By: Susan Boydell | sboydell@barlowmccarthy.com
Last week I had the honor and privilege of facilitating a virtual workshop session, “Reimagining Physician Relations: The Time Is Now!” for the Forum for Healthcare Strategists, I joined three talented leaders, Penny Nichols from Adventist Health in California, Jennifer Lofgren from Loyola Medicine in Illinois, and Anamika Desai from Hackensack Meridian in New Jersey on this very timely topic.
COVID-19 has caused just about everyone to make changes- both personally and professionally. As physician relations professionals, it’s the perfect opportunity to look deep into our programs. After all, if we aren’t planning to do things differently, we risk the possibility of being irrelevant. I don’t know about you, but that’s not an option or risk worth taking.
There were many insights shared by the presenters as they continue to work through their journey. Below are six takeaways I jotted down that are worth sharing:
- Virtual is here to stay. Not because we won’t ever be in offices again but because virtual visits make sense. They require a tight agenda, which requires a solid pre-call plan. Some teams have had good feedback from physicians for this very reason. Virtual also allows you to talk with more target physicians, which is especially beneficial if you have a lot of windshield time between practices. Work together as a team to rethink your sales cycle to include phone calls, Zoom meetings and when in-person visits make sense.
- Rethinking territories. This is directly connected to adopting virtual visits into your sales cycle. Do virtual visits begin to erase the need for geographically defined territories? This is a question Anamika is asking as she evolves her program. Too early to tell, but that’s the type of thinking I’m talking about.
- Messaging opportunities. Many organizations realized during COVID-19 they had a communication gap with independent referring physicians. The physician liaisons were primarily responsible for identifying the gap and helping to bridge the gap. Timely, meaningful, physician-centric messaging is more important than ever.
- A voice at the leadership tables. It’s always been important, but if you don’t provide value during a crisis, you won’t get time on the agenda (or a seat at the table!). Agenda time is earned. Packaging your voice-of-physician feedback is vital now and in the future. Similar to the last takeaway, think about how you message your insights so leadership can take action.
- Rethinking success metrics. Each of the presenters asked the question, “Am I measuring the right things?” As you make changes or pilot ideas, think about what needs to change from tracking a reporting perspective. You’ll never know if it’s a good change unless you can do that.
- Change acceptance. All this talk about change is good, but it is tough on teams. Everyone adapts to change in different ways. As leaders, it’s our job to help build resilient teams and build a team culture that celebrates innovation. If there is one must-have, it’s communication. Team members need to “picture” the vision of the future. They need to clearly understand the reason for the change, the process to get there, their role in it, and what success will look like. That’s the basics. Add motivating and inspiring your team, and you’re on the right road to success.
Good insights so far. We are all just beginning this journey that COVID-19 handed us. The learnings from what worked and what didn’t are still ahead of us. Reach out if you have a story to share or need a little help working through it. We’re in this together!
You can reach Susan at sboydell@barlowmccarthy.com.
Can you provide examples of success matrices that other programs are using?
Hi Randi! We’ve seen some new ideas on this since you first asked this question. Many are still measuring results but they are more specific to what’s happening within their health system. For example, as hospitals reestablished surgery goals many are focused on closing the variance to either budget or updated surgery forecast numbers. There is also focus on alignment. Some teams have been given goals for market softening physicians/practices targeted for possible tighter alignment options. For activity, virtual now counts. At the beginning of the pandemic, many considered lowering activity expectations. What we are seeing now is trying to understand if they need to stay the same or should we increase expectations because there are some efficiencies when doing virtual calls especially when it comes to peer-to-peer introductions. Happy to talk in more detail regarding your specific needs. Just ask!
How are you creating value or interest with the office staff in order to gain entry or an audience of some type? We’re running out of ideas in the era of covid19.
I know this is challenging. This always starts with what they need and/or will help them take better care of their patients. If the goal is to get a conversation with a physician, be as specific as possible about the clinical need you would like to discuss. This usually requires good clinical depth and a solid understanding of what differentiates your specialists/service line offerings from the competition. Write your opening statement down so it’s tight. What is the one line you can state about the specific service you want to discuss that will make a gatekeeper say, “this sounds important.” Most doctors like to talk about their patients. Give them an opportunity to do that! Happy to talk more about your specific situation. Reach out it that would be helpful.