3 Tips for Successful Physician Integration
How to Get Doctors on Board
with Gayle Hansen, COO at Mayo Health Clinic, Mankato, MN
In January 2001, JAMA published an article identifying four physician satisfiers: quality, efficiency, input, and appreciation. While it’s probably not surprising that these same satisfiers are key for physicians today, the question is: Does your organization execute on these consistently? Physician burnout is at a record high. And yet, never has it been more critical that physicians are actively engaged and integrated into your organization’s mission, vision, and values. Consider these best practices:
1. Connect the dots for physicians.
Help doctors understand that it’s not a zero sum game between clinical quality and efficiency. If you reduce waste and rework, you raise quality, safety, and efficiency by streamlining those processes. That’s where an objective evaluation system can help…by creating a positive culture of alignment and accountability.
2. Start small by focusing on a few top performers.
“Dr. W. Edwards Deming noted that you don’t have to influence everyone to tilt the culture, just a segment. So by developing a select group of respected, influential physicians, organizations can advance with a more engaged medical staff overall,” notes Tammy Keeler, Studer Group’s vice president, partner development. “That’s what Studer Group coaches see routinely with their partners who support development of physicians as leaders.”
3. Embed the dyad model into the culture.
“When you have a physician and administrator partnering together with equal responsibility for overall performance, success is tied together. There’s no finger pointing,” says Gayle Hansen, COO at Mayo Health Clinic, Mankato, MN. “We’re successful because we share a common vision and fulfill the strategic plan and the operating plan together. Physicians see how that enables us to execute on our goals and solve our problems. We’re both serving patients, but in different roles.”
At Mayo Clinic, which employs its physicians, dyads start with top physician leaders (who are paired with administrators) and are evident at every level in the organization, including Mayo divisions, sometimes even including a triad model with nurse leaders. “That promotes a shared code of conduct and a culture of teamwork that delivers on quality and clinical care,” adds Hansen.
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