Thoughts on urgency while sitting in a dental chair

By Michelle Wier, MBA, CMPE, Founder

The other day I had to interrupt my work with a much-needed dental appointment. My platter was so full that day, in fact, I struggled with whether to postpone it. As I sat in the dental chair with my cell phone vibrating in my lap, I found myself getting anxious. Someone I’d been advising prior to the appointment was expecting a response from me. Of course, I began to fidget trying to decide how to sneak a look at my phone and pound out a text message. The dentist actually stopped what he was doing and encouraged me to send my message before he proceeded.

It struck me, right then, I should take a deep breath and relax. I needed to let the dentist perform his procedure. If I wanted a good outcome, my job was to sit still, and let the dentist do his work. I dedicated myself to ensuring the dentist would be free of fidgeting from me. More importantly, whatever issue I was dealing with that seemed so urgent in the moment could wait an hour or two as he took care of my health in that dental chair.

With my mindset refocused, I laughed because it reminded me that I just had this same conversation with my son. As the mother of a millennial, in an age of immediate gratification, I found myself saying, “Son, things that matter don’t happen in an instant.” So, while sitting in that dental chair, it gave me a much-needed moment of pause and in that time, I thought of how our industry could appreciate a reminder with that simple statement.

The work to transform health care is not an overnight sensation. For some, realizing your organization needs to transform itself happens in a flash. However, there exists a very real-and necessary-gap between think-it-done and get-it-done. This transformation is something that requires a true cultural shift that will not happen between sun down and sun up.

So many clichés come to mind, such as “old habits die hard,” or “good things come to those who wait,” or even “Rome wasn’t built in a day!” These sayings reflect that it has taken years to get the health care industry to this place. We need to make such a fundamental shift that it will take more than an instant to get where we need to go. At V2V, we realize that working with our clients toward transformation in medical practices and rural health care requires deliberate patience in an era where everyone (providers, staff, and patients, alike) demand instant gratification.

We must roll up our sleeves, take a deep breath, provide continued encouragement, and advise our clients to take small steps, frequently, toward creating a new reality. This is how we make a sustainable difference in any organization we advise. Transforming this great industry takes time, great focus, and intentional work. This is work that we owe our patients, our physicians, and frankly, ourselves. My time in that dental chair was a great reminder of this truth.

Is your organization ready to take a deep breath and transform? It won’t happen overnight but we can help fulfill your vision for sustainable success in the new business of health care.

By Michelle Wier, MBA, CMPE, Founder

Over the past two years, V2V’s work has been to define our ADEPT℠ philosophy with our clients, helping them apply these concepts to the new business of health care. Our sole focus is to foster transformational, value-driven change because we believe so strongly in furthering the healing work that takes place in hospitals and medical clinics throughout the country.

At V2V, the term Value means improving and sustaining a balance between the wants and needs of all stakeholders and the resources required to satisfy those needs. And, when we defined what that looked and felt like, we identified the characteristics of leaders who work with specific intent to create value and drive sustainability in critical areas of an organization. It’s helpful to understand how that looks and plays out across a medical practice.

Application. These critical thinkers work to understand not only the constructs of your EHR and other electronic systems, but how to make the best use of them at your organization. Beyond clinical performance, these leaders are driven toward seamless integration. They know that when both front and back office functions work well with clinical operations, the organization puts technology to good use. A specific productivity is fostered by reducing redundant workflows and manual work-arounds.

Distinction. Health care is complex industry. Along with internal systems, your work includes vigilance in guarding your reputation with both patients and the external community, at large. The immediacy of social media and instant messaging challenges us both within and outside the walls of our practice facility. ADEPT leaders respect the inevitable public recognition that comes with either outstanding or lackluster care. They understand the value of extending your brand throughout other communication platforms and encouraging engaged patients to serve as fellow stewards of your good name.

Effectiveness. There are managers who strive to connect the high ideals expressed in your mission and values with daily patient encounters. They work to do such things as reduce variation across the chain of care and administration. Have you fully embraced that engagement and outcomes are driven by the consistency of each encounter? Effectiveness is achieved by ensuring the highest in clinical quality and service to your key stakeholders: Your patients, your employees, and the community. And, ADEPT leaders are dedicated to continuous improvement in all aspects of your organization.

