I would have to say that in my relatively short tenure in Kentucky, I have been pleasantly surprised at the level of cooperation that exists amongst and between my peer colleagues in the state. In a field that competes every day for the same physicians, patients, and team members, it is nice to see that we can all sit in the same room and collaboratively discuss how we can work together to solve issues that are common to us all. This form of "co-opetition" is becoming more prevalent in business across the country as we realize that cooperating with those we compete with can be healthy for us all and our customers.
The question to me is do we take this level of interaction far enough, and where do you draw the line? For example, while it is relatively harmless to collectively support favorable reimbursement legislation or even the joint investment in information systems to help with recruiting personnel, do we really collaborate fully on sharing best practices around patient safety and quality between our organizations? As hospitals, if our collective missions are generally focused around improving the lives of those in our community, shouldn't the sharing of best practices around safety and quality be encouraged rather than used as a means to fuel competition between us? I'm interested in your thoughts....let me know what you think!
2 comments:
Great article!
My view of the healthcare world is primarily in the supply chain world so if you ask the question about hospitals collaborating you should look to the supply chain for the path that seems to work best (cooperation through a trusted/shared third party). All hospitals belong to Group Purchasing Consortiums in some way shape or form which aggregate purchases for hospitals to create the economy of scale and thus drive better pricing and terms for member hospitals.
Given that model and what I have seen with regional Group Purchasing Alliance's it appears that hospitals work best when a third party is empowered on their behalf to create the cooperation in the form of best practices (from hiring, staffing, benchmarking to infection control), community outreach networks for more rural areas, grants, etc.
Bob Yokl
P.S. Saw your blog from a mention on Paul Levy's blog.
Bob, I appreciate the comment and generally agree with your thoughts. We are part of a large GPO and are diligently working to maximize the efficiencies we can gain from being a member organization. We have also worked with organizations such as the Studer Group, the Leadership Institute and the Healthcare Advisory Board as examples of organizations that attempt to leverage best practices in service, quality and efficiency and share them with hosptials across the country.
While these organizations are very helpful in disseminating knowledge broadly, I would still like to see our health care institutions interact more substantively on a local level. With many of us sharing some of the same physicians and staff and most of us duplicating the same services, it would seem to me that there are local economies that could be gained in adopting community-wide best practices and policies between institutions.
The challenge to me seems that while there are third parties that likely can help, we are all working with our 'own' third parties of which their are relatively few that place community benefit above their own...
Post a Comment