This article was originally published on Baltimore Business Journal in March 2021
After a year of worry, panic and struggle, a more hopeful 2021 is well underway.
As a health care leader with over 20 years of experience in primary care, administrative, executive and advisory roles, I recognize that last year exposed many vulnerabilities among our health care organizations. For instance, many of us identified that our emergency management plans need updating, our change management processes are still in draft form, our IT infrastructure has opportunities for growth or we have key managerial vacancies.
As the pandemic rapidly unfolded, major changes were needed to not only treat patients and protect the workforce, but to ensure the very survival of primary care and ambulatory care services.
Despite many obstacles, we did not let perfect be the enemy of good. Leaders were forced to restructure and reimagine their health care delivery models. With swiftness and quick thinking, we implemented plans to survive the pandemic. Now as a new year evolves, health care leaders can study countless changes that were adopted in the past year to help their teams thrive in the days and years ahead.
Of the many strategies, tactics and policies that were adopted, a few stand out as the most significant, and should be considered permanent changes to our profession. the many strategies, tactics, and policies that were adopted a few stand out as the most significant and should be considered permanent changes to our profession.
1) We not only protected our workers, we valued them. Every health care leader knows that our workers are a priority. They are the oxygen that gives life to every effort to improve care and outcomes in our communities. The focus on acquiring and distributing personal protective equipment to staff, providing plexiglass barriers, modifying the number of patients in facilities, and adjusting staff schedules demonstrated a commitment to the essential status of health care workers.
Now, it is critical to continue these efforts by prioritizing and understanding the needs of our staff and recognizing their contributions. This is the path for improved productivity, quality, and patient and staff satisfaction, which in the end are the ultimate measures of success.
2) We greatly enhanced our communication with patients and the community. Using email, texts, phone calls, robocalls, websites, office signage, and even snail mail, we consistently communicated Covid-19 precautions, symptoms, screening tools, appointment changes, and reminders, and testing site locations. Information was constantly changing, and the public looked to us for answers, as they continue to do today. Patients routinely heard from us, building greater trust.
Our new “hyper-communication” strategies and the layering of messages also kept our workflows streamlined, and many of my peers noticed improved cycle times and patient satisfaction scores. Enhanced communication with our patients and community was a significant contributor.
in the future, this heightened level of communication will be a key component in increasing patient and family health literacy, as well as patient engagement and health center efficiency.
3) Our IT infrastructure became a bridge to maintaining safe operations and generating patient care revenue. Implementing a telehealth program was crucial for staff safety, patient somatic and behavioral health care, and revenue generation.
Although some of us had had experience with telehealth, most of us had to scale up quickly. Adding this delivery model required a rapid change management process to communicate, engage critical stakeholders, train staff, embed the new techniques and changes, monitor performance, and assess the impact of every effort.
Now, our teams and patients are much more comfortable with telehealth appointments, and we’re seeing increased visit revenue through this virtual form of care.
This pandemic has also forced the acceptance of a process for managing change that will help with other shifts health care leaders, and providers will likely face down the road. Telehealth has proven to be a viable option for ongoing comprehensive care for preventive office visits, chronic care appointments, behavioral health visits, outreach, care management, and coordination services.
4) The pandemic has strengthened partnerships, coalitions, and relationships within our industry. From hospitals to health departments, to federally qualified health centers and private practices, each of us had a unique perspective on managing our organizations and the population of patients we serve.
Formally and informally, we learned from each other. We shared promising practices for Covid-19 screening, testing, and patient communication. We compared telehealth platforms and workflows.
A true support system among health care providers was formed out of necessity but is now used out of appreciation and efficiency. In the future, these new or embellished partnerships and coalitions will be critical to major health initiatives like Covid-19 vaccine distribution, other emergency preparedness programs, and care-coordination relationships.
While there are signs of improvement on the horizon, we are not out of the woods yet. Every health care professional must continue to be agile and adapt to whatever new twist(s) Covid-19 will bring. Our commitment to success in health care fuels our endurance to conquer and minimize the stumbling blocks created by the pandemic.
The new strategies and tactics we have adopted in the last 12 months are proof that we can overcome whatever 2021 may have in store with innovation and resilience.
Dr. Jenene Washington is the Principal Lead and Owner of Renaye James Healthcare Advisors. Dr. Washington is a board-certified, practicing Pediatrician who has over 20 years of healthcare experience and over 15 years of success in practice management, practice transformation, and operational excellence of healthcare organizations.