Profitability. Successful financial and clinical operations are not mutually exclusive. In fact, in the new business of health care, improving both service effectiveness and operating margins is imperative to sustainability. For example, the ADEPT leader uses seasonal slow periods for staff training or specific payor follow-up, as well as audits to scrutinize such things as contracting and cost controls. Do your leaders develop partnerships or improved reimbursement models that benefit your overall performance? ADEPT philosophies are at work when these things happen at your practice.

Talent. A tremendous amount of effort is focused on talent acquisition through recruitment. What about onboarding, organizational development, or interim management? ADEPT leaders focus as much effort on staff development and retention. Their employee review sessions are future-focused and help staff achieve annual organizational goals and objectives, reaping many rewards for your practice.

These types of leaders can thrive-at your organization, it takes just one thing: specific intent. You and your senior leaders must commitment to a sustained effort of redefining what constitutes value at your organization. It takes focused work to transform your practice, but it is not an unsolvable puzzle.

At V2V, we are change catalysts driving health care innovation. We are here to help reimagine the business of care to foster sustainable success in this changing industry. Helping ADEPT℠ leaders to flourish at your organization is about adopting a new paradigm and evolving your organizational belief structure. The benefits to your patients, to the livelihood of your clinical and operations staff members, and to your own success, is worth it.

Are you ready? We can help.

Before you begin reading this post you may want to read Part I and Part II first.

Part III:  Staying Healthy:  Ensuring your Clinic Practice is ADEPT ^℠ at Sustaining Value

In this blog series, we have been exploring how to drive value in the organization by motivating people, developing skills and promoting synergy, with the aim of maximizing the overall performance of the organization. Like with any get-healthy regime, it requires a commitment, over time, to achieve your goal and, more importantly, to sustain it. Over time, many of us have enjoyed how the positive results of any good-health commitment have paid off. We look to see how far we’ve come and it’s exciting, even though the day-to-day work of getting to that point didn’t seem so glamorous.

Recently, I had a similar review with a client whose commitment to becoming an ADEPT ^℠ organization started small and has seen many positive results, over time. It wasn’t an easy process or a quick fix. The factors contributing to their troubles required a thoughtful review and commitment to change. Now, this organization is one whose success and profitability is clearly identifiable. It reflects a fundamental culture shift. After all, transforming an organization requires a long term strategy, a vision supported by leadership and an ability to share that vision throughout the ranks, inspiring a fully-engaged team. It also requires transparency of your vision and path.

A lot of organizations in the health care industry spend an inordinate amount of time devising a new workflow or launching a new service line, thinking that either or any of these new processes, products or services will fuel its success. Like learning how to live a healthy lifestyle, creating an ADEPT ^℠ organization is about adopting a new paradigm and evolving your organizational belief structure.

At V2V, we consider ourselves transformationists. Some of our new clients will ask: What does that mean? My colleague and fellow V2V founder, Debra Wiggs, explores transformationists, in depth, in an earlier blog. Transformationists are part of the solution, not part of the problem, helping your practice survive and thrive amid the new business of health care. To do so requires achieving a full organizational commitment to innovation, not by looking into a singular-focused project or solution and expecting long term sustainability. Like fad diets that don’t last, the bad habits eventually come back; to truly achieve success you must transform yourselves.

Just like in developing a healthy lifestyle, you first have to find your find your VALUE, your ADEPT ^℠ advantage across the organization and create an environment that allows it to sustain itself.

Creating a long-term strategy for success requires you and your team to ask yourselves some thoughtful questions. These five questions are all about finding those critical elements to truly transform your organization. What applications are needed? How do you create that brand distinction? How can your processes and practices become more effective? More profitable? And, how do you recruit, retain and develop your talent?

After all that is accomplished, how do you sustain that success, year after year? After years of advising our clients, I’ve learned it’s about an ongoing commitment to training and mentoring your people, engaging them in your culture, and monitoring your success. Personal effectiveness, organizational leadership, and business management require a long view. It requires a dedication to consistency, and is sometimes fueled by curriculum-driven programs. Our clients tie together their transformational process of becoming an ADEPT ^℠ organization by developing a strategic plan of how-to accomplish their goals. And, like weight and health management, it is essential to include triggers that are put into action if you see a negative trend emerging.

