As a class guest speaker last week for healthcare professionals studying for their Masters in Public Health, I was struck by the difference in opinion between the authors of the class readings on strategic planning and the physicians’ attitudes.  The readings talked about the steps in the strategic planning process and the time-tested nature of [...]

I encourage you to read Jeanne Bliss’s post, The State of Customer “Focus” Around the World: 2007 in Review, in which she talks about ways to deliver a better experience for users of our services.  Although her comments arise from observations about other industries, they seem applicable to healthcare:
“The struggle still remains to connect the [...]

Why is it so difficult to engage physicians?
One way to analyze this question may lie in exploring the dual meaning of the word engagement.  The yang, or positive aspect, involves interfacing with another person in a pleasant fashion, as in, “She engaged him in conversation,” or “They are engaged to be married.”  The yin, or [...]

I confess to being a fan of Maggie Mahar’s Health Beat posts.  In  Health Care Spending: The Basics; Spending on Physicians’ Services-Do We Spend Too Much? Part II, she detailed meticulously what lies behind the 22% of the $2.1 million spent last year on physician services.  I agree with her that income disparities between general [...]

I enjoyed Christopher Cornue’s writing about how to engage physicians in his post, Physician Integration- What Does This Mean?  He talked about the need to marry physician and administrative leadership as supportive rather than exclusive managing (and leadership) styles.
In healthcare, as in academics, a group of independent professionals whose loyalties rest with colleagues and subject [...]