Three Strategies to be a Top Healthcare Performer

The current healthcare environment is undergoing dramatic change, and it will take top healthcare performers to lead their organizations into the future with strategies to ensure sustainability for their organizations. Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) evaluated over 4,000 organizations to establish a dataset for best practices and top performers. The top performers all had several key strategies in common. All top performing organizations had three categories where they saw higher rates of commitment: engaged culture, strategic processes, and investment in their organization. The practices that showed these commitments had measurably higher productivity, higher physician income, lower operating costs, and shorter patient wait times. Quality care delivered with value is the key in today’s healthcare, and these top performing companies are meeting that deliverable.

Engaged Culture

All organizations, regardless of industry or size, struggle with maintaining an engaged culture. Most have no idea what their organization culture displays. It is important for healthcare organizations to build an engaged, patient-focused culture. Many people believe the companies who thrive financially and are profitable do not care about their employees or customers. The MGMA report showed the opposite. Those healthcare organizations that were top financial performers put a higher focus on their organizations culture and employee and patient satisfaction.

The top performers all conduct provider and staff satisfaction surveys on a regular basis and use the results to drive change within the organization. The results are transparently shared throughout the whole organization with staff, management, senior leaders, and even board members. This allows all staff to collaborate toward developing and implementing positive progress and improvements.

Strategic Process

Another focus of the top performers that stands out is their development of clear strategic plans. They have a vision, a strategy with measurable goals, and they consistently revise those strategies as needed. The healthcare industry is currently in a constant state of change, and this consistent reevaluation of strategic goals helps these organizations to meet those changes. Healthcare organizations must regularly monitor their performance to ensure it is keeping in line with their budget and strategic plans and adjust frequently to maintain strategic focus. Financial analysis should be completed on their budget at least monthly.

Investing in Operations

Top performers know that to remain at the top they must constantly evaluate potential investments that can improve their operations. These investments should be across the board in all areas of operations including time, effort, resources, tools, and information. Technology is currently one of the largest investments that healthcare organizations can make to improve their operations. While there is a large variety of new technology emerging in healthcare, each organization must take time to research which new tools can streamline their operations, improve communications with staff and patients, increase patient engagement and compliance, and provide the best clinical insights.

The top performers in the MGMA report all invested in the following improvements within their organizations: coding or documenting efficiency, billing and collections efficiency, analytics and reporting, benchmarking, and employee training efforts.

The above strategies help healthcare organizations to become more financially sound and still delivers benefits for their patients. The most important strategies for healthcare organizations are wrapped around consumer satisfaction and providing value-based quality care. Becoming a top performer in the healthcare industry by implementing these strategies will ensure your organization is sustainable and your patients are receiving the best experience possible.

Genesis Medical Management is committed to providing you with the knowledge and strategies needed to ensure your organization is positioned for sustainable growth.