Healthcare delivery and financing models are evolving rapidly as healthcare reform means hospitals and systems need a sharpened focus on the healthcare trifecta—the patient experience, operational efficiencies, and financial health. Unfortunately, many are faced with gaps in operational knowledge as they reinvent themselves. Never has the call for strategic collaboration been stronger, but as hospitals redirect their time and resources to unfamiliar areas, success hinges not only on their ability to start or change initiatives, but also on targeted operational and...
The healthcare industry is experiencing a dramatic shift in key competencies with the advent of new incentives and requirements, and new skills are needed to engineer the merger of clinical and financial priorities. Leaders must delegate risk management, case management, and medical informatics, among other priorities, while staying on course with strategic goals. Thinner margins mean that CEOs must take an active role in maintaining a healthy balance sheet. Top executives need to broaden their capabilities and serve as a bridge between clinical and financial...
Hospitals and health systems increasingly must work with providers across the continuum of care to meet the demands of value-based purchasing, reduced reimbursements, new payment structures, and readmissions penalties. But replacing the current fragmented system of care will require nothing less than a business and clinical transformation. Healthcare executives say that care coordination and the care continuum represents their single greatest organizational challenge (HealthLeaders Media Industry Survey 2013, CEO Report). Executives and physicians must work...
What attributes make for an effective leadership culture at healthcare organizations? Different hospitals and healthcare systems have succeeded with different approaches to leadership. Boards and CEOs are often preoccupied with establishing lasting leadership values, yet there is no easy method of doing so. Most healthcare organizations have created mission and values statements (combining clinical and business goals), some have developed formal leadership development programs, and many apply the standard tools of performance reviews, organizational charts, and...
Healthcare organizations' concerns about capital access and long-term viability are driving a boom in mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and other affiliations. Increasingly, these agreements result in nontraditional partners: nonprofits with for-profits, academic medical centers with investor-owned firms, faith-based systems with secular systems, and affiliations across the continuum of care. Ownership and governance structures also vary in terms of control. Today's healthcare leaders must base their M&A search on a host of factors, including capital...
Healthcare leaders are preparing for the shift away from volume-based reimbursement by experimenting with different structures for population health. Organizations must learn how to collaborate with new partners, including erstwhile competitors. Population health management also requires internal bridge building; executive and physician leaders must work together to create networks. Primary care physicians could be in short supply, while specialists are likely to see their payment, work mode, and degree of control turned upside down. Good data and analysis of the...
