Physician Strategy News: February '08
Maximizing Your Physician Liaison Program
The New Year presents new opportunities, and now might be a perfect time to re-evaluate your physician liaison program. Are you maximizing the program's potential?
Key to a strong physician liaison program is that it has measurable goals and targets that mirror the strategic initiatives of the hospital. And, as a source of information to management regarding the physician community, a well-positioned physician liaison program is invaluable.
How can you ensure that your program is appropriately focused and has the ability to sustain that focus?
Define Service Growth Goals. Have you tied the physician liaison program into targeted growth goals through a detailed action plan that prioritizes physicians for outreach activities and provides the liaison reward through an aligned incentive program? Does your liaison program have the official ear of operations, so that needed operational improvements that come to the program's attention receive prompt action?
Track and Measure. Have you invested time and money into this position but don't have an accurate way to measure the results? If so, you're at risk for losing a substantial portion of the program's potential benefit and accountability will be difficult, at best. Engage your IT department to develop a tracking process for physician activity in targeted physician offices or zip codes. At the very least, have the liaison develop a basic spreadsheet or database to capture this information until a more sophisticated methodology is available.
Meet With The Liaison(s). This position is only beneficial to the hospital if the data and information that is collected is shared with senior leadership. Make a commitment to prioritize a bi-weekly or at least monthly meeting between the liaison and senior leadership. This is a two-way street. The liaison gains knowledge and insight about new services that the hospital is bringing to the market and management gains invaluable, real-time information about the physician community and its perceptions on how well the hospital is delivering on its service guarantees.
Listen and Act. Too many times a client will successfully implement a physician liaison program, only to be satisfied with the status quo. If a liaison has valuable information regarding a physician's office, use that information when making strategic decisions. If you are seeing activity in one office or zip code fall off, take action and find out why. And, be responsive. If a physician brings an issue to the department, always provide timely responses to the physician. Even if the issues are not resolved in manner that the physician would like, the open dialogue and communication will prove beneficial in the long run.
Get Out of The Office. With the advent of hospitalists and increased strains on primary care physicians, hospital administrators and physicians don't have the opportunity to interact in the doctor's lounge as they once did. Take the time to accompany the liaison on a few visits, especially to new physicians in the market. And consider the added benefit of bringing along a specialist a make the introduction. This helps a loyal specialist and may bring more business to your hospital.
Be Creative. In an ever increasingly competitive healthcare environment, don't be afraid to try something new and innovative. Look for every opportunity to create positive interaction. A good physician liaison can be a valuable tool in a successful strategic business development plan.
For more information call Davis Creech at (502) 814-1183.
