These are turbulent and trying times for health systems striving to deliver quality care at a sustainable cost. Their resolve to do so – despite the challenges they face – is on remarkable display every day in care settings of every variety. As health systems are called upon to perform like never before, we must also seek new ways to help them transform to meet the evolving needs of our “new normal.”
Leaders from a wide range of public and private health organizations – from independent community hospitals to regional integrated health networks and large, multistate health systems – are seeking decidedly new ways to not only weather this turbulent time but to be better positioned to proactively manage their future. Stronger healthcare systems serve us all, bridging gaps, addressing disparities and meeting needs – so we are all stronger, together.
One way forward is through long-term partnership, with health systems working together with health technology providers in a kind of hand-in-medical-glove collaboration with the goal of co-creating a stronger healthcare system.
These mutually beneficial relationships not only provide the reliable technology health systems need but can also relieve stress on day-to-day operations, which in turn drives positive experiences for clinicians and users so health systems can reach their goals of improving patient care.
Seven benefits to long-term partnerships:
- Technology management plans to anticipate and meet the organization’s evolving technology needs and to accelerate adoption.
- Planning and governance for clinical and workflow training programs to ensure a coordinated approach to both identifying the need for and implementing training across the enterprise.
- Dedicated customer delivery management to prioritize integration and adoption to ensure alignment with the overall program delivery and defined objectives.
- Coordinated approach to service to plan for service communications and escalations.
- Innovative financial models, such as unitary payment models, service models, and consulting and clinical services funding pools, that are not tied to a single business or solution. In some instances, risk sharing is included.
- Long-term planning for data analytics to guide decision-making and report overall results of the partnership to the health system.
- Clinical and innovation working groups to identify and prioritize opportunities for innovation across the enterprise, driving a shift away from “business as usual” activities toward innovation to solve novel problems with new solutions.
When a healthcare system and health technology provider move beyond a transactional relationship, great things can happen. The partnership can focus on clinical needs with the patient as the ultimate beneficiary. To achieve this true type of partnership, common goals must exist, including:
Shared accountability
Partners create a trusting, transparent relationship based on shared accountability, risk and reward. Where possible, the relationship is further enhanced by embedded experts working alongside teams within the healthcare organization. For example, when MarinHealth in California was seeking significant expansion, a partnership with Philips went beyond basic service-level contracts, enabling successful growth and evolution through a model of shared risk and shared responsibility.
Ongoing predictability
Clearly defined strategic goals, key performance indicators, ongoing assessment and predictable spend, provide clarity from the start and throughout an engagement. This kind of predictability is especially important in cardiac care. At Miami Cardiac & Vascular Institute, a strategic partnership with Philips has established common goals to reduce variation and improve consistency in performance and outcomes.
Performance improvement
Partners collaborate by taking a stepwise approach to modernizing and standardizing technology to address current challenges and then optimizing and enhancing to continue improving clinical, operational and financial performance. We can see this goal in action via a Philips partnership with Phoenix Children’s Hospital, which helped serve children and their care teams by expanding access to advanced technology, products and consulting services.
Purposeful innovation
Partners discover and co-create tailored and innovative solutions to help the organization solve complex challenges and be well positioned to deliver on the quadruple aim of healthcare, creating sustainable value for multiple stakeholders. Increasing care access for U.S. veterans presented this kind of complex challenge, inspiring an innovative partnership among Philips and key veterans groups, resulting in the launch of a unique, highly successful access program.
To explore more ways long-term strategic partnership can help your health system, please download the Philips Partnership & Innovation guide. You will gain access to actionable insights to facilitate a meaningful discussion on the selection and management of key relationships and learn how other organizations found ways to partner, improve care pathways and deliver better clinical outcomes.
