I recently heard a news story announcing that General Motors was, per its agreement with the Auto Workers Union, making bonus distributions of, as I recall, $8,300 per worker.
Asked to comment, the union spokesperson said that although the workers appreciated the bonus money, it did make up for the fact that they had not received wage hikes for several years.
Completely missing from her comments, and probably from her mind, was the fact that it’s only because of a bailout with our money do any of those union members still have jobs at General Motors.
There is a major disconnect here between efforts and the creation of value. This disease doesn’t afflict only those working on the manufacturing line at General Motors, but those in the corporate office as well. All of their previous efforts, and I have no reason to doubt that they devoted huge amounts of time and effort to their tasks, resulted in an overall loss of value: cars that didn’t sell and costs that ate the company alive.
Value, on the other hand, is determined by the customer.
Of course, this holds true in all areas (excepting those in which the government has meddled, causing more harm than good, say, as in public schools) including healthcare.
Many physician group members, from leaders to newly hired employees, think that merely showing up and doing their cases is what creates value in terms of the ongoing relationship with their facility. It doesn’t.
Look, I’m not saying that treating patients isn’t of value. What I am saying is that those efforts are not equivalent to the creation of value in terms of the relationship with facilities. The same holds true in connection with the creation of value as to the relationship with referral sources.
One thing’s for certain, the government’s not going to bail out your medical group.
