Operations

In my conversations with senior executives at healthcare organizations around the country, I find that leaders have three critical topics on their minds: workforce, workforce, and workforce.

 And no wonder. 

A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of welcoming our members, suppliers and staff to the Vizient Connections Summit, our first in-person event since the start of the pandemic. The conference centered around the concept of unity, which was palpable in the excitement of peers and colleagues from all corners of the health care industry reuniting for the first time in too long. Not to mention the word Unite in big block letters sprawled across every screen. But as the ballroom filled and the noise of conversation swelled, I found myself captivated by a different word just above those big block letters – Connections.

Industries such as transportation, government and entertainment have long used “wrap up” programs called owner-controlled insurance programs (OCIPs) to facilitate more control over their insurance costs, coverage, safety and claims management for larger construction projects. There are many benefits for OCIPs for health care construction, including cost savings and enhanced coverage value for their organization. Here's why.

Today, American culture is changing so quickly and with such a high degree of nuance that it is increasingly difficult both to interpret and to navigate. However, navigating how those changes affect markets is essential for business success throughout the economy.

Every person deserves a fair and just opportunity to be healthier. No one should remain disadvantaged from achieving their full health potential due to who they are, where they live or any socially defined circumstance. Hospitals and health systems across the nation are working to improve health and access to care by addressing the clinical manifestations of social determinants of health. But despite our members’ efforts, closing the gaps in health outcomes also requires the support of policymakers.

Much of the care patients need and receive is performed on an outpatient basis in individual provider practices, clinics and other types of ambulatory care sites. These sites have historically struggled with operational efficiency and staffing challenges that have the potential to force them to close their doors. The pandemic has exacerbated those challenges and ambulatory clinic leaders are looking for ways to achieve greater efficiency. The efficiency they are searching for may be standing in front of them.

In a recent blog post, my colleague Bradley Schultz discussed how management systems provide the infrastructure for executing organizational strategy, sustaining improvements and creating a heightened state of staff engagement during the high reliability journey. Indeed, the management system is an essential component that supports the high-reliability health care organization (HRO) infrastructure. Just as grey matter in the central nervous system enables an individual to control memory, movement and emotions, leadership enables the organization to move in the right direction, operate in the right environment and set the foundation for improvement, all of which help to create and sustain a high reliability in health care. 

Each year, most states “spring forward” or “fall back” in observance of daylight savings time. So, while many of us technically “fall back” around this time of year (except for you lucky ones in Hawaii and Arizona), it is imperative that we not “fall behind” on the latest regulatory news from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

In a recent blog post, my colleague Gena Futral shared how transforming to a high-reliability health care organization has become an organizational imperative and shared four pillars essential for high reliability. In this blog post, I’ll take a closer look at how health care organizations’ management systems provide the infrastructure for executing organizational strategy, sustaining improvements and creating a heightened state of staff engagement during the high reliability journey.

In today’s rapidly expanding direct-to-employer contracting sphere, it is of critical importance that employers understand the entire value equation. Too often, an employer’s focus is solely on a discount off what they are currently spending on a per-unit basis and doesn’t consider the myriad of other factors that define value. It’s almost like “value” and “unit price” are looked at as being synonymous when, indeed, they are very different. In this blog post, we will discuss the aspects of quality that need to be factored into the value equation discussion.