Making a Positive Disruption in Healthcare before it is too late

We are fast approaching a healthcare bubble that will eventually pop if healthcare leaders do not start to “think outside the box” in making a positive disruption in the healthcare industry. What will the future state of healthcare look like and how will it impact you and your family? We have all seen healthcare expenses continue to rise at an alarming rate, premiums continue to increase, quality of care is not consistent, and the future state of healthcare is truly unknown. Who will be responsible for helping resolve these issues before it is too late? Now is the time for healthcare leaders to step up to the plate and find creative ways to change healthcare instead of waiting around for someone else to make these changes, which are not occurring fast enough. Now is the time for Healthcare leaders to make a positive disruption in the Healthcare sector before it is too late!

How can this be done? Well, it cannot be done by following the same processes repeatedly yet expecting different results. Leaders cannot afford to wait for someone else to make innovative changes. Instead, each leader must personally create an environment which fosters creativity so that innovation can occur within their departments/facilities. Today more than ever, maximizing overall efficiency while still providing a high level of service is a focus for most hospitals, yet creativity in improving and/or creating new and improved processes are not occurring fast enough. Why? As our class HA511 noted and in speaking to my colleagues throughout the country, most leaders have become unbalanced in their leadership approach focusing more time as transactional leaders and are not focusing enough time on being a transformational leader due to today’s fast-paced environment. However, we do see some hospitals/leaders looking at best practices across their industry in utilizing proven methods that have been shown to work. While this is a great starting point to improve processes/outcomes in healthcare, more innovative solutions must be created from front line healthcare leaders and their staff for our healthcare system to take steps towards creating a much-needed positive disruption in the industry before it’s too late.

Now is the time for leaders to take time and make time in helping their staff meet as a team in discussing creative solutions focused around improving processes/workflow/patient outcomes. I truly believe that future leaders and healthcare organizations need to devote time in forming highly engaged and functional teams within their organization in setting up “think tanks” to help create a new positive disruption in how they will deliver more efficient care in the future. While leaders can and should utilize technology and technological advances to improve healthcare, they must never forget the importance of personal connection and creativity amongst their team as that is the true key to unlock creativity and is how we will save the future state of healthcare.

How can future leaders create innovative solutions focused around making a positive disruption in changing healthcare as we know it? This is a very tough question to answer, especially since the fasted paced environment that we are living in has programmed most leaders to become transactional, more than transformational. Understanding yourself is the first step needed to be innovative and impact change which I feel a lot of leaders unintentionally lack in today’s fast paced environment. A leader taking EQ tests can help them recognize their current mindset and manage those identified tendencies. By understanding your strengths and weaknesses as a leader, you will have a better chance of navigating through your emotional tendencies and work on creating a more balanced leadership approach. I feel for this to happen, leaders must humble themselves and keep an open mind. The next step is to understand the Competing Value Framework (CVF) model to help leaders view, then balance their leadership tendencies. This theory consists of four quadrants which are further broken down into eight competing roles to include; mentor, facilitator, innovator, broker, monitor, coordinator, director and producer. These eight competing roles are then broken down to transformational leadership and transactional leadership.

As I have discussed, leaders need to focus more time on the transformational leadership approach in helping their team “think outside the box” in solving problems and in improving healthcare as we know it before it’s too late. Once employees are engaged, appropriately trained and tap into their creative processes, they will be able to help come up with creative solutions to problems within their department/facility that were previously never thought of. If done correctly, this will in turn create a more efficient and effective system for the employee’s as well as their patients in creating a positive disruption.

Regulations and legislation are also stressing the current healthcare system, because hospitals now get reimbursed according to Key Performance Indicators (KPI) results that are set by organizations such as Medicare, Medicaid, Affordable Care Act and HCAPS. I have personally seen hospitals trying to prepare for these KPI’s in a silo, at the executive level only, which to me is not a smart approach. Instead, why wouldn’t they take a more collaborative approach across hospital divisions to see what suggestions each area has? Is it a lack of time? Well, one thing is for certain, if you do not make time to think of creative solutions to problems as a team, eventually you will be left behind as other organizations may already be focusing on fostering creativity throughout their entire organization.

 As one of my favorite quotes by Kenneth Blanchard goes, “None of us are as smart as all of us.” Therefore, it is so important for you as a leader to not constantly work in silos as that will greatly limit the possible creative solutions that your staff are able to come up with in addressing a specific barrier/topic at hand. We cannot tap into our staff’s creative process without making time to meet and discuss creative solutions to the problems at hand. I challenge each of you as leaders and/or future leaders to keep this in mind as you manage you teams/organizations into the future. Don’t wait around for change to occur on its own, instead create an environment for your team which fosters creative solutions in making a positive disruption within the healthcare sector before it’s too late. 

Contributed by Aaron Kawa, MHA Student