Superior Productivity in Healthcare Organizations, Second Edition by Fogel Paul;

Author:Fogel, Paul;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Health Professions Press, Inc.
Published: 2016-04-21T00:00:00+00:00

Implementation Strategy

Chapter 1 argued that layoffs have been a failure, a tactic by managements at a loss for what to do. There are viable alternatives that shun layoffs for a smoother transition—one without headlines, strikes, or harmful publicity. The key is recognizing that hardly any financial crisis emerges out of the blue. It only seems that way because the early warning signs are not recognized in time. The existence of a crisis points to the fact that something serious is out of control and has reached the point where it can no longer be ignored. Payer mix changes, shifts in clinical service mix, and other variables can hide the impact of declining productivity. Proper monitoring and ongoing analysis is, therefore, critical (see Chapter 5). If financial problems take time to evolve, it seems reasonable that solutions should be allowed the time to succeed.

Some administrators want to be seen taking decisive action by making radical changes that will favorably affect next months’ financial statements. One of the problems with this is that drastic changes usually prove to be temporary. If the conditions that gave rise to the crisis are not addressed, the problem is bound to recur. It is wiser to pursue a course of action that will result in enduring superior productivity, not a temporary fix.

Relate Productivity to Strategic Goals

Nearly every healthcare organization has a mission statement, an expression of its core values. These mission statements usually express the organization’s commitment to efficiency and effectiveness, its promise to care for all patients regardless of their ability to pay, and a pledge to provide the best-trained staff and technology to the public. These values and principles are further elaborated on and quantified in a strategic plan, which includes tactics that spell out how the organization’s mission will be promoted over the next several years. New services, expansion of existing services, new technology, outreach programs, and the like are featured in the strategic plan.

One of the pillars of any strategic plan is financial strength, without which the organization cannot accomplish any of its other objectives. Financial strength is often expressed as a measurable goal to be achieved within the time frame of the strategic plan. All of management would have been involved in the preparation of the strategic plan and, therefore, would be intimately familiar with its goals. Furthermore, the board would have signed off on the specific strategic and financial targets contained in the plan. This offers a ripe opportunity to link important strategic and financial goals to productivity.

A major initiative such as the push for superior productivity should not be pursued in isolation. The CEO should make an explicit link between productivity and agreed upon strategic goals, driving home the necessity of improving the organization’s cost structure to the attainment of everything else in the plan. Because management and the board would have already agreed to increase the organization’s financial strength, productivity should be positioned as a central tactic for achieving the organization’s critical strategic and financial goals. Now is the time to tie productivity to the organization’s mission and strategy.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.