Value Analysis Non-Salary Expense Reduction Supply Chain Management Savings

Change Is As Necessary As Breathing If You Want Your Healthcare Organization To Grow, Mature, be Risk Averse, Energetic And Profitable

All organizations seem to follow a pattern of growing, maturing, risk taking, being energized and profitable for an undetermined period of time. Then the inevitable happens, they become stilted, too comfortable, passive, risk averse; soon profits decline or are non-existent. This development model has come to pass to just about every healthcare organization in the United States over the last 25 years. The question I pose here is why does this happen and what can we do about it?

Jack Welsh of General Electric fame found this to be a truism 25 years ago when he became President, then Chairman of G.E. when he said,” Change has no constituency – and a perceived revolution has even less”.

For the most part, when business is good and we are making money we turn off our creative juices and start to skate along smoothly until we hit an iceberg! As an example in 2003, IBM’s President, Sam Palmisano said that, “we were so successful for so long that we could never see another point of view. And when the market shifted, we almost went out of business.” Is this your healthcare organization’s attitude too?

In researching his best selling book “Good to Great” author Jim Collins found that only a handful of companies were able to sustain real growth and business success over a decade or two.

Do the names Sears and Roebuck, K-Mart, Toys Our Us, Enron, Anderson Consulting, Tenet, HCA, Humana, HealthSouth, United Airlines, Delta Airlines and U.S. Airways ring a bell! I won’t name all of the hospitals and systems that could fall into this same category over the last decade to protect the innocent!

I don’t think I need to list any more “good to poor” companies to get your attention. What is really important is how fast these organizations went from “good to poor or non-existence”. It used to take centuries (like Sears and Roebuck) to go from “good to poor”, now it just takes decades. So if your clinicians think that your healthcare is immune to this developmental model then their thinking is irrational.

It’s your job as a change agent (I do it all the time with my clients) to remind your clinicians of this fact, “what’s here today probably won’t be here tomorrow, such as, stability, good times, profits and big bonuses.” Do everything you can to avoid, “The Culture of “no” as Lou Gerstner the former President of IBM found on his arrival at IBM in the late 90s, when anybody can say “no”, but nobody can say “yes”.

Your goal must be to persuade your clinicians that change is as necessary as breathing or your healthcare organization can quickly slide from “good to poor or non-existent” faster than you can say K-Mart. It will take time, patience, statistics, stories and facts to get this point across to your clinicians, but the ugly alternative is to skate into an iceberg with your eyes open!

How Can I Tell If I Have Squeezed All The Savings That Is Possible Out Of My Supply Chain? S.C

S.C. my first reaction to your questions is that “things change and people change” therefore there is always an opportunity to squeeze more savings out of your supply chain. Remember, “Cost is always our enemy and you should always be on the attack!”

However, from a practical standpoint to insure that your healthcare organization is operating at the lowest supply chain cost possible you will need to utilize reliable global and departmental benchmarks to determine where you are now vs. where you should be related to your cost drivers. To assist you in this challenge you might want to complete our online Supply Chain Performance Survey at www. strategicvalueanalysis.com as a starting point to have your question answered.

P.S. If anyone else has a question that you would like me to answer, please call or e-mail me and I would be delighted to answer it.

Most healthcare organizations start a suggestion system so their employees can feel that their ideas and suggestions do make a difference, only to find that the ideas and suggestions stop flowing after a year or two. Generally, this is because the hospital’s bureaucracy has stifled the new ideas and suggestions process to the point that they have become a dissatisfier as opposed to satisfiers for their employees.

Healthcare organizations that want to avoid this frustration might want to take a lesson from three organizations, Telcordia, Biosense Webster and Yale University, who have built “open” suggestion boxes on their networks without the bureaucracy repressing good ideas.

The way it works is that you enter online (similar to a blog) your ideas and suggestions, then your peers weigh in on the validity of your idea or suggestion by giving their opinions online as well. It’s a real “ego boost” when an employee sees their ideas implemented. If you want to see how this concept works you can see it in action at halfbakery.com or whynot.net.

