In this special Speaker Series, Becker's Healthcare caught up with Jeff Rosenfeld, the manager of strategic innovation and project management at Tahoe Forest Hospital District in Truckee, Calif.
Mr. Rosenfeld will speak on a panel during the Becker's Hospital Review 4th Annual Health IT + Revenue Cycle Conference titled "Innovation and An Improved Revenue Cycle," at 3:45 p.m. Friday, Sept. 21. Learn more about the event and register to attend in Chicago.
Question: Can you share your best advice for motivating your teams?
Jeff Rosenfeld: Empower teams to use their best judgment. Team leadership is initially about setting goals, constraints and guiding principles to help them through. Then, let them drive the daily operations and make the decisions. Let the team know that they have this authority. Be a point of escalation. Remove obstacles from their path. Hold the team accountable to the goals and constraints. Nine out of 10 times, they will make the right decisions. When their decisions are challenged, openly stand behind the team's work. This will strengthen their commitment to the initiative's success and your leadership.
Q: What do you see as the most vulnerable part of a hospital's business?
JR: I see the most vulnerable part of a hospital as the failure to achieve a positive patient experience. Patients are informed consumers who shop around and find physicians with high ratings with only a few key strokes and mouse clicks. Providers and clinicians can create a memorable, compassionate care experience and build patient loyalty. However, poor revenue cycle collection operations on the part of the health system can quickly erode that loyalty. Slow responsiveness to inquiries, incorrect billing or patient account cash posting are at the core of what drives patients to competing providers.
Q: How does your organization gain physician buy-in when implementing a new technology or solution?
JR: Physicians and medical staff are critical stakeholders with a high level of interest and influence in the health system. The best success I have seen in my organization when seeking physician buy-in is to involve them in the discovery of the solution and the process of its implementation as early as possible. Typically, this means engaging key physician leaders shortly after a problem is recognized and a general approach has been agreed upon. The physician leadership should be invited and encouraged to actively participate in the definition of the vetting process as well as the actual evaluation of the technology or solution. Physician requirements are gathered as any other stakeholder group. In the final decision, the medical staff's recommendation should be considered alongside other clinical, financial and technological assessments. This level of engagement demonstrates the organization's commitment to its values and respect of stakeholder needs as enterprise decisions are made.