What is change management and why is it important?
In today’s fast-paced healthcare environment, health systems are constantly implementing new solutions to enhance operations and improve patient experiences. However, the reality of “implementation fatigue” is all too familiar. By managing the operational redesign, optimizing workflows, and providing hands-on training, Frost-Arnett significantly reduces the burden on your staff and accelerates the realization of benefits.
Implementation fatigue is real. Coupled with frequent turnover and recent solution implementations, health systems often struggle just to improve the current state, let alone find the time and energy to implement another new solution given everything going on.
Most of the time, Health Systems want to realize the benefits of new solutions and services but given the bandwidth limitations and stresses associated with operationalizing new changes, they often push out the implementation for many months, preventing the benefits that could be realized from the solution if it was implemented sooner. This deferral sometimes costs the organization hundreds of thousands of dollars in opportunity cost and impacts to the patient experience.
This is where Change-Management services are especially beneficial. Frost-Arnett’s Change Management services significantly reduce the client’s level of effort required in an implementation by spearheading the operational redesign and optimization of relevant workflows, procedures, org structure, staff scripting & training involved in the implementation. Since we are operators as much as we are consultants, our team has tenured experience as change agents and have developed & implemented RCM optimization and transformation roadmaps across RCM people, processes & technology for health systems nation-wide.
Our frequent onsite presence builds relationships with key stakeholders, removes barriers in real time, and further ensures timelines are met – all while lifting the change burden from client staff. This allows our clients to implement solutions and realize their benefits sooner, all while maximizing the effectiveness of those solutions and their results.
Examples related to our services and solutions include, but are not limited to:
- Conducting end-to-end RCM assessments of Patient Access, the Mid-Cycle, and Backend, proposing services & solutions to leadership and quantifying their benefits.
- Optimizing Patient Access workflows to improve financial clearance, POS collections, prior balance review, estimation and pt. financing enrollment through best practice SOPs, scripting & job aides.
- Leading our end-to-end PayJourney implementation which infuses estimation, pt. financing & digital engagement into our call center, both pre and post service.
- Leading backend early out transitions through the creation of extended business office operations.
- Spearheading FTE reallocation plans with hospital HR & senior leadership, shifting the client’s legacy collection staff to pre-registration & financial counselling roles, creating the action plan with recommendations & job descriptions of the new roles.
- Preparing the population for transition to digital billing and/or patient financing via marketing initiatives, patient access & call center scripting/training, statement stuffers, postcards, table tents.
- Establishing and leading workstreams across the implementation (operations, treasury, marketing, IT), aligning stakeholders to the change objectives and key results.
- Forging onsite stakeholder relationships while addressing concerns in real-time and escalating/removing barriers to change.
- Serving health systems in the RCM Interim Director capacity, leading optimization initiatives
- Leading Acute and Ambulatory DNFB & AR Action teams in the RCM Director role during a billing and/or follow-up outsourcing initiative to improve billing efficiency & denial management/prevention.
- Implementing physician documentation AI solutions while championing a Deficiency Management Task Force in order to align physicians and H.I.M. to new automated physician documentation and CDI initiatives, thereby reducing chart lag, improving chart quality & physician experience.
Methodology
Our Change Management services utilize 3 strategies of change – at the Workstream/Project level, at the Individual Level, and at the Organizational level.
We first align with the executive team to the strategic vision and estimated benefit. We then assess the KPIs, data, and current state workflows before the implementation (if desired) to collect baselines and identify areas of recommended change within the implementation, proposing our findings to leadership.
1. Workstream– We set up tactical workstreams with key stakeholders and align them to the change deliverables, doing all that is possible to minimize meeting frequence and technical lift.
- Operations: Propose and approve design decisions, SOPs, and scripting that will be used with staff in Patient Access and backend collections.
- Treasury: Review funds flow into the new bank account, invoicing procedures, reconciliation functionality & cash posting scenarios.
- Marketing: Propose and approve of marketing strategy and materials to bring awareness to community and staff.
- IT: Integrate our solution(s) with the host E.H.R. via necessary flat files, API and/or HL7.
2. Individual– We align with supervisors on a regular basis, working elbow-to-elbow with their staff to train them on any new scripting, portals, job aides and workflows. We also financially incentivized staff to hit goals pertaining to patient financing enrollments and POS collections, thereby increasing their excitement for the change and willingness to learn.
3. Organizational– Spearhead strategic vision and alignment with leadership, plan and manage the change while escalating barriers and reporting implementation progress. We also lead in the value measurement post implementation against agreed upon KPIs.
By leading the operational change, your organization can more readily and easily transition to new processes and technologies. Talk to us today about how our change management services can assist.