Prior posts have enumerated the value of a customer relationship management (CRM) systems and how important your front line personnel are to enhancing your relationships.  Go a little further in your thinking and look at your entire work flow process but do it from the eyes of your consumer.  “Mystery shop” your own service and see how it feels to be the referring physician or the patient.  What are the gaps in service?  Do all of your employees recognize that their primary goal is to make the consumer feel good? Are there clogs in the process?  Does the patient or the physician have an easy vehicle in which to make suggestions?  Is your service fixed or do you recognize the need for constant refinements?

Intense competition makes it harder for healthcare organizations to keep their consumers satisfied and loyal. Simply put, better service results in happier physicians/patients which results in repeat business and increased revenues. Use your workflow to enhance the consumer’s experience and to make them happy.  Don’t get caught in the trap of focusing on the business goals that are pressing but make sure you have the basics being met for your patients and physicians.  Is your workflow process focused on achieving the organization’s business objectives and less concerned with improving customer relationships?

Look at your process by first identifying customer needs. Consider what work should be done, who should do it and if there is technology that can support the work and make the process more efficient.  Keep in mind that the healthcare consumer is more informed and wants to be more involved in the process.  The patient who listens and follows the doctor’s suggestions without questioning is less and less common.

You may be tempted to tweak your process here and there but consider a strategic look at the entire process and how it feels from your consumer’s reference point.  If you examine the who, what and where of your operations, you might be pleased and surprised by the changes you can make.

Seth Godin posted a thought-filled and thought provoking e-book today. He collected seventy or so thinkers — each providing a worthy thought to jump-start your own thinking. The book is free to download from Seth’s blog site and is worth the read. Each contributor writes no more than one page, the thoughts are conceptually digestible and you can read it in one sitting or stretch it out and tackle during the orphan minutes in your day. Not specific to healthcare marketing or planning, but inspiring in a broader sense, some of the topic titles include:

• Social skills
• Mesh
• Focus
• Sacrifice
• Momentum
• Open-source DNA
• Passion
• Slow Capital

One of the entries I like the most is written by J.C. Hutchins and is included below but you’ll get even more value by reading the entire e-book:

Gumption

Most of us settle in, and settle for what we have.  Rather than pursue, we accept.  Our lives become unwitting celebrations of passivity:  we undervalue our work and perceive ourselves as wage slaves (and so we phone it in at the day gig), we consume compulsively (but not create), we pine for better lives (but live vicariously through our televisions).

These corners we paint ourselves into, it’s no way to live.   There’s no adventure here, no passion, no hunger for change.  Remember that relentless optimism you once had?  The goals you wished to achieve, before settling in?  They’re still there.  You need a nudge to find them: a little gumption.

You can start that business.  You can lose that weight.  You can…write that book, and be a better parent, and be all the things you want to be – the thing this world needs you to be.  It requires courage and faith, both of which you can muster.  It requires effort – but this effortless life isn’t as satisfying as it seems, is it?

Declare war on passivity.  Hush the inner voice that insists you are over-the-hill, past your prime, unworthy of attaining those dreams.  Disbelief is now the enemy, as is the notion of settling.  Get hungry – hyena hungry.  Get fired up.  Find your backbone, and your wings.

Flap’em. It’s the only way you’ll be able to fly.

Onward!!!

We recommend to our clients that this step happen before they get excited about a particular program so that the principles of what is required to be successful leads the thinking. It is surprising about how many different thoughts exist for some of these issues so it is wise to discuss them first and make criteria for selection:

• How will the data be housed and the implications especially if within a multi-hospital system
• Data security
• Access to the system – how and where users and managers will access the system and what type of access will they have?. While end-users need to input and navigate on the account level, will they also require report-writing/viewing capabilities? Will there be different access features for management?
• Access to the system beyond the department. Are there ancillaries or clinical areas that will require viewing or input capabilities? How will system reports be shared?
• If you have more than one hospital in your system, will you share access on all of the accounts? Are there reasons to have some limitations?
• Will the program be web-based or installed with the hospital’s technology architecture? How facile will this be for the end-users?
• If you currently have a rudimentary or old system, should the historical data be imported into the new system? What elements in that data are absolutely necessary to transfer? Would there be an objection to this data being transferred internally or with manual mechanisms if cost is prohibitive?
• What kind of data will be required for the system? Where will this data come from – this is especially important to discuss if you are initiating a new system but have multiple data pools within the organization.
• Will other departments/functions integrate in the future, i.e. will your call center share some functionality or require data feeds?

