This is a challenging time for companies across the board and particularly in healthcare services, contending with an uncertain economic backdrop, labor market challenges and ever-evolving patient preferences.
Leadership teams must prepare for a variety of economic environments, making critical operational changes and shoring up ample capital to prepare for the future.
At the same time, however, it’s important for leaders to continue to invest in their most valued resources: their employees. Coping with skilled labor shortages is one of today’s biggest challenges, and business leaders do not want to be forced to curtail expansion plans or patient engagement improvements because they cannot recruit and retain talent with the right skill sets. Even in uncertainty, investments in training, skill expansion and mobility opportunity support can enable healthcare companies to attract and motivate employees, deepening innovation to improve the patient experience and to drive better clinical outcomes.
Foster an Innovative Workplace
A key differentiator of healthcare companies that successfully retain qualified talent is a commitment from leadership to foster innovation. Genuinely motivated employees tasked with driving innovation require the resources and flexibility to think creatively and put ideas into action.
- Inspiring leadership often means thinking big: Identify the big-picture objective, outline the steps to achieve it, and resist the impulse to be distracted by daily pressures and challenges.
- Eliminating bureaucracy can be the friend of innovation: Remain dedicated to removing roadblocks for innovators in the organization.
- Fostering internal advocacy is key: Create internal branding for innovative solutions to expedite adoption.
Streamline Processes and Workflows
In this constrained labor environment, it’s critically important to look for and minimize potential strains on your employees.
Recent research by J.P. Morgan shows that 75% of healthcare providers continue to use paper and manual processes for payment collections, and 74% of providers say it takes more than one statement to collect. And we all know that paper-based transactions can be slow and cumbersome, not to mention costly to manage both internally and externally.
Through targeted investments in the right technology and resources, healthcare companies can help to automate administrative tasks, streamline processes and reduce pressure on their teams.
Invest Now for the Long Term
Leaders who prioritize the shift to digital will drive efficiencies, creating opportunities for fresh thinking and improving the patient and employee experience alike.
The challenging labor market is likely to persist for some time, so it is critical that leaders stay focused on their long-term visions and the crucial role that employees play in carrying those out while serving their patients and partners, setting up businesses to thrive long term.
Source: From an article by Lauren Ruane, co-head of healthcare, Middle Market Banking & Specialized Industries, J.P. Morgan Commercial Banking.