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| Dear Friend,
Personal devices, noncompliant apps, and violations of the law. Oh, plus a billion dollars in fines.
Who’d have expected it? Anyone with half a brain.
Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that many of Wall Street’s biggest banks are settling allegations of their employees’ violation of regulatory requirements through their use of personal messaging apps like WhatsApp and Signal to do business off the radar of regulatory controls, and, allegedly, to share information on investment terms, client meetings and other business.
The paper reports that the biggest banks are agreeing to pay as much as $200 million each, with fines likely to top $1 billion.
Although SEC and Commodity Futures Trading Commission rules are not HIPAA nor are they state confidentiality of medical records laws, they are clearly analogous.
What prohibitions have you put in place to monitor your staff’s use of both personal devices and apps which fly beneath the radar of privacy and security law compliance?
Prohibitions alone certainly aren’t enough in that, as in the reported story, the business use of applications such as WhatsApp and Signal, which can be set up to automatically delete messages, already violated regulatory requirements. Policies, procedures, and investigation and enforcement are all required.
Go figure, people actually cheat? What do you know!
If you don’t know, the violation might just be on you.
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| | | Business Life in the Time of Coronavirus Mini-Series
The coronavirus crisis caused a short term economic crisis for many medical groups. Our mini-series shows you the way out. Plus, many of the concepts discussed are applicable during both good times and bad.
[If you haven't already seen them, follow this link to watch our entire series.] |
| | Watch Tuesday's video here, or just keep reading below for a revised, more polished version:
It’s increasingly common in the ASC world for those running surgery centers - and probably even more so those consultant sorts who come in selling physicians on the concept of an ASC - to push for the fact that they can get some providers, say, anesthesiologists, CRNAs, and to a somewhat lesser extent radiologists in connection with interventional facilities run by oncologists - to provide a certain level of services, directorship services in particular, for free.
The flip side is that we see anesthesia management companies whose advertising – whose marketing appeal, their selling proposition - is no fees, particularly no directorship fees.
The danger inherent in these deals was demonstrated by a more or less recent $3+ million dollar settlement. As I recall, the case involved a CRNA-led anesthesia company that offered to provide free directorship services.
The center’s administrator flipped on the group, became a whistleblower, and filed a False Claims Act suit. The government intervened, with an investigation not only by the OIG, but by the FBI and postal inspectors, as well.
In my own discussions with the OIG, I know they focus significant attention on both free directorship services and underpaid, non-fair-market value directorship services.
Free services isn't something that you can simply toss in to get the business; it's called a kickback. That's true even if it's "just part of the business model".
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| | How to Deploy the Secret Sauce of Opportunistic Strategy
Webinar On Demand
They say that COVID-19 has changed the world, creating the "new normal." Many of your colleagues and many hospital administrators are running scared.
Others, leaders like you, know that crisis means opportunity.
Let me provide you with the strategic tools and insights that you need in order to seize opportunities, whether they’re in the context of your current business relationships, the expansion of your business activities, or the creation of new ventures.
You will learn:
•Defense as a defective default: It’s necessary, but not sufficient.
•Exploiting weakness: Drop the guilt and identify opportunity.
•Flat line negotiation is fatal: Understand its myths and limitations.
•Negotiation reality: Learn to identify and deploy on multiple planes to affect the outcome.
•Maneuver: Harness the power of maneuver, both in overall strategy and in specific negotiation strategy.
Others see a crisis and freeze in fear. Learn how to see the opportunities and obtain the tools to increase your odds of obtaining them.
The price to attend is $479. The cost of not attending is astronomical. |
| | | Wednesday - Why You Must Control the Context to Influence the Outcome - Medical Group Minute
Watch the video here, or just keep reading below for a slightly polished transcript:
It's morning in a mall outside of a metro station in Washington, D.C. Josh, dressed in jeans, T-shirt and baseball hat, picks up his violin and begins to play. Classical music, some of the most complex and beautiful ever written for the instrument, floods the air.
Over the next three quarters of an hour, over 1,000 people pass directly by. Few notice Josh. Only a handful slow down to listen. Only 6 stop. Josh's take: $32.
But Josh isn't one of the thousands of street musicians commonly encountered in cities across the country. As reported by Gene Weingarten of the Washington Post, he's Joshua Bell, the internationally acclaimed violin virtuoso whose performances regularly sell out at over $100 a seat. The instrument he's playing: a $3.5 million Stradivarius.
As the Joshua Bell experiment demonstrates, value is not a fixed concept. It’s tremendously impacted by context.
There’s a significant advantage for you in understanding the concept of context, how it can be created and how it can be used by you to your advantage in various situations. Here are two examples.
Altering Context to Alter Value
Take for instance, the concept of patient satisfaction and how it can be altered by context. This is a direct extension of the story of the valuation of Bell’s performance.