There also needs to be one person who is responsible for the system and is considered the “go-to” person for all first line issues. We recommend that this individual have enough technical abilities to generate reports and do basic system problem-solving but also be sensitive and aware of the needs/demands within physician relations.

Okay, once you have completed these three preliminary steps outlined in the four parts to this multi-post, you are ready to start comparing vendors and begin the selection process. Feel good about taking the time to do this preliminary planning for it will make the next steps toward execution all that much easier and your team will be more adroit in the selection process. Following these steps make it more likely that you will select a better fit between your organization’s needs and the system’s abilities.

You will need a C-suite leader who will be the champion of the concept and comfortable serving as the corporate leverage point on your team. This individual will be a leader in the decision making and be the agent to develop collaboration across departments. In a sense, this executive must be ready to do some silo-busting especially in information strongholds. As we all know, silos impede an organization’s ability to be nimble and consistent. When dealing with information capture and dissemination, the stakes are even greater.

Of course, you will want someone from IT who not only understands the technological foundations and capabilities of the organization but who sees IT deployment in an integrated framework and understands the corporate vision. It is not unusual to have two IT representatives – one for the technological execution and the other for the integration strategy.

Often left out of the early assessment and planning is the actual end-user. You want this individual on the team as early as possible. It is this individual, most likely the physician liaison that you want to hear the most from as you consider the manner and role of a physician tracking system. This individual knows the job, know the finite actions they employ and will be able to articulate if a system will actually be useful – time saving, beneficial and productive – to the role and goal of the actual job.

As you add other key players to this team, be mindful of your organization’s power players for they can break a plan if not invested and informed. The success of your program is just as much about cultural acceptance as it is about the best tool. Other voices on the team may include the medical staff office, decision support, operations and once selected, the vendor.

Developing a tracking system is not just about purchasing the software and installation. The software is the tool, but the overall goal is to develop or augment your process with the tool. You will benefit by having a plan first and everything will be easy if you don’t see the tool as the “silver bullet.” It is the strategy and process that will lead to success not the software. Our experience with hospitals makes us believe that it is this very expectation that leads to dissatisfaction with the tracking system – regardless of the software being used.

Utilize the physician relations business plan as the core to building out the process. Having this plan in place, including the goals and tactics, should be the starting point – not the tool. Don’t build your strategy completely around your tool. Instead assess how the tool will complement and augment your strategy. If one of your plan’s elements is to provide everyone with a repository of information about the physician and the medical practice, then you will need a tool that allows for shared information or can synchronize information so that all team members work with updated information and history. If a key element in your plan is to track issues and to facilitate resolution of these issues, you will need a tool that can identify and track issues.

Carefully determine the capabilities required and how they will impact your current work process. This plan will inform future steps in the actual implementation so no need to rush your plan. Discuss work flow and desired outcomes with those who will use the tool (i.e. physician liaison reps, service line managers, ancillary services, call center folks). O

Once you have your plan detailed and understand what you want from the tracking/CRM system you are ready for the next step…

It has also become increasing clear that there are no new frontiers. Market share gain and boosting volumes are more about finesse and patience than ever before. Augmenting strategic efforts and limited resources with the right tools is imperative. In this market where the patient experience well delivered can be a game changer, it is just as important to make sure the physician experience is being monitored, evaluated and improved.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is an overall strategy that integrates outward facing initiatives and seeks to create a system where the individual is provided consistent service tailored to their needs. In a hospital setting this can involve billing, call centers, marketing departments, referral development, ancillary services, specific service lines and more. It is important to begin with an overall strategy and to map out the components just like with any program. What this post is focusing on is one part of that overall strategy – tracking the activities and outreach in your physician relations efforts.

I will save “tool specific” information for another post and will focus on the general steps necessary to establish and build a tracking system. There are three main steps:

1) develop the plan
2) develop the internal team
3) determine the priorities

In my next post, developing the plan will be the subject.

Use your hospital’s publications to pass on information with a personalized note. Personalizing information makes people feel more important. The note may be about a service the new physicians will find useful or reinforcing a conversation you had about the changes in the lab.

Be a conduit of information – connecting people, information and the like. Maybe the new doctor tells you his wife is feeling isolated since both children are at school. This is information you hold on to and share with the nurse manager in pediatrics because she is the co-chair of the PTO at that same elementary school. You want to get connection points moving on their own but you are giving them some social adrenaline to move forward faster.