Whether seeing a dip in patient satisfaction scores, or if your quality outcomes are heading south, what is your plan to respond quickly and decisively? That is what makes the difference and fosters sustainable success. Ultimately, finding your value and sustaining success means avoiding complacency, investing in yourself as a leader, investing in your team, and the ever-important process of monitoring and adjusting for new parameters. It seems simple but in the hectic day to day it is easy to lose sight of the goal.

Our team offers trusted advisors from the hospital and medical practice arena with the sole focus of creating transformational change amid the new business of health care. We help you find opportunities to enhance success across your organization, act on them, and sustain them over time!

Are you ready to look in the organizational “mirror” or step on that “scale” of measuring organizational effectiveness?

Call us.  

We can help.

Part II:  Getting back to your healthy self: when value is  part of the practice culture

In my first blog on this topic, Let’s Talk Value: Removing the Cliché from Value in Clinic Operations, we defined the type of “Value” we are talking about is dedicated to motivating people, developing skills and promoting synergy, with the aim of maximizing the overall performance of the organization.   As I covered in that blog, I’ve been fortunate to help many practices reframe their definition of value.  To me, it’s not unlike committing to a personal good-health regime.  It takes an honest evaluation and adoption of healthy habits.  By learning how to look at value differently and realigning various aspects of your business, you can enhance what is valuable to your practice and your patients.

At the outset of new project work, we often find that our clients are doing just the opposite; they are not yet ADEPT^SM at driving value for the organization in this new business of health care.  It’s not unlike needing to figure out how to get healthy.  Before getting into shape, many of us wonder, “Why can’t I lose any weight?” Well, developing a healthy organization is similar to developing a healthy personal lifestyle.  So, let’s break down how each of the five functions of value can be addressed and improved within your medical practice.

Many practices use Applications to capture data for their obvious solutions, but do not adapt them to fit other technology needs.  Ask yourself what data and their applications are about the practice, the patient, and the provider? Have you looked at the overall workflows between manual and digital processes?  As you refine your focus, remember that the concept of value relies on the relationship between achieving satisfaction of many differing needs and the resources used in satisfying them.

That is absolutely true regarding patient satisfaction and your brand Distinction.  Value is about creating and sustaining relationships, it’s not an equation.  What are you doing to set your practice apart and reflect your mission or core purpose?  It’s about devising a valuable patient experience.  Also, I have learned that to be Effective, you must identify efficiencies in your operations.  This can be accomplished, cost-effectively, by breakdowning your worklfows to find the waste in process, time and resources. It is important to identify the industry’s best practices but keep in mind what works for one will not always work for all  Profitability, through finance, contracting, and partnerships, requires a similar dedication to identifying cost controls, potential partnerships, and improved reimbursement models. You will also find that as you improve the value functions in other areas they will typically bring a financial reward along with them through reduced costs, better market positioning, or simply better bargaining power.

Finally, you can do this work and it can all be for naught if your turnover is at a pace that nullifies the investment into recruitment and retention.  Your contribution to retaining top Talent is a crucial investment in clinic maintenance and operations.  As you know, it’s not just about compensation levels; mentoring for leadership as well as continued education for skill development are essential investments.  Unfortunately, we find investments in your team are often some of the first areas cut with an organization that is in a financial crisis.

With a combined focus on building your ADEPT^SM practice, you can ensure that anything done adds value rather than detracts from it.  Time and time again, I have seen the results of superior quality and outcomes, a premier work environment, and a highly engaged and trained staff increasing and sustaining organizational profitability.

Are you ready?   We can help.

Read Part III.

Consider these substitute players at critical moments in your health care game

Pinch Hitters are unsung heroes in baseball. Most know that a pinch hitter is a player who bats in place of a teammate, typically at a critical point in the game. In health care, when you mention the term “Interim Management,” I feel this represents the pinch hitters of our industry. There is a misperception of the what, why, and when of bringing in a manager for the short term. Especially amid the dollar-conscious health care climate of today, what many leaders think is “can we afford it…”

What these leaders miss is the opportunity for a fresh perspective as well as quick and effective action. Simply put, interim managers can be the game changer you need at just the right time. Unfortunately, and all-too-often, pieces of work get parceled out to a mish-mash of existing management. In trying to “save money” you spend more and realize inconsistent results on a partial solution because the project, daily work, or crisis is managed by a number of different people.