A friend recently spoke glowingly about “the best medical care he ever had.” Why the best care? He then described an experience that began with being greeted by name at his car by a member of the doctor’s staff and went on from there in a similar high-touch manner.
Uber valet services might be out of your control, but the concept underlying this example can be deployed in a number of ways whether you’re an office-based physician, a hospital-based physician, or the administrator of a healthcare facility.
Altering Context to Alter Negotiation
The other major way for you to utilize the magical power illustrated by the Joshua Bell experiment is to proactively alter the context of the metaphorical space in which negotiation takes place.
That includes actions to alter the conceptual context in which your medical group or facility, and its goals, are perceived in order to impact your negotiating strength.
And, it includes actions to alter the context of the negotiation itself.
In a sense far larger than most people realize, business relationships and contract negotiations are types of "conversations" that take place back and forth between the parties. Conversations don't happen in a vacuum, they take place within a context.
There's an opportunity, then, to alter the outcome by controlling the context of the negotiation “conversation.”
On a personal level, think of the situation in which you call your spouse and ask, "Where shall we go to dinner tonight, Chez Marc or La Casa Bianca?" The context is where you will be going out for dinner, not whether you will be going out or eating at home.
You have similar opportunities to control the context, or, as I refer to it, to "frame" the issues, of business negotiations. For example, discussions of money can become discussions of quality and the investment required to obtain it.
Of course, it's easy for someone to believe that they can control the context, and quite another to actually establish a frame. To achieve transformational results, framing the issues takes considerable planning and time. Additionally, the frame must be consistent with your business strategy and its implementing tactics.
Remember that every relationship and every negotiation has a context; the question is whether it will be set by you or by the other side or simply left to chance. The latter two alternatives leave you open to happenstance: In any and all events, you are going to face the music; the question is whether or not they're playing your song. |
| | | Listen to the podcast here, or just keep reading for the transcript.
I called for housekeeping to make up the room while I was out.
When I returned the room was tidy. I was a satisfied customer. So I sat in a chair and began reading.
Then the phone rang. It was the housekeeping supervisor. She called to ask if my room had been made up. "Yes!" I was a satisfied customer.
About twenty minutes later, the phone rang again. It was someone from "customer service" who called to ask if my room had been made up. "Uh, yes." I was a bit puzzled.
And then, five minutes after that, the housekeeping supervisor called again to ask if my room had been made up. "Yeah, but you already called me." I was now inconvenienced.
Obviously, there's balance to be had. Some customer service is expected. Other customer service delights. Some, which is probably not really customer service at all but, rather, is following a checklist to absurdity, is actually an inconvenience.
A few years ago, I had outpatient surgery. No one from the facility called before or afterwards. I am still puzzled. |
| | | Calibrate Your Compass
Read our exclusive RedPaper to guide you through this evolving situation.
The coronavirus crisis caused a short-term economic crisis for many medical groups. Our RedPaper shows you the way out. Plus, many of the concepts discussed are applicable during both good times and bad.
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| | Help Us Help You With Helpful Content
What tailored content would you most like to see during this
time? How can we focus on solutions to your most pressing strategic concerns?
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| | | | We all hear, and most of us say, that the pace of change in healthcare is quickening. That means that the pace of required decision-making is increasing, too. Unless, that is, you want to take the “default” route. That’s the one is which you let someone else make the decisions that impact you; you’re just along for the ride. Of course, playing a bit part in scripting your own future isn’t the smart route to stardom. But despite your own best intentions, perhaps it’s your medical group’s governance structure that’s holding you back.
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| In fact, it’s very likely that the problem is systemic. The Medical Group Governance Matrix introduces a simple four-quadrant diagnostic tool to help you find out. It then shows you how to use that tool to build your better, more profitable future. Get your free copy Free.
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| | | | Whenever you're ready, here are 4 ways I can help you and your business:
1. Download a copy of The Success Prescription. My book, The Success Prescription provides you with a framework for thinking about your success. Download a copy of The Success Prescription here.
2. Be a guest on “Wisdom. Applied. Podcast.” Although most of my podcasts involve me addressing an important point for your success, I’m always looking for guests who’d like to be interviewed about their personal and professional achievements and the lessons learned. Email me if you’re interested in participating.
3. Book me to speak to your group or organization. I’ve spoken at dozens of medical group, healthcare organization, university-sponsored, and private events on many topics such as The Impending Death of Hospitals, the strategic use of OIG Advisory Opinions, medical group governance, and succeeding at negotiations. For more information about a custom presentation for you, drop us a line.
4. If You’re Not Yet a Client, Engage Me to Represent You. If you’re interested in increasing your profit and managing your risk of loss, email me to connect directly. |
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