John Haffty: Suggestions for MEDITECH IS Departments When Budgets Are Tight.
Haffty Consulting is excited to provide our audience with a second post from our “guest” blogger John Haffty. John agreed to share his thoughts on how MEDITECH IS Departments can support their organizations during the current times of tight budgets and scarce capital for projects. Here are John Haffty’s thoughts ….
Thank you for the great response to my Recap of MEDITECH Live 2023 post last month. It seems a number of you saw that post and I was invited to do it again. While not quite the old Navin Haffty newsletter, I trust some of you may find this short post of interest.
Hospitals are under the greatest financial stress that we have seen in years. During Covid, there was supplemental funding for hospitals that lessened some financial challenges. Although these additional funds are no longer being provided, the corresponding labor and material costs brought on during Covid remain at increased levels straining most hospital budgets. Many of our friends in Information Services (IS) are finding their budgets tightened and capital for new projects under greater scrutiny.
In times such as these, there are several things to consider:
Refocus efforts to maximize the value of your MEDITECH EHR. Most hospitals do not fully utilize the software they have (regardless of EHR vendor). Contact MEDITECH to identify areas that can be improved and could deliver direct benefit to your organization. One area of particular focus are the clinical toolkits that MEDITECH provides in its newer versions. Not only do these improve patient care but an improvement in quality measures ties directly to increased Medicare reimbursement. Check with your CFO to see where you stand on these measures to determine the potential and work with MEDITECH to pursue.
Consider upgrading to MEDITECH Expanse MaaS. If your hospital is on a legacy version of MEDITECH, consider the Expanse MaaS offering as a means of delivering greater value without a huge capital requirement. Your organization will benefit from many features that will result in improved user satisfaction as well as direct efficiencies. Most of the new and most valued features are only in Expanse and for those still on Magic, C/S or 6.x you are missing out. Contact your MEDITECH Account Executive to identify the benefits that your hospital could realize.
Focus on customer service. Have your staff get to know the users' workflows and processes. While many of you do this or have done this, the result of the increase in remote work for many in Information Services is that they are unable to bring their knowledge of the software to the users. By walking and observing how a department, process or function works, especially in relation to workflows across departments, IS staff can identify areas where user training, process changes to leverage software or a custom report could make a difference. When I was a CIO many years ago, I told my staff “we are in the customer service business and we use technology as a tool to deliver our services.” This mindset is often the most important key to successfully delivering value.
Ask for Feedback. Determine the level of satisfaction through the use of a simple survey. When I was CIO (at Newton-Wellesley Hospital), I would periodically send out a brief (8 – 10 questions) survey to measure how the user community felt about my department's services. The questions were intended to be answered quickly (mostly Y or N) and take no more than 5 minutes to respond. Typical questions were: “Is the IS department responsive to your requests”; “Does the software in use meet your needs?” and “Do you trust the IS department to assist in improving your department's performance?” I usually left one open-ended question: “Is there anything the IS department can do to assist your department?” and an invitation to meet with me to discuss any specific opportunities or concerns. We received a great response and often identified areas where we could assist in making a positive impact. Often simply the process of asking gave the user community the message that we cared and wanted to be a good partner. While time and resources don't always allow the ability to respond to every request, this became a useful tool in building relationships.
Be Transparent and Constantly Communicate. When I was CIO, I prepared a list of open requests and priorities and sent it to department directors. I also presented the accumulated list of all requests and priorities for all the departments that reported to each Vice President. In each case, both trying to be transparent and improve communication with the user community, as well as, give them a chance to reset priorities and lessen misunderstandings.
Build trust with the user community. You might ask about IS Steering Committees and where they fit into these prior recommendations? My experience is that these committees focus on major and strategic direction and priorities but often many departments feel disconnected to this process. I found building support throughout the user community gave my department the benefit of the doubt when we failed to meet expectations or deliver on schedule.
Hope some of you find these ideas of value and thank you for taking the time to read. Your thoughts and feedback are always welcome, feel free to contact me through LinkedIn.