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| Dear Friend,
Acting? Or simply reacting?
Your local newspaper and even that national one that claims to print everything that’s fit to be printed is telling you that the world as you know it is over. It probably is.
But have they told you that the world as you can create it might be better? No. That’s not good for selling ad space, especially to drug companies.
As a result, most physician leaders are running scared. They’re too busy correcting the missteps of poor group structure, poor governance, and poor management to think about strategizing for the future. Heck, if you don’t think you’re going to have a future, why strategize for it. Just react to what’s happening, react to what you read, react to what you hear on TV. Problem -> Reaction. Fear -> Reaction. Crisis -> Reaction.
But of course, not everyone thinks that way. Instead, they see opportunity: Problem -> Opportunity. Fear -> Opportunity. Crisis -> Opportunity.
Let’s take Walmart for instance. They are moving ahead with their third “Walmart Health” center, a facility designed to take food off of your plate if you’re a primary care physician, the operator of a clinical lab or of an imaging facility, a radiologist, a psychologist, a dentist, an ophthalmologist, an otolaryngologist, or dietitian.
Walmart doesn’t think like you. They have a strategy to seize opportunity. They make decisions quickly. They act on those decisions quickly. They are inside of your OODA loop [read about it here]. They will open their third Walmart Health while the primary care doctors they’re about to displace can’t even figure out how to reopen after the “shut down”.
But the interesting thing is that the concept of maneuverability, taking fast action that iterates and iterates so quickly that your competitor cannot predict what will happen next, thereby creating confusion and the inability of your competitor to cope, has nothing at all to do with size. It lies at the core of the key to victory in the Civil War Battle of Missionary Ridge [read about it here] and at the core of the story of the flea that (metaphorically) killed the medical center CEO [read about it here].
And, it also lies at the core of developing and deploying the strategy for your group’s overall existence and for each and every “negotiation” that takes place.
I know it’s a foreign concept for most readers, those who sit back to wait to see what “the hospital will come back with.” But how’s that worked out for you so far?
We’re designing a program for medical group leaders like you who want to understand the secret sauce underlying opportunistic action. If you’d like to be on the invitation list, send a message to one of my assistants. And, if you learned anything by reading the above, act fast. |
| | | 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.] |
| | Tuesday - How To Put Your Finger on the Scale of Patient Satisfaction
Watch Tuesday's video here, or just keep reading below for a revised, more polished transcript: |
| Patient satisfaction surveys are becoming a real part of reimbursement, driving a significant percentage of money.
So, I’ve begun thinking about ways to hack them, of ways to put your finger on the scale of patient satisfaction. How can you influence patients’ perceptions in order to increase satisfaction?
Here’s an interesting observation.
I came across a study done in connection with marketing chiropractic services. They found that if a chiropractor visited with a patient and wore street clothes, it drove middling patient satisfaction.
But put that same chiropractor in a white lab coat with a stethoscope in his front pocket or better yet around his neck — even if stethoscopes are not used in chiropractic practice — and patient satisfaction shoots up astronomically.
Several years ago, I watched a YouTube video about veterinarians that led to the same conclusion.
If a vet wears nice street clothes, he or she scores a moderate patient satisfaction rating. But put him or her into a blue lab coat and scores go up.
Finally, if you put the vet into a white lab coat, scores jump almost 20 percent higher compared to score when wearing nice street clothes.
As simple as this sounds, what are the physicians in your group wearing? How are they presenting to patients? What other signals and behaviors, “hacks” in the vernacular, can be applied to drive higher patient satisfaction?
It’s something for you to address.
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| | Wednesday - More on Making Your Business Antifragile
Watch the video here, or just keep reading below for a slightly polished transcript:
In the book Antifragile, author Nassim Taleb points out that there’s no word that describes the opposite of fragile.
“Fragile” describes something that is injured when shaken.
Something that is resilient isn’t the actual opposite of fragile — it isn’t made better when shaken — it’s just able to withstand being shaken.
But antifragile, in Taleb-speak, describes something that is actually improved when subjected to stress.
We’re at a point in time where there is increasing complexity and change in healthcare and its regulation. We’re also at a point in time in which a virus, coronavirus or COVID-19, is wreaking havoc not only on society, but on medical groups. Depending on the specialty, the havoc is a flood of demand, more than can be handled, or a dearth of work, a time to batten down the hatches and wait out the storm.
Is it possible to apply the concept of antifragility to a medical group or a healthcare business? I’m not sure. But, certainly, there are things that you can do now to put your group or other healthcare venture into a better position moving forward, even if that position is merely a hardening against injury and not true antifragility.
You can use my concept of the Scenario Survey Process™ (read about it here) to develop potential future scenarios and then to devise a strategy that will help you not only survive, but even potentially thrive, in as many of those futures as possible.
For example, consider a group or a practice that is currently dependent upon a single hospital or a single location or a single referral source. Those relationships are certain to become far more stressed in coming months. They are fragile.
Or for example, consider a group whose work load is cut back drastically, yet which has promised, contractually promised, all of its 43 physicians “an equitable share of the schedule.” The group is fragile.
Through the use of the Scenario Survey Process™ the group or practice can examine potential scenarios and then strategize as to them: How could you best hedge against any such scenario? What relationships can you create and to which facilities might you expand and what changes within your group might you make to not only devise a softer landing, but perhaps build a better launching pad no matter what happens?
I don’t have the one, single, simple solution to this. Nobody does. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t start thinking about it today. |
| | Thursday - The Impact of Change on Your Medical Practice |
| 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.
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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 here.
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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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