Ki Associates Health Care Consulting Services!




		Effective leadership - in the Boardroom, the executive suite, and throughout the organization - along with a willingness to engage providers in relentless process improvement across the entire organization. Our health care consulting practice is geared to just these tasks, with projects which often include multiple interventions. The starting point can vary... HEALTH CARE CONSULTATION PRACTICE FIVE INTERRELATED AREAS OF CLIENT ACTIVITY GOVERNANCE At Ki Associates, we have... Provided an orientation to governance for Directors of numerous organizations, ranging from small group practices to hospital systems, to some of the largest medical groups on the country. Steered a Board re-design process in a health system committed to reinventing its approach to governance. Coached Boards and Board Chairman in the work of clarifying the accountabilities of Chief Executives, in both hospital and group practice settings. Conducted Board retreats for the purposes of strategy formulation, process improvement, and cohesion building in hospital, health system, and group practice environments. The core issues: Are vision and mission vital enough to hold the organization together and guide a cohesive plan of action? Is the Board focused on the key issues of governance? Is there cohesion within the Board; is conflict handled constructively? Is the Board adept at supporting and supervising the work if the Chief Executive? Has the Board found a way to guide and oversee without intruding and distracting? Our interventions are informed by these fundamental beliefs: That informed and involved governance is essential to the creation and sustenance of a vital organization That developing cohesion and an effective working rhythm inside the boardroom is a complex task which requires an investment of time, energy, reflection, and renewal That the relationship between a Board and its Chief Executive sets the tone for the entire organization That effective Boards add value through guiding and supporting major initiatives, contributing to the creation of overarching strategies, supporting essential change initiatives, and conducting an ongoing process of ambassadorship That history is ripe with examples of organizations which have fallen because Boards erred either in the direction of excessive passivity or excessive intrusion; good governance steers a path between these extremes Top of page EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT At Ki Associates, we have... Transformed the Executive Team of a 200 bed hospital bed from a "siloed" approach marked by inadequate follow through and unclear accountabilities, to an open, and trusting partnership where in projects are tracked collaboratively, and pressing questions of organizational survival are debated vigorously until firm decisions can be made. Taught the skills of executive leadership to both administrators and physicians - in hospitals, small group practices, and large practices comprised of hundreds of doctors at multiple sites. Conducted extensive retreats which brought physician leaders and their administrative partners together to analyze barriers to effective collaboration, explore complimentary strengths, and forge effective partnerships though a case-based approach to learning. Developed and trademarked The Health Care Leadership Audit^TM, a self contained assessment process providing a concise analysis of an organization´s present and future leaders - their strengths, weaknesses and potential. The core issues: Everyone wants the best team at the top, but who are the right people? Just what makes a world class executive team, and how do you build one? And how do you maximize the effectiveness of the people you have? For all the talk about "partnerships between physicians and administrators" what can we really expect? Our interventions are informed by these fundamental beliefs: That success is impossible without an effective medical/administrative partnership That the Executive Team sets the tone for the entire organization That attention to empowerment and accountability inside the executive team is essential in dealing with a panopoly of projects each of which is competing to be "top priority" Top of page OPERATIONAL ALIGNMENT FOR STRATEGIC SUCCESS At Ki Associates, we have... Comprehensively revamped management roles and responsibilities inside a small health system to assure a collaborative and synergistic approach to organizational problems Worked with the management team of a large group practice which had outgrown its own infrastructure - to step back, dismantle outgrown approaches, and reinvent a collaborative approach to problem solving and operations. Studied the operational difficulties encountered by several merged system which had not adequately addressed the complexity of integrated operations. The core issues: What internal strategy is necessary in order to assure that externally focused strategic plans come to fruition? How can both clinical and operational departments break out of traditional silos to forge truly interdependent, high performance teams? What new organizational configurations will truly yield measurable results in efficiency, effectiveness, and customer satisfaction? Our interventions are informed by these fundamental beliefs: Alignment inside the "membrane" of the organization is at every bit important as an effective strategy directed toward the marketplace. Until disparate clinical and operational departments see themselves as interdependent parts of a whole, success is unlikely and marketplace dominance is impossible. Talking about internal alignment is insufficient without the creation of structures and processes which both drive and require it. Participation in silo-shattering projects and case-based learning is essential to the creation of an aligned internal strategy. Top of page PROVIDER COHESION AND EFFECTIVENESS At Ki Associates, we have... Worked with the Boards and Executive Teams of several health systems to develop a comprehensive and longitudinal approach to fostering organizational cohesion. Created approaches to physician recruitment, employment and group development. Assisted the leadership of several large practices in developing strategies to deal with physicians whose behavior was not conducive to collaboration. Developed and implemented leadership programs for department chairs of several large practices, so that department and section heads would have the skills to build cohesion in their own departments and across organization boundaries. The core issues: How can group practices add value commensurate with their "carrying costs"? What remedy is there for the way in which financial pressures tear at the fabric of groups across the country, even groups with considerable longevity? How can you reach physicians who joined groups primarily in order to be protected from change, and who rail at the demand for change in their new environment? What help is there for physician leaders when their colleagues are interested in being paid a salary for direct service but wish not to participate in furthering the collective goals of the group. Our interventions are informed by these fundamental beliefs: That health care systems can survive only if affiliated physicians are bound by economic structures which recognize and reward productivity and citizenship, as well as an ethos that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. That organizational loyalty and the commitment to the hard work of change require explicit attention to cohesion on the one hand and effectiveness on the other. That the work of leadership involves balancing attention to each individual's needs from the group with each individual's obligations to the group. Top of page MAJOR CHANGE INITIATIVES At Ki Associates, we have... Facilitated the merger of 3 large medical groups, resulting in the creation of the 850 physician Palo Alto Foundation Medical Group. Designed and implemented a comprehensive program for culture change inside a health system marked by years of strife and discord, the success of which can be measured by a defeated drive for unionization. Assisted the Executive Team of a large group practice in maintaining communication, esprit, and focus during a painful downsizing Helped another large group move from a top-down command and control management made to one of inclusion and empowerment, marked by increasingly clear accountabilities for initiative and effectiveness at every level. The core issues: Cries for change are everywhere, but how do we know what to change first? How can multiple change initiatives be coordinated, prioritized, and maintained, when resources are thin and distractions are everpresent? Just what skills, plans, and people are necessary to assure successful change initiatives? Our interventions are informed by these fundamental beliefs: That judiciously chosen internal change initiatives are essential to strategic success in today's health care world That many of these changes need to be radical, rather than incremental That effective change relies upon leadership, communication, and cohesion which will mobilize energy and a willingness to tolerate frustration and sacrifice on the road to something better That external resources are often essential to support overtaxed executives in maintaining a steady hand on the throttle of major change projects Top of page
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