Innovation is typically pegged with a dollar sign, and in the shifting healthcare world, seems too great a cost to pay. In a hospital, innovation can come forms other than technology, such as functionality of operations and cutting down visit durations without sacrificing the quality of care. How do you do this? By empowering your employees with the ability to try new ways of doing rudimentary, day to day tasks. Encouraging staff to think differently will allow hospitals to reinvent themselves positively, in spite of the growing financial limitations.
1. Know when to step aside
- Encourage a culture of inventiveness by allowing others to lead
- Openness will allow all departments to have a say
2. Make operational innovations continuous
- As Healthcare reform demands change, so should your hospital
- Bring together a group of shareholders when introducing new ideas
- Test new operations on low risk patients, and work outward based on success
3. Allow changes to simplify
- Day to day innovations will alleviate excessive duties for your staff
- Example: Geisinger gave patients access to all of their medical notes and records, decreasing patient invoices and confusion over what Doctor’s notes were saying
Expanding on the investment hospitals have already made will be the key CEOs and other executives need for better serving patients. Jennifer Radin, national leader of Deloitte’s Healthcare Human Capital practice, has pushed hospital CEOs to help physicians to become business leaders, “They need to actually be able to deliver business acumen and manage profits and losses, like general managers in any other industry”. Supportive CEOs will allow all levels of healthcare personnel to better serve their patients and reorganize operations without incurring further cost.
Do not let funding limit your hospital. What steps have you taken to innovate?
To read more on what CEOs are doing, click here.
—
Sources
http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/hospital-management-administration/how-ideas-become-innovations-roundtable-with-healthcare-innovation-leaders-from-ucla-ohio-state.html
http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/hospital-management-administration/5-things-the-most-innovative-health-systems-do-differently.html
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052748704608504576208533502726292