Convince Your Ceo to Go Digital, and Get Some Sleep

I was recently asked, “What keeps you up at night?” Like a lot of people I know, my response was, “Everything.” Having been in the industry, I know that healthcare administrators are expected to adapt to constant regulatory and technological changes, but often are not given the resources to successfully do so. I am mindful of all the healthcare organization workers who are responsible for retrieving the right documents without a way of knowing if they are the most recent, accurate versions. Many healthcare organizations still use paper and shared intranet folders to manage their policies and procedures, but they are finding these means to be inadequate and unsustainable in keeping up with today’s strict, evolving compliance terms. Unfortunately, dealing with more change by implementing a new system is not something every CEO wants to tackle. In this post, we offer advice for convincing your CEO to change your P&P platform . . . so you can get some sleep.

Demonstrate BE-ATTITUDES.

BE PREPARED. Consider creating a brief PowerPoint presentation to demonstrate that you have carefully thought through the proposal. This is especially helpful to keep everyone on point when you only have a limited time to make your case.

BE SYMPATHETIC. Put yourself in their shoes. Like most people in healthcare, executives should be appreciated for the fact that their jobs require them to spread out their limited time and resources over a lot of responsibility. If you were tasked with cutting costs and improving patient care at the same time, what would it take to convince you?

BE FORWARD THINKING. Every proposition has pros and cons, so be sure to address both. If you only tell the positives, it may hurt your credibility on the subject. Instead, think of possible objections, and come up with possible solutions to help overcome these sticking points.

Tell a great STORY.

Stories let us identify with and aspire to be the hero in the tale. Testimonials and case studies can be very effective persuasion tools, so look for other organizations like yours who have experienced success doing what you are recommending. Check out our case studies to see if any of our highlighted customers were in a similar situation, and feel free to use them as examples. Additionally, you may wish to contact one of our Healthcare Software Consultants to help you with an example of a similar case.

Show them the MONEY.

Roi means king in French, and ROI (Return On Investment) is king in healthcare purchasing decisions. Show your decision-makers that you understand the need to be fiscally responsible by demonstrating how implementing a new policy management software can save money.

1. You can significantly save on administrative costs alone by reducing the time required to manage, update and get staff acknowledgment of policies and procedures. Based on several constants and variables, PolicyStat offers an ROI Calculator to give you an immediate estimate of potential savings depending on the type of system you currently use and the number of employees at your organization.
2. Beginning January 2017, compliance costs may significantly increase. Did you know that with TJC’s new SAFER matrix, leadership will be required to spend their time completing an extra section on the Evidence of Standards Compliance (ESC) for certain infractions? Save costly leadership time, and make sure your Joint Commission surveys go smoothly. Additionally, as of January 2017, you must be able to produce all requested policies at the time of survey, or you are not in compliance. There will be no such thing as an Opportunity for Improvement where you don’t have to submit an ESC.
3. Although risk management costs can be challenging to calculate, they continue to be an undeniable threat to healthcare organizations. More efficient policy and procedure management resources can significantly reduce redundancies and errors that lead to malpractice and worker’s compensation claims.

Finally, don’t forget to use your free resources (i.e. call us for help). Our job is to make the case for what we do, and helping you helps our employees live our mission to enhance healthcare through simple, powerful and reliable web-based solutions that help people manage and disseminate vital information.