I took a sociology class in undergrad that focused on the healthcare industry, specifically evaluating the efficiency and quality of delivering services. Most of what we focused on was from the patient perspective and how the system either did or didn’t support patient needs. This article focuses on applying business strategy and intelligence to the healthcare industry from the perspective of the supplier/organization.
With the mounting scrutiny on healthcare costs and quality, especially with the implementation of the ACA, it will become increasingly important for innovative leaders to bring business savvy to the industry. I think it’s the moral debate at the heart of healthcare and whether it’s a human right vs. a service rendered that makes the issue even more interesting. Leaders who effectively balance business acumen with responsible decision-making (keeping patient needs in mind) to turn hospitals profitable, or at least sustainable, are in short supply.
With the vacuum of innovative leadership, the industry is in drastic need of smart reform so it’s nice to see the skills we’ve already been practicing in class outlined in tangible ways within healthcare. I wonder, as places like Emory start to merge their business schools and schools of public health or medicine, if the right solutions will tend to arise more prominently out of public policy initiatives or business practices? Systems like the National Health Service in the UK arose out of necessity through public policy after WWII. Without a national crisis such as that, the transition of our system to predominately government-based organizations rather than private will be far more gradual. In that time, the application of the cited business intelligence will hopefully highlight the best parts of competition and business practices while embracing the benefits of greater access.
http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/content/TEC-90944/Applying-Business-Intelligence-to-the-Needs-of-Healthcare-Organizations.html##
Nick – To supplement your 2007 article, I was forwarded an article last year about what it takes to have a successful BI model in hospitals. The 4 stages of development which are fragmented, enterprise, advanced analytics and big data levels, evaluate where your hospital is in terms of maturity of BI systems.
As you can suspect, many hospitals are not even close to the final stage of big data but setting goals and progression are key due to the immense upfront costs these systems provide. With ever growing healthcare revenues and expenses, hospitals are more than ever being tasked to balance their books and utilize information to the fullest.
http://www.informationweek.com/administration-systems/how-mature-is-your-hospital-business-intelligence-system/d/d-id/1111445?
Nick –
Great commentary. As you point out, the trend of business minded healthcare professionals is really starting to emerge. Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business now has a program for a joint MBA/MD program. I believe that the initial intent of the program was to give MD’s the skills necessary to go into private practice, and hopefully do so profitably. However, as your article points out, the need is now for them to take much larger roles within the US healthcare system.
It is also very interesting from my point of view, as this also opens up opportunity for us as Emory MBA students. We have the option to take some classes across schools, and learn the about the healthcare sector from experts, while contributing our own business acumen to the classroom conversation.
I’m glad the issue of shortage of healthcare professionals with ample business acumen has been brought up. It is a real problem. I’ve been in the healthcare sector for close to a decade and I have had bosses come straight from the business world and try to do things in a certain way, forgetting who the end “customer” is or what their needs are and in some instances, it hasn’t gone very well. MDs and other healthcare professionals are generally not motivated to do things like go to business school to acquire those set of skills either because there are too busy or too well paid to bother.
Like Steve rightly said, this leaves the door wide open for other interested people to jump in and capitalize on.
For people like me already in the healthcare sector, I am making the most of my business school education to take advantage of this skills gap in the healthcare sector.