Healthcare Reform and Organizational Culture
The past twenty (20) years have been a wild ride for doctors, patients, hospitals, insurance companies and legislators. We have all experienced the pain and the little triumphs of trying to fix our healthcare system in an ad hoc - change as we go manner. There appears to be forming among these constituents a sketchy common goal of providing health coverage for all with higher quality and at reduced costs. With this growing consensus that organized change in healthcare is imminent, the focus seems to be moving toward what are the strategies and delivery models that will bring us success. And lo and behold, the conversation is even turning to what role organizational culture will play in our change efforts.
The Annals of Internal Medicine recently published research connecting - primary healthcare working conditions with quality of patient care. The results are not conclusive, but Medpage Today, an on-line resource site for physicians starts their coverage of the research with this synopsis.
Adverse working conditions for primary care doctors, including time pressures and an unfavorable organizational culture, may lead to stress, burnout and ultimately to lower quality patient care, a new study found.
The aspect of organizational culture that seemed to have the strongest connection to patient care had to do with the “alignment of values between physicians and leaders.” The higher the alignment - the higher the quality of care. It would be interesting to know exactly what values are important to have in common between leaders and physicians within healthcare organizations, but we can hazard a guess from our experience and recent news articles. They most likely include a range of fundamental options:
- emphasis on preventive medicine or medical treatment
- believing healthcare is a social mission or a for-profit business
- being patient-, doctor-, or insurance- centered
- focusing on quantity or quality of patient contacts
- use of technology as a tool
The wild ride of fixing our U.S. healthcare system is not over: But as in any change management effort, clarifying common goals is an important first step. The next step is for leaders to work on defining and aligning core values. These core values will guide strategies and allow for more unified action among the myriad of stakeholders within healthcare organizations.
