It’s all About Collaboration

[By Jennifer Tomasik MS]

Today’s constantly changing medical environment demands so much more of hospitals and physicians alike. Connections with one another become all-important as partners build practices, work with office staff to streamline services, collaborate with specialists to provide advanced care, use technology to enhance processes and communication, and align with hospitals to tap into sophisticated treatment and diagnostic resources. So much more can be accomplished and offered, and the complexities of business and professional life simplified, when relationships are cultivated, maintained and appreciated.

Example:

Perhaps a certain medical practice has a better way of organizing around the patient or a more effective way to recruit and retain a new physician, both of which are centered on developing strong relationships?

There may be opportunities to build healthier relationships with hospital leadership by seeking out occasions to provide meaningful and constructive feedback and input. The bottom line is that collaboration, whether it’s within the practice, across referral partnerships or with a hospital or other provider, is a key to making the relationship more successful for all involved.

Six Steps to Building Strong Relationships

Building a strong physician-to-physician or physician-to-hospital relationship is no different than building a relationship with your bank, your lawyer, your accountant or other non-healthcare service provider. You want each of them to make your life easier, solve your problems, return your calls and value both your business and you as a customer.

And, you treat each other with mutual respect, trust and even admiration.

The Six Steps

These six steps can go a long way toward building and sustaining strong relationships.

1. Do your homework. Research the opportunities and learn from what others have done before you get started. Educate yourself about what has worked well and compare that situation to your own.
2. Establish goals. Look at your consistent challenges, business issues, practice patterns and results and prioritize how those determine your goals. Use this as benchmarking data to help identify future needs and goals.
3. Build a list of potential relationships. Create a profile of the ideal partner for a relationship. Then develop a list of potential partners who have as many of those characteristics as possible.
4. Create a framework for competition. Consider what you offer to potential partners and how you can leverage that to your advantage in evaluating future relationships. Because some potential partners may eventually become your fiercest competitors, be cautious with the types of information and data you share.
5. Select the relationship. Whether the relationship is with a fellow physician, a support staff person or a hospital system, use an interview process to determine the right match.
6. Start off on the right foot. Conduct a kick-off meeting to start the relationship with open communication and clear expectations. Establish an atmosphere of collaboration and mutual respect. Allow other team members to get to know the newest addition while he or she is given time to get to know the practice and its processes and procedures. Ask for feedback early on in the relationship to avoid culture clashes or misunderstandings.  Don’t allow electronic communication or online social networking to replace personal, face-to-face communication.

More:

• On Physician Hospital Organizations

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jennifer Tomasik is a Principal at CFAR, a boutique management consulting firm specializing in strategy, change and collaboration. Jennifer has worked in the health care sector for nearly 20 years, with expertise in strategic planning, large-scale organizational and cultural change, public health, and clinical quality measurement. She leads CFAR’s Health Care practice. Jennifer has a Master’s in Health Policy and Management from the Harvard School of Public Health. Her clients include some of the most prestigious hospitals, health systems and academic medical centers in the country.

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