In the New Year, we will deal with leadership challenges we cannot predict now. To be ready, we need to set our leadership and learning on the path to success.
This series includes 20 quotes (linked to posts with leadership guidance) that will help you leverage your leadership planning. Here are the first 10:
Fear is insidious. It changes how we see the world and how we treat others. Here are 5 important reasons why fear has no place in our workplaces, our families or our communities:
5 Reasons Fear Has No Place in Leadership
https://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/bad-decision-better-no-decision
Almost all entrepreneurs will acknowledge that success in business comes from timing. So, when you get an opportunity, you’ve got to go for it wholeheartedly, not wait in the wings for some imaginary perfect time to materialise.
There is no such thing as perfect timing or perfect decision making – only hindsight can determine whether or not you’ve made the ‘right call’. As Marie Beynon Ray said: “Indecision is fatal. It is better to make a wrong decision than build up a habit of indecision. If you’re wallowing in indecision, you certainty can’t act – and action is the basis of success.”
The volume of hospital M&A deals has doubled over the past six years, with fewer and fewer community hospitals still going it alone. For the remaining holdouts, they are at an important juncture: Should they continue fighting for independence or join a larger system?
This heavily-debated question is at the core of many board meetings. While the answer is unique to each institution, in either scenario, the community hospital that proactively controls its own destiny — instead of losing that control to market forces — can come out ahead.
Whether the future holds independence or acquisition, here is what leadership needs to know to position their hospitals for future growth.
What does it take to stay independent?
For efficient facilities with ample cash on hand, there’s an understandable allure to remaining independent. After all, the board of directors at a community hospital is typically made up of individuals from the local area who can continue to focus exclusively on addressing the needs of the local community rather than answer to a distant corporate team.
But a lean and high-volume operation today just isn’t a strong enough indicator to choose independence for the long term. Leadership must consider broader questions that take into account a host of internal and external factors:
As healthcare continues its shift from fee-for-service to value-based care, hospitals and health systems are working steadily to try and improve quality while reducing costs. However, striking a balance between the two can be challenging.
At the Becker’s Hospital Review 5th Annual CEO + CFO Roundtable on Nov. 8 in Chicago, healthcare experts discussed how their entities balance rewarding physicians for quality and clinical activity in what is still primarily a fee-for-service environment.
“We’re not totally in a fee-for-service environment. We’re not totally in a value-based care environment. We’re kind of somewhere in between,” said Patrice M. Weiss, MD, executive vice president and CMO of Roanoke, Va.-headquartered Carilion Clinic. “In the past, the two were felt to be mutually exclusive, but recent models of care have demonstrated that quality of care can be delivered in a low-cost model.”
While the shift from fee-for-service to value-based care is slightly slower in coming to her organization’s region, they are preparing, according to Dr. Weiss.
Carilion is a nonprofit organization with a network of hospitals, primary and specialty physician practices and other complementary services. The health system offers physicians a base salary, as well as a Tier 1 bonus and a Tier 2 bonus. The Tier 1 bonus is based on scorecard measures, which include quality metrics, patient experience metrics and operating margin.
“We have found we’ve been able to reduce the cost by using evidence-based medicine, standardization of care and appropriateness of testing and imaging,” Dr. Weiss said. “This reduced utilization has not reduced the quality of care or outcomes but has reduced the cost of care, thereby positively affecting our operating margin. So improving quality care and reducing the cost of care are not mutually exclusive.”
Physician-led, cost-reducing initiatives and physician engagement have been primary drivers in achieving reduced costs and improved quality, according to Dr. Weiss. For instance, Carilion has a significant physician-led initiative on early elective inductions or deliveries. This initiative, which was based on national guidelines, resulted in less utilization of obstetrical resources at an earlier gestational age.
HENRY KOTULA 