Strategic Value Analysis In Healthcare

Weekly Strategic Value Analysis Newsletter

Fast Target Savings

Strategis^TM Value Management

ValueNet Central ^TM Value Analysis Software

About HCP

Client List

Articles and White Papers

Contact HCP

SPANNING THREE DECADES OF VALUE MANAGEMENT LEADERSHIP

April 4, 2002

  

LOW-KEY, LOW COST “EDUCATION”

SPARKS PHYSICIANS TO SAVE MONEY

_____________________________________________________

Physicians will change their behavior if they are educated in the change, are shown that the change is low risk to them, participate in the change and have been convinced with proof that their outcomes will be equal or better than they are currently experiencing.

_____________________________________________________

 

Robert T. Yokl-President -The HCP Group, Ltd.

 

Dr. John Billi, Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs at the University of Michigan Medical School has proven,” that physicians…do help healthcare organizations save money if they know the costs and the strategies needed to lower utilization, then (they will) probably do it”.  At the University of Michigan Medical School and Hospital Dr. Billi reduced patient days from 5.76 to 5.15 through low-key, low cost seminars and by giving physicians information on how much things cost.

 

MYTH: Physicians Won’t Change Their Behavior 

Contrary to the conventional wisdom, “that physicians won’t change their behavior”, my experience has been similar to Dr. Billi in influencing physician’s behavior to save money, if physicians are given the facts and a recommended creditable strategy to lower their cost that will give them equal or better outcomes. As an illustration, one community hospital we worked with saved $75,000 on their interoccular lenses once their eye surgeon’s where educated and sensitized to how many different brands and classes of IOLs they were purchasing and the divergence of cost between manufactures for functional equivalent IOLs.  This same hospital saved $24,000 on a minor surgery kits by educating their emergency room physicians on the cost of instruments and supplies in their minor surgery kits and having them participate in analyzing their precise functional requirements for their kit components.  I have seen this positive behavior modification hundreds of times with physicians to make me a believer that, “physicians will change their behavior if they are given the cost and the strategies to lower their cost”.

 

Low-Key, Low Cost “ Education” Sparks Savings

Now that this secret is out of the closet that physicians do respond to low-key, low-cost “education” that sparks savings, your challenge is to start employing this knowledge to propel product, service and technology savings at your healthcare organization by educating your physicians on their cost and proposing lower cost alternatives that meet their needs and your needs too.  You will be amazed at how much your batting average will go up!

 Copyright © 2002 The HCP Group, Ltd.

Robert T. Yokl, President, The HCP Group, Ltd., has over 35 years of experience as a consultant and manager in the field of Supply/Value Chain Management and is one of the country's leading healthcare experts in value analysis, value engineering and materials management. He is the developer and program leader of the award winning Certified Value Analysis Practitioner Training Program™. Mr. Yokl is also the developer of the healthcare industry's leading ValueNetCentral™ Value Analysis Software. Over the past two decades he has trained thousands of healthcare managers in his patented Strategic Value Analysis™ and Team-Based Project Management™ processes and has assisted scores of organizations in developing their own value management programs. He has published six books, videos and audios on supply/value chain management. His latest book being, “ Strategic Value Analysis™: The #1 Smart Strategy for Taking Cost Out of a Healthcare Organizations’ Supply/Value Chain”.