Within a hospital there are many moving parts working to improve the lives of patients. Running an efficient hospital is no easy feat, and administrators cannot forgo physician engagement in the overarching goal to enhance patient care.
At Becker's Hospital Review's 7th Annual Meeting, a panel of hospital leaders highlighted common stumbling blocks when engaging physicians, and key strategies to work with physicians to improve a hospital's everyday operations.
"As administrators work to align physician groups, CEOs and administrative teams often fail to communicate a clear and defined strategy and vision that can be understood as a clear win-win for the physicians," said Jeff Hill, regional vice president of Quorum Health Resources. "We encourage CEOs and administrators to bring physician partners to the table when they craft a clear vision and make sure they are a part of the process and understand those win-wins."
Trust between physicians and executives is often something both parties need to work toward. When executives implement engagement strategies, they will encounter a broad range of physicians. While some may be eager to jump on the bandwagon, others may have reservations, and a handful may starkly oppose an executive's efforts to engage their physicians.
"The important thing is to not ignore this group of physicians because there is a lot of truth in what they have to say," said David P. Tarantino, MD, senior consultant with The Greeley Company. "They can bring tremendous knowledge and insight to the table. It's a matter of saying to them, do you have much as a shared truth as we do and what do those look like. "
To facilitate trust and work toward a collaborative, shared vision, Dr. Tarantino outlined three goals the hospital team needs to accomplish before they can truly achieve alignment. Those three goals include good patient care, physician success and hospital success. "If you are only focused on two goals, people will revert back to their perceived self-interests," Dr. Tarantino explains. "The biggest obstacle is to develop a shared vision with your physicians. Sequence is really important — you have to start with the shared vision. "
For a successful integration strategy, all players should have some investment in the success and the failure of the hospital. Therefore, hospital executives may consider providing their physicians a financial incentive.
"Physicians went into medicine to earn money and help people live well,” said Steve Little, president and CEO of Agnesian HealthCare. "Today is a different day and we know that. It is critical doctors share in the success of your organization. We are only as good as our physician community. Our goal as CEOs is to make our physicians happy, productive and engaged in working with you – not for you."
Engaging the next era of physicians may differ in some aspects, but almost all physicians want their organization's executives to actively listen to their concerns and do what they say.
"What we want is relatively simple," Dr. Tarantino said. "We want to make a decent living and deliver quality care. We want IT to acknowledge issues we bring to you and know something will be done. Nothing will frustrate your physicians more than just saying you’re looking into an issue, and nothing is done."
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