You’ve made your case and have approval to develop a physician tracking system to assist your physician relations efforts. You might have talked to other organizations that have already employed a tracking or customer relationship management (CRM) program. To get this far, you certainly know what a tracking system can do and why you want it. You are ready for the most primary of steps –developing a plan for use.

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…