Underscoring Culture Change With Analytics
By Bill Pickart, CEO, Integrated Medical Partners
 Welcome to the inaugural issue of MedAnalytx, the Web journal of business analytics and informatics for the health-care practice. Developing and leveraging metrics for more efficient and agile decision making is a relatively new concept for many in the health-care industry, and it is our hope that through the articles presented here, you and your fellow practice leaders will gain a deeper understanding of the potential of business intelligence, as well as how it is being applied—operationally, financially, and culturally—in practices around the
country.
Culture is a critical (but sometimes overlooked) concept, when it comes to analytics and informatics for the practice. Health care is increasingly facing the imperative to function as a business, as well as a science and an art; this transition calls to mind the comment of management guru Peter Drucker (1909–2005): Culture eats strategy for breakfast.
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Physician Engagement Through Analytics: Performance and Profitability
By Steve Smith
 To many people, the evolution of the US health-care system is something taking place through the legislative process—in particular, the 2010 passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. What typical US residents do not see are the radical changes taking place in the individual offices of the nation’s health-care practices.
Just a few years ago, physicians were content to practice medicine, leaving the business side to a trusted few whose acumen was responsible for navigating health care’s increasingly complex regulations and oversight. Today, on the other hand, physicians often find themselves immersed in the business affairs of the practice. There is, in fact, a new type of physician: a hybrid who splits his or her time between patient care and practice management. This physician might be responsible for marketing the practice, for developing patient and referrer protocols, for overseeing financial matters, or for acting as the practice’s liaison with hospitals.
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Developing and Deploying Business Dashboards and Scorecards
By Steve Smith
 On September 8, at the California Radiological Society’s 2012 Annual Meeting & Leadership Summit in San Francisco, Paul Chang, MD, presented “Developing and Deploying Business Dashboards and Scorecards in Radiology.” Change, who is professor and vice chair of radiology informatics and medical director of pathology informatics at the University of Chicago School of Medicine, says, “The only meaningful validation is how [your vision] works in the real world.”
He adds, “We need to measure effectiveness at accomplishing our mission and vision. One of the criticisms I have of medicine in general is that we create visions in which we think we’re doing things, but we actually don’t have tools to measure how effective we are in accomplishing our goals or our vision.”
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Developing Strategic Practice Cultures Through Analytics
By Steve Smith
 Medical practices that once focused almost solely on the quality of care are increasingly including profitability and long-term viability in their strategic plans. The cultural changes that necessarily must accompany these conversations can be unsettling, at best, and devastating, at worst—unless steps are taken to make the cultural-transformation process as seamless as possible.
Key to smooth cultural change is effective, meaningful communication throughout the organization, according to Doug Smith, managing partner of strategic positioning and consulting solutions for Integrated Medical Partners (IMP). Partners, physician associates, nurse practitioners, medical assistants, physician assistants, practice managers/executives, staff, and even patients must understand the practice’s mission and core strategic imperatives. Physicians and staff alike must live those, every day, with their customers (hospital leaders, referring physicians, third-party payors, and patients).
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OCTOBER 18, 2012
INFORMATION BYTES
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Improving Relationships With Referring Practices
The Medical Group Management Association recommends that practices improve their referrer relationships by creating physician-referral checklists, determining open-access protocols, ensuring prompt feedback, conducting satisfaction surveys, and more.
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1990s Flashback: Capitation Redux?
The Economist looks at the future of care coordination for practices and hospitals, forecasting that incentives to improve patient care, as well as the growing use of health IT, will result in meaningful changes to care delivery—but will these changes be too much like those of the 1990s?
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Health-care Executives Behind on HIEs: Report
According to the nonprofit ECRI Institute, only 54% of health-care executives have formally assessed their organizations’ health information exchange (HIE) and interoperability needs. The report warns readers that delays in HIE implementation—as well as meaningful-use challenges—could be the result.
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