I was 16 and it was my third “real” job – working at McDonald’s. It’s been, well, a lot of years, but the lessons learned on that job still stick. During my McDonald’s training, I was bombarded with sayings that not only gave direction to the work level that was expected of me, but which […]
Tag: strategy for thriving
Lewis and Clark, yes, that Lewis and Clark, the explorers, can teach medical group leaders an important lesson in respect of negotiating with hospitials. Journal Entry September 2, 1803 “Suppose it best to send out two or three men to engage some oxen or horses to assist us [in crossing the sandbar] obtain one horse […]
Many physicians, even physician group leaders, have trouble with the notion of transformational change because today’s payor and hospital centric status quo is their “normal.” As a result, they’re consistently playing defense: rolling with the punches and hoping to survive. On the other hand, the opposition, the payors who will join the government’s ACO bandwagon […]
Hospital administrators are involved in ACO formation, but physicians are being asked to fully commit.
Hospital-based medical groups shouldn’t simply conceptualize their practice as one business. If you’re a medical group leader, you must view your practice as consisting of several independent, yet coordinated, units, each of which requires a separate focus. So, for example: There is a group owner unit There is an employee/subcontractor unit There is a hospital unit There is a […]
First impressions matter, and this is more than simply a social rule. Last week, a new notebook computer that we had ordered arrived at the office. We have other computers, from Macs and other Apple products to a number of PCs that we use for various functions. In ordering the new notebook computer, my office […]
When’s the right time to begin negotiating the next renewal of your exclusive contract? When I asked this question at a national conference of medical group leaders, the majority response was from three to four months prior to the end of the current contact term; a few outliers said 6 months and one, out of […]
Hiring for skill is not even half the battle for your group – the price of admission.
The notion of a fresh start is important; a clean break from the past.
I’ve written before about the importance of customer service (see, for example, my blog posts of September 26, 2009, and June 3, 2009, or my article Securing Customer Satisfaction). Many medical groups have trouble focusing on improving customer service, and in getting their providers to implement tactics to support the group’s customer service strategy, because […]
