Business Change Management

In my first and second blogs on medical burnout written for FierceHealthcare, I examined the troubling reality which has been dubbed by many as "the healthcare professional's occupational disease." Judging by the feedback I've gotten on both posts, clearly we're onto something here. Now in my third blog in the series, I explore the ways several hospitals and medical groups are attempting to solve this massive problem.

The feedback I’ve received from my last Hospital Impact post has been truly astounding. Clearly, on the topic of physician burnout, we’ve touched a nerve. Here’s just a sampling of the comments:

• "This is a critical, growing problem and one that should be given immediate attention." —Michael T

• "We need to look at physicians as being an overextended precious resource and focus not on just telling them what they need to do but to take a proactive role in engaging them around the values of best practice care." —Alan R

• "We are all trying to do more with shrinking resources and it reaches a point of overkill too easily. Nursing and medicine are noble professions, but not if they erode life's passion and job." —Dianne

So what to do about this growing, global problem? In my search for solutions, a follow-up FierceHealth blog emerged.

Do you assume today's doctors, nurses and medical staff are satisfied with their work, dedicated to the medical field and confident that they are fulfilling their "calling"? Boy, are you ever wrong. I urge you to read my latest blog published by FierceHealthcare which has already generated an enormous number of comments, signaling that we've touched a nerve here. The real question is whether or not healthcare can see the challenge and respond to it quickly. As we conducted our interviews and research we found some common themes:

• This isn't the type of job i thought i was going to have?
• This EMR is painful and not something i am comfortable doing?
• What happened to the compassion in caring?
• Where did this volume-driven "move them through" the system come from?

On Oct. 10, 2015,  at the Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development (SHSMD) conference in the District of Columbia, I presented a workshop with Mark Clark, Healthgrades Vice President of Strategic Development, called: “Your Data Wants To Talk—How Can You Hear It?”

The focus of our presentation was the enormous challenges hospital marketers are facing as they grapple with how to turn an abundance of data into smarter marketing strategies.

Afterwards I wrote a blog about the intersection of data and storytelling and what it means to healthcare providers, which has just been published in FierceHealthcare and which I'll touch on here.

Healthcare providers now realize they cannot continue to market just patient-centric, high quality care as their brand differentiator!

At Simon Associates Management Consultants, we have recently been conducting extensive research and client work supporting the great transformation that's finally beginning in some (regrettably not all) hospital and healthcare call centers across the U.S.

Last week, I posted Part I of this article, noting how challenging hospital call centers can be for patients and how the entire patient experience can often be framed by his or her first contact with a hospital. In some cases, that experience is so frustrating that patients decide to go somewhere else for care.

For years I’ve worked with hospitals on healthcare innovation, particularly on how to improve patient satisfaction. And no matter the size of the institution, I’ve consistently advised leadership that the first stop in the patient’s journey — the call center — can set the tone for the rest of the experience.

I've worked in the healthcare arena for the past two decades and one of the pervasive problems affecting hospitals, primary care physicians and the rest of the healthcare industry can be summarized in one question: How do we encourage more men to play an active role in their health?

Looking around towns across the U.S., it’s easy to find Urgent Care Centers (UCCs) that have been thriving for a few years, or have just opened, or are now under construction. In this blog, I wanted to share with you our anthropological research on UCCs and some early insights into how they maybe transforming healthcare. As we work with clients on their customer experiences, the fast growth of UCCs is opening up major opportunities to reassess healthcare strategies.

Whether you are involved with the launch and growth of an urgent care center (UCC) or lead another type of healthcare organization, you should be asking yourself the branding question, "Why you?" states Andrea Simon, Ph.D., Founder/CEO of Simon Associates Management Consultants (SAMC), in her May 7, 2015 FierceHealthcare article, “Are Urgent Care Centers Brands Or Commodities?”