Sustained Transformational Change

How can ‘transformational change’ be sustained in the hospital environment?

Big consulting firms excel at delivering lengthy ‘transformational’ reports and voluminous recommendations. Conversely, their fleeting attempts at implementation rarely cut-through. Organisational change is rarely sustained once they relocate back to head office.

Major forces are at work however, making sustained change in the Hospital sector mandatory. Ever-increasing per-capita costs, technology advances, and funding reforms that make Hospital providers accountable for capitated costs and patient outcomes, are all placing huge pressure on hospital management teams.

Buzz words also abound as generalist consultants and accounting / business process outsourcing firms try to apply their pre-packaged ‘transformation services’ from their banking and mining clients to the hospital setting.

It is little wonder so many ‘transformation programs’ fail to sustain the front line change necessary in hospital services environments.

What we do

Based on practical, front line experience, Medteryx brings specialised healthcare sector knowledge, propriety change management program design tools and training materials to help our healthcare clients implement large-scale change programs.

We use a transformation model born and bred in the healthcare sector and focus on delivering sustained results.

We define ‘transformational change’ as—a major cross-functional effort to better integrate fragmented health care services and specialist silos to deliver significant and measurable Quadruple Aim benefits that result in:

1. Improved patient outcomes
2. Better patient satisfaction of care
3. Improved job satisfaction for clinicians and care team
4. Less waste and reduced avoidable costs.

Our Medteryx transformational change implementation model has seven (7) key elements:

1. Start with the end in mind

Too many change programs start with too much corporate speak and ‘back-end’ thinking. They typically fail to consider what success will look like for front line staff.

• Why will front line staff be motivated to change their behaviour and sustain new ways of doing business?
• How can change be sustained after the project team hands over to line/nurse managers and disbands?
• What new skills, tools and techniques are required to enable change?

These are key questions we address up-front in our transformation program work.

2. Ensure clinical leadership and engagement

Clinical leadership is key to successful transformation programs in the healthcare sector.

However, generalist consulting firms tend only to pay lip service to clinician engagement and approach specialists as ‘one size fits all’.

At Medteryx we draw on our extensive practical experience to ensure clinical leadership and engagement across all specialty areas in transformation programs, for example we

• Understand the fundamental differences in the way clinical specialists work and their mindsets toward adopting change
• Acknowledge these difference, for example in emergency medicine, versus cardiology versus psychiatry, and tailor our clinician engagement activities to suit.

3. Deliver high-value improvements

Our LeanAGILE approach ensures we focus on the high value improvement opportunities, deliver rapid results, and sustain transformation program momentum.

4. Hardwire the right KPIs

From boardroom, to management, to front line staff.

• Contact us for further information on our proprietary tools and approach.

5. Visual performance monitoring

Visual performance monitoring of KPIs by front line staff is critical to process improvement and sustaining change.

Medteryx’s proprietary visual monitoring tools and techniques

• Embed fact-based analyses and a consistent approach to delivering improvement activities
• Establish feedback loops, and
•  Sustain results.

6. New mindsets and new skills

Healthcare organisations don’t change, clinicians and clinical services staff do.

To get results, individuals must behave differently. Hence we identify and invest in building the new behaviors that underpin improvement at the front line.

Then we work with our clients on an ongoing basis to reinforce these new behaviours with coaching and our proprietary tools to develop individual capabilities.

7. Ensure key enablers of change are in place

To ensure success, we work with our client teams to put in place six (6) key enablers of change for major transformation programs

1. Visible executive sponsorship
2. Robust governance structures
3. Timely decision-making and streamlined approval processes
4. Highly skilled health analytics support
5. Flexible funds and incentives
6. Enabling eHealth systems.