From KT – July 4, 2013

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA !!!!!!!!!!

We have much to be grateful for, and much responsibility to keep the good things about America alive.  We also want to make sure our Global Village honors the special birthdays of all our new international brothers and sisters, please let Steve Priest our Chief Wisdom Officer know your ideas in this regard.

There have been over 13,000 page views of the Mayor’s journal entries, and I enjoy reading each and every one of the comments to help guide me as to what might be interesting.  It is fun to picture myself communicating with over 5200 teammates helping each other and themselves lead healthier lives.

Yesterday was a great day for me, both overall and in MTM.

I did great exercise.  2 hours of intense mountain biking (with 3 falls) in a beautiful hilly forest.  4 times I had to get off the bike because a hill was too steep or technical, so I was pushing myself.  The good news is I push the bike up with rigor even when I am off it, so my heart rate stays up at a robust workout level.  Then late in the day I did a one hour hike with some good vertical with Denise and Joe Mello (our former COO) and his wife Ginny.  So big minutes!

I only did about 3 hours of work.  That felt like heaven.  I assume most of you have heard Medicare is planning on subjecting the kidney care community to unprecedented huge rate cuts.  We must fight this plan with our head, heart and hands.  It is likely to be impossible to keep all our centers open if they do this.  It is a terrible plan, we have 60 days to protest.  It is especially terrible to do to us, given we lead the US community in quality outcomes, which leads to lower costs … not to mention we are the leading innovator by far in our community, with what we have done with DaVita RX, Lifeline, Patient Pathways, and Village Health over the years.  In every instance the rest of the community starts to copy us years later, as the innovations demonstrate big value for our patients and our taxpayers.  Anyway we began the work of planning to protest these cuts.  What they should do is give us responsibility to manage the entire pool of ESRD reimbursement dollars, on a completely transparent and accountable basis.  We would improve quality for tens of thousands!  And save billions.

Anyway, back to yesterday and our little MTM VI.

I got back to zero diet cokes.

I have no idea what my weight is, but I ate responsibly, had no dessert, so I imagine I made a little progress.  Nothing dramatic, I did not skimp on the eating either.   Looking down at that belly above my belt is pretty disgusting.

Last night we went and watched fireworks, all 10 of us.  Today some will go to the parade, and we will all go to the July 4^th concert, where the Dallas Symphony plays classic American music for 90 minutes, with people waving flags and sometimes singing along, in a beautiful but simple outside amphitheater.

This weekend is an opportunity to double down on your MTM goals, double down on investing in your future!  Please picture the 5,200 fellow citizens of the DaVita Village cheering you on!  I am about to head out on a road biking ride with Joe.   2000 feet of vertical, will take about 50 minutes, a constant climb so simply a great, efficient workout.  Then I better remember to do some of my rehab, I have missed 3 days in a row with the long days in DC.  Yikes.

Serenity is action aligned with purpose.    Go Team.   Go Village.  Go each of you, go forth and realize your full potential !!!!

One for All, KT