Figuring out how to establish, nurture and support a high-performing medical group can become "the most important key asset" of a healthcare organization, according to Steve Kahane, MD, president of health IT vendor athenahealth's enterprise services group.
At the Becker's Hospital Review 5th Annual Meeting in Chicago on May 15, Michael Callum, MD, president of Steward Medical Group (part of Boston-based Steward Health Care System), Todd Rothenhaus, MD, vice president and CMO of athenahealth, and Jessica Sweeney-Platt, managing director of The Advisory Board Company, discussed strategies for becoming a future-ready, high-performing medical group in a panel discussion moderated by Dr. Kahane. Here are four key components of a high-performing medical group that they identified.
1. Transparency. When Dr. Callum first joined Steward, he said the medical group was on the brink of bankruptcy, and transparency was part of the problem. "There was no transparency to the physicians on their performance or on quality," he said.
Dr. Rothenhaus agreed that transparency surrounding finances, clinical processes and quality is crucial to success for a medical group. "Transparency has been quite transformative for most of our clients," he said.
2. Integrated identity. One of the core attributes of high-performing medical groups is an integrated identity, Ms. Sweeney-Platt said. "Everyone really has a common understanding of what the group is and what it's there to do," she said.
3. Proper cultural framework. Dr. Callum said the first step to improving performance at Steward was facilitating cultural change. Explaining the organization's goals properly to physicians is important. "It's a battle every day," he said. "Doctors are a difficult crowd. It's like herding cats. You're dealing with a lot of egos, and you're dealing with a lot of high-performing people. You've got to create the vision, and you've got to say here's where we're going, here are the reasons why we're doing this."
4. Balanced incentives. In order to become high-performing, medical groups must also examine their incentives at the individual and group levels. "You have to have a balance between those two," Ms. Sweeney-Platt said.
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