Stating the obvious to many healthcare administrators and physician leaders, orthopedic service lines have been, and continue to be, tremendously important to health systems. Numerous studies suggest that musculoskeletal healthcare spending continues to grow at an astonishing rate. Even with the advent of value-based financial arrangements, in many markets orthopedic business continues to serve hospitals as revenue engines that indirectly funds less lucrative yet necessary clinical programs. In many markets Orthopedics serves as a gateway for getting injured (but not ill) patients into health care providers. This importance of the orthopedic service necessitates a holistic, multi-pronged appreciation of what truly constitutes excellence in musculoskeletal care – excellence that leads to high-performing, distinguished orthopedic organizations.
But how do organizations know if they’ve become “the best” – premier providers of musculoskeletal care, trusted and renown by their patient community? Some orthopedic organizations simply assume that traditional indicators alone, like market share or the clinical pedigree of their physician group, tell the whole story. Other orthopedic organizations know that they are losing strategic ground to competitors yet don’t understand why.
The Four Pillars of Orthopedic Excellence
The best orthopedic organizations ingrain their success, their very institutional definition of ‘excellence’, on four strategic pillars – a construct that distinguishes how organizations’ use people, processes, facilities, and technology. Like a building analogy, if one pillar is weak or doesn’t exist at all, the entire structure is compromised. Let’s summarize these Four Pillars of Orthopedic Excellence…
Key Takeaways
Moving from an ambiguous or unfavorable understanding of your orthopedic market position to becoming the preeminent provider in your communities requires conscious, concrete actions. Excellence rarely happened accidentally or spontaneously without strategic thinking, deliberate action, and institutional fortitude. Here are three steps you as orthopedic leaders can take to start that journey toward truly offering the best possible musculoskeletal care to patients.
But how do organizations know if they’ve become “the best” – premier providers of musculoskeletal care, trusted and renown by their patient community? Some orthopedic organizations simply assume that traditional indicators alone, like market share or the clinical pedigree of their physician group, tell the whole story. Other orthopedic organizations know that they are losing strategic ground to competitors yet don’t understand why.
The Four Pillars of Orthopedic Excellence
The best orthopedic organizations ingrain their success, their very institutional definition of ‘excellence’, on four strategic pillars – a construct that distinguishes how organizations’ use people, processes, facilities, and technology. Like a building analogy, if one pillar is weak or doesn’t exist at all, the entire structure is compromised. Let’s summarize these Four Pillars of Orthopedic Excellence…
- Clinical Excellence: Providing the best musculoskeletal care for orthopedic patients requires the diligent recruitment and optimization of the best clinical people, standardized clinical processes that breed care consistency, and investment in and application of advanced clinical technology (e.g., surgical robotics, augmented reality technologies, etc.).
- Customer Service: Best practices in orthopedic customer service optimize the patient experience by emphasizing three key ideals: 1) Timely access to the right orthopedic services, access that balances customer expectations and physician perceptions. 2) Care navigation that provides proactive, concierge-type assistance to patients who must navigate a myriad of complex musculoskeletal services. 3) Facilities, care environments, and amenities specifically designed for musculoskeletal care.
- Operational Efficiency: As value-based care arrangements grow, the focus of providers increasingly shifts from episodic revenue maximization to effective cost containment. High-value, cost-effective orthopedic care stems from well-organized, resourceful application of the right people, performing the right processes, with the right technologies, facilities, and information.
- Market Leadership: The best organizations act like leaders even before becoming the leaders. The premier providers of value-based musculoskeletal care tailor their services to the specific needs of the communities they serve. Understanding and increasing market share is important. But so too is establishing a brand identity that both fosters broad community connectivity (through sports and wellness affiliations) and differentiates itself from competitors.
Key Takeaways
Moving from an ambiguous or unfavorable understanding of your orthopedic market position to becoming the preeminent provider in your communities requires conscious, concrete actions. Excellence rarely happened accidentally or spontaneously without strategic thinking, deliberate action, and institutional fortitude. Here are three steps you as orthopedic leaders can take to start that journey toward truly offering the best possible musculoskeletal care to patients.
- Assess Your Current Situation. (“Seek first to understand” – Dr. Stephen R. Covey) Be honest and candid (perhaps brutally so) in assessing the state of your orthopedics practice. Identity strengths can be built on and shortcomings that are opportunities for improvement. This assessment is not always easy, as it should unearth any intrinsic barriers, “sacred cows”, and hidden agendas that sub-optimize organizations. If internal leaders can’t honestly and objectively perform this current state assessment bring in outside consultants to offer fresh, candid insights.
- Boldly Build an Internal Culture of Excellence. (“Culture eats strategy for lunch.” – Peter Drucker] Despite great intentions, historical culture can derail the best laid plans to transform your organization. Mold your organizational culture with explicit and implicit expectations and behaviors in the workplace that foster these notions of excellence. Simply put, every individual involved in the orthopedics organization must understand, live, breath, and strive for these Four Pillars of Orthopedic Excellence – from senior physicians to support staff, and everyone in between.
- Keep a Keen Eye on the External. It’s easy to get caught up in day-to-day internal healthcare operations. Yet make a conscious effort to stay connected to the orthopedic world outside your organization. What demographic and disease incidence trends are happening in the populations you serve? What are your competitors doing? Where are the opportunities for alliances with outside organizations? And of course, what regulatory and reimbursement changes are in pipeline that will impact your organization?