Becker's Hospital Review

20 Sign up for the COMPLIMENTARY Becker's Hospital Review CEO Report & CFO Report E-Weeklies at www.BeckersHospitalReview.com or call (800) 417-2035 tions quickly and precisely? What about your systems and processes — do they hold people accountable for executing well? Studer Group offers the Straight A Leadership Assessment to evaluate leaders, but if you don't use this tool, find another way to measure these vital leadership issues. 2. Audit your evaluation system. How well do leader assessments match up to the results they're responsible for? If most of your leaders receive a "substantially exceeds expectations" rating, your organization needs to be hitting most, if not all, of its goals. I find this is often not the case. If you're using a subjective evaluation tool, rather than an objective one linked to hard goals, it may be time to re-think your approach. 3. Evaluate vendor contracts. Look closely at these relationships in two areas: cost and performance. A while back, I was talking to a hospital CEO who was preparing for a reduction in force at his organization. I pulled up the hospital's HCAHPS scores and saw the organization was in the 12th percentile for cleanliness. The hospital's environmental services were outsourced. I would have reevaluated that contract in a minute. Monitor the vendor costs — not only the market price but the cost in terms of performance. Hospitals can tie performance into their contracts with vendors. It's common in certain areas, but could be common in more. Sometimes, hospital CEOs don't want to measure issues when they anticipate a poor score or outcome. If you sense poor physician morale, you may want to avoid measuring it and validating your fear. Sometimes hospital CEOs avoid taking metrics to avoid conflict with the board. They anticipate the board will not be pleased with the results, and they want job security. But CEOs have to look at these metrics as if they were physicians. Physicians do not simply tell patients they don't want to measure their blood pressure. It has to be done. Together, these checklists make up a "dashboard" that will help hospital CEOs steer their organizations confidently through the hurricane of change that's buffeting our industry. n Register Today! Becker's Hospital Review CEO Strategy Roundtable November 14, 2013 The Ritz-Carlton Chicago Conclusion As I was writing this article, I struggled with whether to put "daily" items or "annual" items in first position. I decided on daily, and for a reason. If you are truly monitoring these crucial issues every day — and making smart decisions based on the evidence you're seeing — your quarterly and annual tasks will be much, much easier. Throughout the year, you will build a solid foundation for your annual tasks, and you'll be deeply familiar with the issues. Co-chaired by Scott Becker, Publisher, Becker's Hospital Review, and Chuck Lauer, Former Publisher, Modern Healthcare To register, visit www.BeckersHospitalReview.com/novhospitalevent.html, email registration@beckershealthcare.com or call (800) 417-2035. Poor physician satisfaction keeping you up? For more than three decades, The Greeley Company has worked closely with physicians and hospitals, helping them to successfully reevaluate and restructure their relationships. The result is a level of trust that enhances physician leadership, physician satisfaction and physician-hospital relations, and delivers a better night's sleep for all concerned. So don't let poor physician satisfaction keep you awake at night. Call the Greeley Company today at 888-749-3054, and rest easy. Physician-Hospital Alignment I Medical Staff Operations l Education Clinical Process Improvement l Regulatory Compliance l Accreditation The Greeley Company | Bring us your biggest challenge.

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