| View this email online if it doesn't display correctly |
| |
|
|
| |
| Dear Friend,
Could a compliance plan be a bad thing for compliance?
I read a blog post by a guy who sells packaged compliance plans for physicians and healthcare facilities. He’s not a lawyer, but I believe he was formerly with the OIG and, upon retirement, started the business.
His post made me wonder whether the existence of form compliance plans (or, indeed, the concept of compliance plans in general) is bad for actual compliance.
I think that many people believe that compliance is a plan that can be bought. They’ve either missed the point or were misled. Compliance isn’t the purchase of a plan or even the adoption of a plan; compliance is an ongoing process, not a document or even a set point in time.
The process not only involves you vetting proposed arrangements in real time, but that you also regularly revisit arrangements that are in place to see if a compliance problem was missed or has arisen. The process as applied to ongoing operations can be accomplished using a “red team” to conduct what is essentially a mock government investigation.
Here’s your easy reference tool: Compliance isn’t the plan, compliance is the process.
If what you have is a plan without a process, you’re missing the mark. |
| | | | Wednesday - Focus on the Future - Medical Group Minute
Watch the video here, or just keep reading below for a slightly polished transcript:
Imagine that your only menu choice, anywhere, is a Happy Meal. It doesn’t matter whether it’s at McDonald’s or at Chez Prétentieux. The Happy Meal is the only thing on the menu.
After all, that’s the way things are done.
Back to reality, which, for most, it isn’t much different, at least in connection with the way that deals are structured. And, it doesn’t matter what “deal” means; it could be a contract between a medical group and a hospital, an arrangement between one facility and another, or even a lawsuit. They are certain that the only steps are 1-2-3, A-B-C.
“It’s always done this way."
“Tell me how they do that sort of deal."
“I want to do the same deal that they did."
These are all self-limiting paradigms. They limit the process. They limit the outcome.
Start by asking better questions than “How is it done?”
What is it that you want? How else can the deal be structured? What if you do a deal that isn’t that “type” of deal at all, but one that gets you to the same or similar or even better outcome?
There’s no required recipe. There’s no ladder that you have to climb. Skip one step, two steps or more.
Focus on the outcome. Leave the rest a blank slate and build your best way to get there.
|
| | | Listen to the podcast here, or just keep reading for the transcript.
The common belief, and it may be quite true, is that change is the greatest cause of stress. But what if it can be used to your group's advantage?
In the mid 1980’s there was a well known West Coast billing service that told its clients that they had only follow three simple rules to obtain success: Do the cases. Turn in billing information. Go home. Then, they would be paid.
Fast forward to today. Far too many physician groups have a business model based on that same philosophy. As the writer Robertson Davies said, “The world is full of people whose notion of a satisfactory future is, in fact, a return to the idealized past.”
Today, it seems as if change is accelerating at a faster and faster pace: ACOs, government interference, fraud and abuse witch hunts, your services as someone else's "right," national groups poaching your opportunities, hospital-centric healthcare, and a "system" not a market – these are just some of the bats hitting you as you run the gauntlet of daily practice.
But change in the healthcare industry has always been a given. It's how you and your fellow group members react to the change that makes the difference.
If the change is feared – the fear of the unknown – then indeed it is a major cause of stress. So,if your group does nothing but engage in business as usual, then you will undoubtedly be victim to the winds of this change and, eventually, will be shipwrecked.
On the other hand, if you view the winds of change are presenting new opportunity, the opportunity to engage in practice in a way that previously, for ethical reasons or image reasons or economic reasons, was viewed as inappropriate, then change changes from fear to fuel.
The French got it wrong: The more things change the more things change. Use change to your advantage, to your success, and to your profit.
|
| | 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?
|
| | | | 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.
|
|
|
| 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.
|
| | | | 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. |
|
|
