The Battle for CFOs

It seems the only way for people to move up the career ladder in the hospital industry is to move from hospital to hospital. It is said that the average CFO tenure is approximately 3 years.

McKinsey released a report nearly 10 years ago stating, "the most important corporate resource over the next 20 years will be talent: smart, sophisticated businesspeople who are technologically literate, globally astute, and operationally agile. And even as the demand for talent goes up, the supply of it will be going down."

From the standpoint of risk identification and mitigation, this has to be on the top of every board's radar. People take time to gain the necessary experience to identify risks that the hospital is facing. However, if CFO's are turning over every three years there is no time to become familiar with the risks of the hospital. In coming posts we will explore strategies to keep the institutional knowledge in your hospital for a long time.

Assorted Links

1. Outsourcing ER dispatchers

2. Health Policy Blogging is being tracked by Kaiser

3. Washington still can't make sense of healthcare IT

Waste

Interesting article in the Health Affairs Blog.

Putting the I in IT

Information technology is the thorn in every hospital managers side. Hospitals spend enormous amounts of capital providing physicians with the latest technology to diagnose and treat patients. IT initiatives need to be evaluated by hospital management to make sure they align with the organizations overall goals and objectives.

Questions you should be asking about your IT strategy are:

- Is the IT infrastructure able to meet business needs?
- How is IT performance measured?
- How are IT investment decisions proposed, shared, and delivered?
- How is IT performance accountability divided between the organization and IT department?
- Does IT staff need to understand strategic business goals and objectives?
- Do employees recognize, define, and communicate IT needs effectively?

By answering these questions and then working with your CIO, your organization will be able to identify the most relevant business areas.

Your Good-Paying Customers....for Now

We've talked previously about your hospital's customers here.

I think a lot about who our customers are at hospitals. Are they the patients, the doctors, or the third-party payers? It's probably a little bit of all of them. Tonight let us consider the scenario of the third-party payers as our customers.

What does this customer want? I believe the only thing that matters to this customer is what kind of return on investment are they getting from your hospital. In other words, how much cost must be incurred to provide a positive outcome for their customers, the patients. The third-party payers, along with much of the public, agree. Hospital care costs too much.

How do we know this? I think the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 is a good example of this. Would the American public approve of hospitals receiving less reimbursement for their care if they believed they were getting a good return on their investment? I don't think so.

3 Questions You Must Ask About Your Managers

"When you have able managers of high character running businesses about which they are passionate, you can have a dozen or more reporting to you and still have time for an afternoon nap." - Warren Buffett

Berkshire Hathaway is a holding company of about 10-15 businesses. Your hospital probably consists of about 5-10 different departments. You should manage your departments in a similar manner to the way Buffett manages his businesses. This means doing little of it. The key to effective operation is to evaluate your departments in this manner:

Is the department management rational?
Is management candid with their stakeholders?
Does management resist the institutional imperative?

These questions drive an important point in the evaluation of managers of your departments. You must have managers that you can trust and that have a passion for delivering service to the public.

Marry Your Community

When was the last time you made your patient's hearts flutter? Woo your community by following these steps.

Beautify yourself - The relationship starts on a physical level. Your hospital must appeal visually. No one does business in an establishment with dirty floors or bugs in the room (believe me, I know).

Begin a conversation - Love develops when two people know each other. They talk about their future. Tell your community what will do for them. Be open and honest about your strengths and limitations and never ever lie.

Become a shoulder to lean on - It's the difficult days when you learn how much you love someone. Hospitals have good days and they have bad. Celebrate during the good, and show empathy when needed.

Make the commitment - You've bared your soul to the community, now prove your commitment. In sickness and in health, regardless of profit or loss, the hospital will be there and your core qualities will always stay the same.

Strong relationships help you to know what your patients need and how you can provide for them. By making this commitment, your hospital will build a deep, long-lasting relationship with the community. This will not only be good for the bottom line, but the health of your patients.