As we evolve to meet the needs found in the new business of health care, our transformationists at V2V regularly contribute their views and insights as experts in medical practice management.
Our founders, Michelle Wier, Deb Wiggs, and Irv Barnett, along with our other advisors, also publish articles and white papers in leading industry publications.
Most recently, you will see our transformationists featured in:
The Future of Independent Practice and IPA's
...With the recent election, the health care conversation is sure to change; the President has promised to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Whether or not there are dramatic shifts in the healthcare climate, one fact remains: physicians value their autonomy. Perhaps that is why we are beginning to see the pendulum swing back — not towards traditional hang-a-shingle private practice environments, but towards a supported private practice model as a member of an IPA (Independent Practice Association.)
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Founder Deb Wiggs, featured in this article.
Here is a Whitepaper for Leadership Development:
A Time-Out for On-Site Group Leadership Training Generates Valuable Dividends
by Juli Miller, June 2021
Situational Overview
A general hospital with over 220 licensed beds, a level III adult and pediatric trauma center, a 34-bed emergency department, a 27-bed critical care unit, and around 2200 employees withdraws from an affiliation with a large health system. Unplugging from all the centralized IT and revenue cycle systems, supply, and service contracts, as well as governance and administrative linkages will trigger countless local decisions, changes, transactions, and uncertainties for an extended time period. And then there is the underlying high risk associated with operating as an independent hospital in today’s environment even if you are the only one in the region.
A new CEO is on board and major shuffles are occurring on the executive team and on other levels of the organization. Many position vacancies exist within the main hospital as well as in the dozens of outpatient clinics scattered throughout the community.
Amidst this change tsunami, V2V Management Solutions (V2V) was engaged to evaluate the operations of the primary, specialty, and hospital-based physician practices. One of the gaps identified was the need for an integrated, empowered, goal-oriented and accountable leadership group and culture within all these settings.
V2V recommended a 10-week Leadership Development Training Program presented in 4-hour sessions once a week. Realizing this timely investment in this group of managers and administrators would benefit the organization immediately and for the longer term, the CEO approved the program for about two dozen of its employees. These participants would be credited with 40 hours of Continuing Education by the Human Resources department if they completed all the requirements.
“We saw the need to bring the many clinic managers and directors together in a setting that would allow them to get to know and respect each other and develop processes and habits of high-performing teams that would serve the organization well not only during this extremely critical period of transition but also for a long-term series of successes,” explained Wier.
Leadership Course Content
The course organized and taught by Michelle Wier and Debra Wiggs, two of the V2V Founders, included overviews of the following subjects and selected details relevant to medical clinic operations:
- Communications – styles and forms of effective communications and barriers to success
- Challenges of Management – planning, organizing/staffing, directing, controlling
- Leadership – theories, styles, self-assessment, critical thinking skills
- Motivation – basic human behaviors, emotional intelligence
- Staff Development – interviewing, selecting, orientation, performance objectives, feedback
- Change Management – review of principles from Managing at the Speed of Change by Daryl Conner
- Directing – delegation, accountability, coaching, and managing productive meetings
- Planning – strategic planning models and management techniques; urgent vs important
- Process Analysis/Methods Improvement – flowcharting techniques to improve clinic processes; system analyses to achieve high quality outcomes.
A specialist from the hospital’s Human Resources team was also invited to present information highly valued by the participants who have recommended that this becomes an annual activity.
Many of those in the class were new to their leadership roles and some were new to healthcare. “This wasn’t a community where it was easy to find a workforce that was skilled in healthcare management,” Wiggs observed. “And for those with a little more management experience, this was a timely refresher. We all can benefit from reminders about best practices in leading teams to vital goals.”
Class participants discussed the case studies connected with the various subjects in small groups, applying principles or approaches reviewed in that day’s presentations. Assessing the different viewpoints on the problems to be solved and variety of pathways to a good outcome within the small group setting fostered honest exchanges, mutual trust, and openness to new ideas.
Capstone Team Projects
In addition to case studies and self-assessment skills test provided within each session, the team participated in a mid-term group project to resolve an issue they identified within their organization related to the first five session discussions. This same process was followed in place of a final exam; the group was tasked with working on a Capstone Project in small teams and presenting the results on the final day of the class as a course requirement. The projects were selected from actual issues the class members desired to see addressed effectively in their clinics.
The teams presented their work with power point slides and handouts and expressed strong interests in moving these projects forward towards rapid implementation.
Action plans were developed for these areas of interest:
- Training employees to optimize the patient experience
- Establishing, tracking, and responding to key performance indicators
- Creating and managing clinic scheduling templates
- Organizing and managing a successful provider onboarding process
- Establishing a standardized archive of policies and procedures for ambulatory care clinics
- Creating a float pool staffing model for clinics
Given the limited amount of time these teams had to work through the problems and identify pathways to corrective actions, the presentations demonstrated the power of small, aligned teams to transform performance or outcomes. “We saw so many little pockets of greatness and the power of small ripples of success to ignite change and pride in the quality of decision-making and work,” concluded Wier.
All who completed the course were issued certificates along with their 40-hour CEUs.
In addition to the morning management huddles V2V instituted, the clinic leaders are now in frequent contact with each other to solve problems, standardize best practices, and organize new initiatives. “This energized leadership culture should continue to be strengthened and supported with clear direction and feedback, resources, and acknowledgement,” said Irv Barnett, another V2V Founder.
Participant Feedback
A sampling of comments after 40 hours together in a classroom setting:
- Terrific orientation to leadership responsibilities for new managers
- Loved the handouts of checklists or templates that I could immediately use in my clinic to improve processes
- The kind of regular personal interaction (coaching, mentoring, clear direction & priorities, feedback) we were advised to have with our team is something we would appreciate from those to whom we report
- As an experienced manager, I have heard or read a lot of this content before, but it was helpful to be reminded of many of the proven principles and tactics of leading a team to high performance
- They made the principles of LEAN management easier for me to understand and therefore execute
- Beneficial to learn what was being done or not done at other clinics
- Appreciated the professional reading recommendations which will improve my effectiveness
- I am concerned about follow-up on initiatives we worked on during this course; want to see rapid implementation and continued process improvement practices
- I no longer feel so alone. I have connected with a peer group from whom I can gain much support, wisdom, and mentoring. So, refreshing and encouraging!
- Found the Human Resources information so valuable as these are issues, I struggle with often
- Communications and Emotional Intelligence discussions were most valuable for my situation
Quite a few participants suggested that the course could be condensed somewhat as four hours of class plus the commute time is a substantial chunk of time to be away from one’s clinic during the current stressful transition period. Both instructors agreed that the course could be reorganized to fit a shorter schedule for future session.
Conclusion
When an organization can unlock the potential of its leaders and make the drive for being a high-performance team member contagious, good thing will keep happening.
