Implementing change best accomplished through physician engagement

It's a mistake that happens quite often. When implementing change brought on by regulatory and operational challenges, physician engagement is often neglected. This can result in complete failure of an initiative that an organization has spent millions to achieve.

The healthcare industry is going through massive changes because of regulatory requirements and reductions in reimbursement. Many of these changes are complex and are often being executed in the face of looming deadlines and high-stakes financial risk. Some may feel excluding physician engagement makes the initial transformation process easier. In truth, neglecting physician engagement can result in rework, additional expense, fines and penalties due to noncompliance with government regulations, and ultimately a loss of physicians and their patients to competitors. Taking the time to properly engage physicians early in a change initiative can be the difference between an initiative's success and failure.

In my experience, I've found the best way to drive change through a hospital organization at the physician level is through existing physician leadership. Put simply, physicians respond best to peer-to-peer interaction. Furthermore, in today's healthcare environment, initiatives, such as implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, upgrades of electronic health records for meaningful use, and the ICD-10 transition are fundamentally altering the way physicians and other medical professionals work. So gaining their buy-in through peer-to-peer interaction is critically important.

For physicians to fully accept and commit to a change, they need to feel some degree of ownership of the initiative. To do that, their opinions need to be considered and valued, they need to fully understand how the change will benefit them and their patients, and they need to remain empowered to provide the best possible care.

The benefits of proper physician engagement go well beyond the initiative at hand. Engaging physicians in changes that affect patient care promotes cross-specialty collaboration. Changes made to workflows and functionality become more effective and complete with physician involvement. And efforts made by hospital leadership to foster physician engagement result in increased physician satisfaction and retention. In turn, that leads to enhanced patient care, increased efficiency, decreased costs and a common drive toward a shared goal and mission—even beyond the current project.

Change is never easy and is often met with resistance. But with a well-formulated and focused plan that includes early involvement of physicians and other clinicians, hospital leadership can create an environment that enables each change to be a successful change.

Dr. Bill Fera is a principal with Ernst & Young.