Healthcare Management Press Releases by James B. Ayers, Consultant

Healthcare workers are under-performing assets

(BW) (CGR Management Consultants)
Healthcare workers are under performing assets
LOS ANGELES, Calif. (Business Wire, November 1998)

CGR Management Consultants and Practice Partners, Inc. forecast a revolution in healthcare employee evaluation. Hospitals and physician groups, in particular, fall far short in nurturing employee growth and encouraging employee actions that align with competitive directions. The report, entitled “Work Performance Follows Human Enhancement” appears in the November 1998 edition of Administrative Radiology Journal, published by Glendale Publishing Corporation.

Competitive strains from managed care make business-as-usual approaches unacceptable. Typical employee evaluations are, at best, bureaucratic and, at worst, despised by participants. The result is unsatisfactory for both employees and managers. Lack of action erodes competitive position. In an industry dependent on peak employee performance, survivors will be those who best harness employee skills.

Healthcare is moving from a “cottage” model of individual practitioners to a “corporate” structure with larger, economically stronger organizations. While many view this with alarm, the shift is as inevitable as it has been with other industries in the past. With it comes the need for new success formulas. The good news is that help is available. This includes healthcare adaptations of methods spreading in other industries, including:

360° evaluations by superiors, peers, subordinates, and customers.

Crossover skill building to add flexibility to the work force.

Focused teams for building excellence in targeted high profit services.

Recognition for contributions to improved processes.

Methods to mesh employee actions with enterprise strategy.

Implementing such initiatives requires teamwork. Success doesn’t follow “top down” pronouncements. The authors recommend a structure with three teams to design and implement new appraisal approaches. These innovations will match the temperament of the organization and its willingness to accept change.

The greatest challenge lies with senior management. They must establish success yardsticks for measuring contributions. A measurement structure has little use if there’s no index of success. Success must be defined in terms of quality from a healthcare and service standpoint, staff enrichment, and profitability.

Managed care requires “industrial grade” service

(BW) (CGR Management Consultants)
Managed Care Requires “Industrial Grade” Service.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. (Business Wire, September 1997)

CGR Management Consultants - a Los Angeles-based consulting firm -- has updated its report on Provider Service Models for the healthcare industry. The report calls on healthcare businesses to reinvent themselves by adapting budgeting methods from industrial companies. Overcapacity in healthcare creates tougher competition and demanding customers; managed care curbs the money flowing to the industry. Tough survival choices are ahead. But the tools for strategic decision-making and managing day-to-day operations are lacking in most healthcare organizations.

Hospitals and outpatient facilities are a network of service centers. Customers encounter the first of these when they park their cars in often overcrowded lots. They then must check in and may encounter further delays. The doctor or nurse is only a part of the delivery system. Dissatisfaction at any step can make for an unhappy encounter. The service network is also at work internally. Back office departments support front line providers while having little direct contact with external customers. But, if they don’t work well, providers are unhappy, care suffers, and unseen costs go unchallenged.

A competitive battle rages for control of the healthcare premium dollar. And the creation of Provider-Sponsored Organizations (PSOs) will only intensify the battle, as they focus on lucrative Medicare markets. Premium shares now go to insurers (18-20 per cent), primary care providers (10-12 per cent), specialists (25-27 per cent), hospitals (38 per cent), and others providers (5-7 per cent). Healthcare providers must choose which part they’ll chase. It’s unlikely a single enterprise will excel in more than one category.

To cope, healthcare managers will need the Provider Service Models (PSMs) described by the authors to shape their strategies. PSMs encapsulate needed trade-offs to make successful strategic and operating choices. The authors predict that PSMs will supplant conventional budgeting methods as the healthcare consolidates. The CGR report describes how to develop and use them.