Move To The Next Level Of Savings Performance "Beyond Price" With the “The Ultimate Value Analysis System”.

If you are ready to move to the next level of savings performance at your healthcare organization, I would strongly suggest that you consider purchasing my new book that is now available at my website http://www.strategicvalueanalysis.com/ultimatevalueanalysis.htm. In this book, I share with you my award winning system (that has saved 296 hospitals and 24 healthcare systems -- just like yours -- $ 337 million). The "The ULTIMATE VALUE ANALYSIS SYSTEM" will show you, step by step how to plan, organize, manage and attain superior savings in less time with greater success!

I am now in my 18th year as a healthcare supply chain and value analysis consultant and trainer (30 years in the healthcare business), and you can see from the gray hairs I have paid my dues. Which means I have learned a great deal about Value Analysis In Healthcare and have developed my quick and easy system that will enable you to avoid all the roadblocks, pitfalls and obstacles that come from developing a program yourself. I have trained hundreds of hospitals and healthcare systems in the practical and easy to use system of Value Analysis that I am offering here today. Now you too have the opportunity to utilize my secrets that leading healthcare organizations have learned from me to move them to the next level of savings performance (beyond price) for your hospital, system or alternate care facility.

Strategic Value Analysis In Healthcare
	Advancing Healthcare Organizations to the Next Level of Supply Chain Savings^TM
	STRATEGIC VALUE ANALYSIS^TM NEWSLETTER