When to send in a substitute: Hint…It’s not just to fill a vacant position.
Let’s start by defining what it means to be an interim manager. These are experienced, hands-on, highly effective, pragmatic leaders, with the talent, knowledge, and skills to deliver immediate and lasting impact. There are many reasons to bring in a qualified, practiced hand for a finite period of time:

1. Project management: Maybe you are amid a major project and your team is buckling under this added responsibility. It’s becoming evident you don’t have enough staff to pull it off. The project, process, or change is at great risk if you do nothing.
2. Gap management: You suddenly lose a leader or discover your candidate recruitment process will take much longer than anticipated.
3. Start-up management: You are starting a new service line or division and need to plug someone in until you figure out the total skill set and talent capabilities needed.
4. Turn-around management: You are amid a management crisis or need to effectively manage under-performing divisions.
5. Management through mergers and acquisitions: When you specifically don’t want to hire for the position, but you need effective leadership during the transition.

One of the great benefits is that you will often find someone who is over-qualified for the role you want to fill. Moreover, they are not constrained by company politics. They can speak with candor because they don’t have to worry about long standing relationships or fear of repercussions. They can come in without the handicap of internal perceptions. That’s part of where you get your ROI benefit…they can often identify opportunities that were over-looked or rejected due to being too close to the scenario to see it objectively – whether the people or the process.

Measuring the ROI of Interim Management
As in baseball, health care statistics are everything. Statistics and metrics are ruling our reimbursement models, demonstrating patient medical outcomes, effecting provider compensation models, and driving best practices within organizations. Measuring the return-on-investment (ROI) of your “pinch hitters” in health care is another must have metric when using interim management services. At the outset, ask yourself what is the objective you seek and how will you measure it? For example, let’s say your team is stretched too thin and your new clinic opening date is at risk. Don’t just count the cost of paying an interim manager to step in, add in the revenue loss of delaying your opening, compounded over time. Compare that cost to the benefit of opening on time and within budget.

Many leaders reject interim management solutions, outright, with the argument the fees are cost-prohibitive and it’s impossible to incentivize the interim manager. You can incentivize an interim manager. True, it’s easy to calculate things like revenue loss. However, along with that, be sure you’re counting the cost of burnout due to the anxiety of no solid direction when projects languish or change is not being managed correctly. How do you count loss through turnover or unengaged employees? Or, how do you quantify the lack of productivity because those staff members juggling multiple add-on priorities are unable to get their core work assignments accomplished. Whether hard dollar costs or the soft dollars lost in morale, turnover and political implications, add them up and craft goals for the interim manager. Then align the goals and objectives with the compensation of your interim manager.

Key benefits of interim management
After my experiences managing interim managers and serving as one, myself, I’ve found a few key benefits these “pinch hitters” bring to any health care team.

1. Value for money: An interim manager is NOT an employee; therefore you have no other associated benefits to pay. Moreover, it is someone uniquely suited and often over-qualified for the role providing added knowledge base and resource.
2. Results-Focused: An interim manager offers both immediate availability and a quick solution to your problem. Politically, the interim manager possesses the gift of objectivity. He or she offers a specific clarity to the job that comes without a need to respect the boundaries and turf of well-entrenched team members.
3. Highly-committed: The goal of an interim manager is to do the work on-time, within (or under) budget because his or her work is based entirely on word-of-mouth. If the assignment fails, it’s a lost reputation. Conversely, when objectives and ROI are met, along with the obvious benefits, the interim manager passes along a knowledge transfer to the team that extends far beyond the end of the arrangement.

Interim managers offer a specific opportunity to aid your team in the transformation of your health care business. Time after time, I’ve found the project management piece successfully fills that gap between current situation and desired state. Are you ready? You can almost hear your pinch hitter connecting with the bat for a home run! Thinking about interim management for your team? We can help.