Introducing appreciative inquiry can help hospitals and health systems improve patient experience, said Marie Burden, revenue cycle management adviser at Sutherland Healthcare Solutions, a provider of consulting, process transformation services, IT optimization, analytics and design thinking solutions to healthcare entities.
Appreciative inquiry is a change management framework developed at Cleveland-based Case Western University in the 1980s. The American Medical Association describes it as a framework "that identifies and builds on what is already working well in an organization to foster positive change."
One example of appreciative inquiry cited by Ms. Burden is when a hospital eliminated overhead paging so patients would not be disturbed and would have a quiet environment.
"Appreciative inquiry is different from traditional problem-solving frameworks because it aligns the strengths of the organization and accelerates change," Ms. Burdens told Becker's. "By implementing this innovative framework, we can identify more meaningful changes throughout the various touchpoints in the patient journey that are sustainable at the core of a healthcare organization."
If you would like to share your RCM best practices, please email Kelly Gooch at kgooch@beckershealthcare.com to be featured in the "RCM tip of the day" series.
More articles on healthcare finance:
Bipartisan action on surprise medical bills expected next year, senator says
6 recent RCM tips
HCA Healthcare, others see stocks fall on ACA ruling