Home Weekly Strategic Value Analysis Newsletter View Archived Strategic Value Analysis Newsletters Fast Target Savings Strategic^TM Value Analysis ValueNet Central^TM Value Analysis Software Training About HCP Client List Articles and White Papers Contact HCP FREE Weekly Email How To Tips Click Here to Access the NO Obligation Free Non-Salary Survey to find out what your savings opportunities are for your organization. Free Web poll for your Web site - freepolls.com		February 4, 2005 by Robert T. Yokl, President How To Persuade Your Clinicians That Change Is As Necessary As Breathing! *Change Is As Necessary As Breathing If You Want Your Healthcare Organization To Grow, Mature, be Risk Averse, Energetic And Profitable* All organizations seem to follow a pattern of growing, maturing, risk taking, being energized and profitable for an undetermined period of time. Then the inevitable happens, they become stilted, too comfortable, passive, risk averse; soon profits decline or are non-existent. This development model has come to pass to just about every healthcare organization in the United States over the last 25 years. The question I pose here is why does this happen and what can we do about it? Jack Welsh of General Electric fame found this to be a truism 25 years ago when he became President, then Chairman of G.E. when he said,” Change has no constituency – and a perceived revolution has even less”. For the most part, when business is good and we are making money we turn off our creative juices and start to skate along smoothly until we hit an iceberg! As an example in 2003, IBM’s President, Sam Palmisano said that, “we were so successful for so long that we could never see another point of view. And when the market shifted, we almost went out of business.” Is this your healthcare organization’s attitude too? Nothing Stays The Same Forever! In researching his best selling book “Good to Great” author Jim Collins found that only a handful of companies were able to sustain real growth and business success over a decade or two. Do the names Sears and Roebuck, K-Mart, Toys Our Us, Enron, Anderson Consulting, Tenet, HCA, Humana, HealthSouth, United Airlines, Delta Airlines and U.S. Airways ring a bell! I won’t name all of the hospitals and systems that could fall into this same category over the last decade to protect the innocent! I don’t think I need to list any more “good to poor” companies to get your attention. What is really important is how fast these organizations went from “good to poor or non-existence”. It used to take centuries (like Sears and Roebuck) to go from “good to poor”, now it just takes decades. So if your clinicians think that your healthcare is immune to this developmental model then their thinking is irrational. It’s Your Job To Be A Change Agent! It’s your job as a change agent (I do it all the time with my clients) to remind your clinicians of this fact, “what’s here today probably won’t be here tomorrow, such as, stability, good times, profits and big bonuses.” Do everything you can to avoid, “The Culture of “no” as Lou Gerstner the former President of IBM found on his arrival at IBM in the late 90s, when anybody can say “no”, but nobody can say “yes”. Your goal must be to persuade your clinicians that change is as necessary as breathing or your healthcare organization can quickly slide from “good to poor or non-existent” faster than you can say K-Mart. It will take time, patience, statistics, stories and facts to get this point across to your clinicians, but the ugly alternative is to skate into an iceberg with your eyes open! MAILBOX How Can I Tell If I Have Squeezed All The Savings That Is Possible Out Of My Supply Chain? S.C S.C. my first reaction to your questions is that “things change and people change” therefore there is always an opportunity to squeeze more savings out of your supply chain. Remember, “Cost is always our enemy and you should always be on the attack!” However, from a practical standpoint to insure that your healthcare organization is operating at the lowest supply chain cost possible you will need to utilize reliable global and departmental benchmarks to determine where you are now vs. where you should be related to your cost drivers. To assist you in this challenge you might want to complete our online Supply Chain Performance Survey at www. strategicvalueanalysis.com as a starting point to have your question answered. Bob Yokl 800-220-4274 bobpres@strategicvalueanalysis.com P.S. If anyone else has a question that you would like me to answer, please call or e-mail me and I would be delighted to answer it. ”Open” Suggestion Box Encourages Savings Ideas Most healthcare organizations start a suggestion system so their employees can feel that their ideas and suggestions do make a difference, only to find that the ideas and suggestions stop flowing after a year or two. Generally, this is because the hospital’s bureaucracy has stifled the new ideas and suggestions process to the point that they have become a dissatisfier as opposed to satisfiers for their employees. Healthcare organizations that want to avoid this frustration might want to take a lesson from three organizations, Telcordia, Biosense Webster and Yale University, who have built “open” suggestion boxes on their networks without the bureaucracy repressing good ideas. The way it works is that you enter online (similar to a blog) your ideas and suggestions, then your peers weigh in on the validity of your idea or suggestion by giving their opinions online as well. It’s a real “ego boost” when an employee sees their ideas implemented. If you want to see how this concept works you can see it in action at halfbakery.com or whynot.net. *WARNING: Your Management Is Looking For New Savings Reductions:* DON’T WAIT UNTIL YOU ARE MANDATED TO MAKE “BIG” SAVINGS HAPPEN! Be Proactive! Don’t Wait For A Crisis To Unfold Or Take You By Surprise! Move To The Next Level Of Savings Performance "Beyond Price" With the “The Ultimate Value Analysis System”. If you are ready to move to the next level of savings performance at your healthcare organization, I would strongly suggest that you consider purchasing my new book that is now available at my website http://www.strategicvalueanalysis.com/ultimatevalueanalysis.htm. In this book, I share with you my award winning system (that has saved 296 hospitals and 24 healthcare systems -- just like yours -- $ 337 million). The "The ULTIMATE VALUE ANALYSIS SYSTEM" will show you, step by step how to plan, organize, manage and attain superior savings in less time with greater success! I am now in my 18th year as a healthcare supply chain and value analysis consultant and trainer (30 years in the healthcare business), and you can see from the gray hairs I have paid my dues. Which means I have learned a great deal about Value Analysis In Healthcare and have developed my quick and easy system that will enable you to avoid all the roadblocks, pitfalls and obstacles that come from developing a program yourself. I have trained hundreds of hospitals and healthcare systems in the practical and easy to use system of Value Analysis that I am offering here today. Now you too have the opportunity to utilize my secrets that leading healthcare organizations have learned from me to move them to the next level of savings performance (beyond price) for your hospital, system or alternate care facility. About the Author 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, Non Salary Expense Reduction 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’ Healthcare Supply Value Chain”. _____________________________________________________________ COPYRIGHT 2004 - THE HCP GROUP, LTD. - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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