced for many years as a critical care physician, where he never saw an orifice that didn’t need a tube. But like many physicians, as he gained experience and wisdom, he saw that more is not always better, and became a specialist in palliative care. So as a physician advisor, he uses his training in critical care and palliative care to put things in perspective for patients, families, providers, and especially for other doctors.”
“But the main reason he is named as one of my heroes is his ability to provide levity at the times when frustration is at its worst. Dr. Salvatore is a constant presence on RAC Relief, where he has posted such statements as this: ‘I think what CMS is saying is that the ignorance of their ignorant interpretation of regulation is the only ignorance they are interested in. But this begs the question of whether ignorance of ignorance is ignorance. Using the double negative rule either grammatically or mathematically ignorance of ignorance is understanding, which is why we all understand what is going on here.’”
Here is the full list of honorees, dating back to 2015. We present it today along with welcome word that Hirsch hopes to bring back the segment as the pandemic subsides.
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
“I am hoping that I will be able to return to naming Hirsch’s Heroes at the end of 2022, if the COVID-19 pandemic subsides,” Hirsch told the Saturday Morning Post. “The sacrifices of every healthcare worker over the last two years can never be forgotten. But changes in healthcare delivery continues on, and acknowledging individuals seems appropriate once again.”
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