Rob Bessler writes…
As we enter 2009, and in follow up to my theme on housekeeping related to 360 degree feedback, I thought I would share another key area that every practice would benefit from: Have a plan.
It doesn’t need to be complicated, but it starts with defining some local goals for your practice and team. Are everyone’s heads down and just seeing patients, or is their discussion at the site level as to how you want your practice to be shaped in 2009? Does your team just care for patients, sit on or lead committees and react to the prevailing winds of the hospital, or do you and your team talk about what we want in 2009? I encourage you to set aside time with your team on these areas.
I don’t think it is too complicated. I would suggest you break it down into People, Processes, Technology and Reporting. Planning in each of these areas will go a long way to building a better practice.
People: Do you have the right people? Who else do you need, what is the plan to get them? Are people motivated and incentivized correctly? Do certain people need more development/feedback and how are we going to make that happen? What do we want our people to learn this year? What is your plan to create the best work environment for your team?
Processes: What do we want done differently this year? Do certain barriers in the hospital always raise a problem, and this is the year they finally will be fixed? How do we, as hospitalists at this site, push the processes we want improved vs. just responding to what someone else in the hospital thinks needs work?
Technology: How are we as hospitalists going to embrace technology in 2009? Do we have the tools we need as a practice to capture billing, communicate within the team, communicate out to the community of physicians and capture relevant data to identify opportunities for improvement and demonstrate the value we bring? What is your teams plan?
Reporting: What data do you need that you don’t have, what is the plan to get it? Map it out, and clearly identify who is responsible to get it.
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