Best Practices

Is your practice up to the change challenge?

Whatever adjustments your team faces, you need to be strategically proactive.

By Elizabeth Holloway, COE, CPSS, PHR

The changes in ophthalmology over the past 20 years have been substantial, from imaging to surgery. While physicians, by nature, may find it easy to embrace scientific, clinical changes, the reality is that many of today’s changes create unique practice-wide challenges because they affect everyone in the office. For some practices, integrating adjustments can be painful.

Some of the recent changes in medicine have been particularly daunting because the requirements are mandatory for any practice that includes Medicare patients — such as EHR and government regulations. That these required adjustments are happening so fast just compounds the challenge. Many practices barely get used to working one way, only to have the process altered. Or, practices begin to prepare for impending change, such as ICD-10, only to have the process delayed.

So, how can practices best manage the stress of change in our dynamic health-care environment?

MANAGING CHANGE

Regardless of what changes your practice faces — a new practice management system, a new service line, a new physician, or EHR implementation — you need to be strategically proactive. To best meet today’s change challenge, your focus should be on the following key aspects of your practice:

• Strategic planning. I find that successful practices focus on just two to three key initiatives and rally the physicians and staff around achieving them. By having a strategic plan, practices can dodge unnecessary changes or ideas that do not lead toward their ultimate goals. For example, I have seen practices outline several key initiatives that they would like to accomplish in the next two to three years. These goals may include implementing EHR, adding another location, or succession planning for a retiring physician.

• Aligned leadership. Practices that have completed the strategic planning process are more likely to have their leadership aligned. If the administration and leadership team moves the staff in one direction but the physicians give different directions to staff, the practice will find it difficult to move forward.
Many practice struggles are eliminated when the staff sees the physicians and administrators working together. One of the best ways I find to demonstrate aligned leadership is to designate a physician champion. This individual will query and speak for the physician team to ensure it delivers a unified message.

• Pace. By having clear objectives and aligned leadership, practices can more effectively manage the pace of their change. While the practice may be implementing multiple initiatives at once, the process needs to be thoughtfully planned so the team has the resources and energy to focus on the target. I always make sure that practices understand the proven axiom that “the larger the organization, the more planning and time it takes to complete substantial projects.”

• Staff confidence. Many ophthalmic staff members believe in their physicians, the ability to restore sight and in medical miracles. Your staff will be more open to change when practice leadership takes the time to explain why a change is being implemented. When staff members see their physicians support the practice’s leadership and direction, the staff is more willing to endorse and even champion change.
To show united leadership during a time of change, I see practices hold staff meetings that include the physician champion and the leadership team. These meetings allow staff to hear one voice and have confidence in one vision.

• Resources. When implementing significant change, practices need to invest in resources and training. Staff members require clearly defined processes, adequate training, and the equipment necessary to efficiently implement the change, as well as minimize any impact on patient care.
One of the most effective resources I find in managing change is an action plan. When a practice has a well-documented plan that outlines the required steps, parties responsible and deadlines, a practice will have better success in implementing change.

There is no question that change is difficult. In successful practices, change does not happen by accident and is rarely reactive. Only when a practice has the support of its leaders — physicians, administration, managers — is it able to rise above the change fray and make and implement decisions that facilitate growth. OM

Elizabeth Holloway, COE, CPSS, PHR, is a senior consultant with BSM Consulting, an internationally recognized health care consulting firm headquartered in Incline Village, Nev. and Scottsdale, Ariz. For more information about the author, BSM, or content/resources discussed in this article, please visit www.BSMconsulting.com.