While the New Year approaches and we begin to develop personal New Year resolutions, you should also consider making practical resolutions for your hospital.
Not sure where to start? Here is a list of 3 New Year's resolutions to implement for your hospital's upcoming year:
1. Focus on cutting costs, not jobs.
Reducing staff can effect more than your hospital's bottom line. Although labor costs may fall, reduced staff can often lead to increased patient wait time, reduced clinician effectiveness and lower workplace satisfaction.
In the New Year, it is important to look at untapped non-labor cost reduction areas. Areas that are often overlooked include product utilization, purchased services, product waste, and preference card alignment.
2. Help your staff learn something new.
Educating your administrative and support staff is essential to your hospital's success. The decisions your staff make throughout the day affect not only the entire hospital, but all of your patients. It is important to provide them with education and mentorship that will allow them to keep up with industry trends and improve their current skill sets.
Utilizing resources like the internet and your network, you may be able to find free or low cost webinars, associations, guides and seminars, all beneficial to your staff's continued education.
3. Benchmark, benchmark, benchmark.
Benchmarking is the key to achieving your hospital's cost reduction goals. As you evaluate both supply- and purchased service- costs, it may be difficult to determine whether you are attaining fair market prices. By seeking benchmarks, you will be able to reveal if your current prices compare to market standards. Benchmarks can be accessed throughout various channels like benchmarking databases, internet searches or consultants.
George Malik, the CEO of Quality First Solutions, has been in the healthcare industry for the past 30 years and has saved millions for hospitals nationwide.
The views, opinions and positions expressed within these guest posts are those of the author alone and do not represent those of Becker's Hospital Review/Becker's Healthcare. The accuracy, completeness and validity of any statements made within this article are not guaranteed. We accept no liability for any errors, omissions or representations. The copyright of this content belongs to the author and any liability with regards to infringement of intellectual property rights remains with them.