Asking for information should be a standard in your approach. You’re supplying a service, so call the physician or her office staff and conduct a mini-survey to see how things are going. Ask about what’s working and what needs improvement. Something as simple as, “I am following up on our monthly outcome reports. Is the information helpful to you?” can launch a meaningful discussion.

Another area of outreach is simply asking how things are going and if there is anything you can help them with — truly listen to what they have to say. Their answers may be surprising. Don’t try to be a problem-solver all the time Too often, physicians have no place to go with their business concerns and sometimes just being able to talk is invaluable to them.

Cultivate these new relationships with service and attention. The flow of business will move in your direction and you will find that retention issues are solved in an on-going manner versus in a crisis moment. This type of relationship building takes organization and patience. Set up a consistent system to provide attentive service. Soon, it will become a natural part of your business approach, you’ll position yourself well and your physicians will feel the difference.

]]> http://fortepartnersllc.com/2009/04/building-physician-relationships-a-long-term-process-that-takes-planning-and-focus-part-ii/feed/ 2 http://fortepartnersllc.com/2009/03/building-physician-relationships-a-long-term-process-that-takes-planning-and-focus-part-i/ http://fortepartnersllc.com/2009/03/building-physician-relationships-a-long-term-process-that-takes-planning-and-focus-part-i/#comments Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:14:19 +0000 Suzanne Dewey http://fortepartnersllc.com/?p=223 We are an inpatient society. We are in the midst of great upheaval in our financial systems and yet there is daily commentary on “the fix” and how soon it will be behind us. We are always looking for the quick solution or the one method to answer our concerns. We are sometimes so busy looking that we let other problems surface. Physician recruitment has been so much in our focus these past few years that many of our organizations have lost focus on physician retention. To avoid the revolving door and to make sure we are allowing our hard-won recruitment efforts to pay off, we need to make sure that retention has the same focus as recruitment.

Building a physician relations program takes time. A good physician relations program also has a wide array of aspects – formal, informal, executive rounding, liaison visits, physician to physician. There are many pieces to a comprehensive program. Examining the program and making incremental and systematic refinements will help build effectiveness without overwhelming your resources.

One of the central tenants to all outward facing endeavors is building the relationship. Your long-term focus is on the physician’s strategic needs and working together to sustain satisfaction with the hospital’s service. Note the emphasis is on long-term. While you may move mountains to help with a quick fix, the bulk of your energies should be developing success on both sides of the relationship: problem-solving, service and communication.

As you develop the relationship, communication will be your strongest asset. With new physicians, schedule in contact times to check up on how they are doing and feeling. This may include sending a reminder to the pertinent service line manager to make sure key orientation activities are happening. You also want to maintain contact with the appropriate physician(s) who is working with the new physician to help them connect. And how is their family adjusting to the community? Keep tabs on the communication emissaries and track the contact points. While you are building a relationship and the process is organic, it is wise to facilitate meaningful encounters until the relationships have solidified.

Take hospital marketing as a tricky example. It is very important that hospitals have a significant on-line presence. I also think hospitals should be trying to develop community hubs on their websites and utilize a lot of what social media has to offer. But, an organization would be remiss if they did not integrate inbound and internet tactics with more traditional (yes, “old”) methods.

As I suggested…hospitals are tricky examples. Why? First, the “sales force” are typically physicians who operate their own small businesses (independent practices) and are not on the hospital’s payroll. Physicians guide their patients to particular services and particular hospitals. When a physician needs to send a patient somewhere, they don’t Google the service, they don’t use the Yellow Pages, they go where they have easy access and they go where they have a relationship. Yup, a relationship.

Developing that relationship with the physician starts during recruitment. But don’t let it stop there. There is a lot to be said and done in developing relationships that I will save for future posts. However, it is wise to use formal and informal mechanisms to work on that relationship development. And use both old and new methods to communicate. Just because the hospital recruited an excellent orthopedic surgeon after months of searching doesn’t mean your primary care physicians are even aware of the addition. And this is where using a variety of tools comes into play. Use your website, use formal direct mail announcements, send an email or a fax blast, set-up rounding opportunities, have a welcome event – do whatever it takes to make sure referral sources are aware of the good news and on the path of physician-to-physician relationship development. While Twitter can be one of the avenues for the announcement, don’t stop there. Don’t be caught up in the new thing that you neglect the old thing – or the thing that might get the message received.