Hurry, Let’s Acquire That Physician Group Before Someone Else Does.
There is as much energy in the market to buy doctors as there is to purchase an IPad 2. Hospitals, private equity firms and 2.0 practice management companies are all in the hunt. The later two possessing much better access to capital and possibly more longer-term orientation. From the hospital perspective, it starts with the making the numbers work. There are typically assumptions about the P&L that illustrate how the acquisition will result in additional volume from physician referrals, as well as expense reductions through the...
read moreAccountable Care Organizations Need Solid Leadership DNA
So what will make a difference—-this time? Many of you can remember the days of utilization review, capitation, and all the strong arm techniques that failed. The failure was not only driven by poor design and bad information. Additionally, a lack of clinical expertise at the helm, combined with some of the most ineffective organizational and individual leadership most of us have ever experienced certainly caused failures. Those with dark blue suits and with white coats did not engage positively in a new model or with one another. As a...
read moreThe Dark Side of a Consulting Relationship
Over the years I have encountered some truly great consultants, as well as a few that are just plane scary. By scary, I mean the ones who always need to be the smartest person in the room, love to drop names and never seem to go away. They tend to use pieces of information to manufacture needs for their continued support, playing on the lack of competence and emotional maturity of their clients. If you think that you or someone on your team might have one of these nefarious relationships, ask yourself the following: Do I consistently use this...
read moreFoundation of a Successful Accountable Care Organization
While some suggest that the recent market interest in Accountable Care Organizations is just a replay of past models that failed, there is much different about the world we live in today. Rather than discussing the regulatory, market side and economic differences, I am choosing to talk about what failed before and just might be the cause of failure going forward. It is all about clarity of shared vision, commitment and trust. Yes, effective ACO models need to be designed, developed and implemented by equally by those key stakeholders...
read moreCustomer Experience Created By Design
Design is the DNA of Apple. After years of being a loyal Microsoft customer, I recently converted my office to an Apple environment. After less than a week, the experience has been wonderful. As long as you visit a store on a weekday, you get fantastic support. My interaction with the sales professional (and I mean professional!) helped me to overcome the myths that plagued me as the owner of a consulting firm providing services to companies that are on a Microsoft platform. Rather than buying immediately, I elected to do a bit more research...
read moreExecutive Continuity-What Boards Expect
Why CEO’s and Boards of Directors are raising the expectations for executive talent management: • The Federal Reserve Bank notes that Baby Boomers are 48% of the current workforce (77 million) and 15% are projected to retire within the next 10 years. • ONE in FIVE of all senior executives in the FORTUNE 500 are eligible for retirement now. • Over the next 5 years, more executive job openings are expected to result from replacement needs than from growth in the economy. • Executive Continuity will be an increased influence on company...
read moreWhy not more women in the C-Suite?
Approximately 48% of the US workforce is women, yet the percentage of women in the C-Suite is nowhere near that. In fact the percentage of female corporate officers in the Fortune 500 has grown less than 15% in the past thirty five years. Women are an integral and valuable part of the workforce and solutions must be found to address this situation. The following represents an integrated point of view by colleagues and clients. There is clearly more valuable perspective on this topic. I invite you to add to this and note actions that have, or...
read moreYou get what you expect from HR
Given the demographic profile of top operating executives in many large organizations, it is not surprising that few consider the HR leader as critical to shaping business strategy and equipping all with the tools to achieve results. Many of these leaders grew up in businesses where HR’s role was focused more reactive activities including: 1. Benefit and Compensation transactions; 2. Policy administration; 3. Hiring and firing; 4. Controlling the performance management and compensation...
read moreTransformational Possibilities-Who Would Have Thunk It?
Years ago when I was leading the Action Learning initiative at Aetna (then a multi-line insurance company), we infused the discipline of risk analysis into every major business decision. This core underwriting DNA served to challenge conventional wisdom and help us grow our ability to innovate. As you read on, think about what might happen if…. This is a good read from Fast Company’s Kit Eaton Apple has plans to one day insert itself in between cell phone network providers and smartphone owners, dynamically offering an end user...
read moreWhat contributes to who we are as leaders.
I believe that life events help shape who you are and where you are today. And in order to be better, stronger leaders, we all need to go back into our own history and identify any major event – both personal and professional – that have shaped our paths. Because only by knowing where we’ve been and why, can we understand where it is we need, and want, to go. What are the life events that have most shaped who I am today? This is the first question posed in my January 20, 2011 Blog. It’s also probably the most...
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