Engaging Physicians for Margin Improvement Conversations
With healthcare costs rising, organizations need to engage their employees in their cost savings conversations.
Our team at VIE Healthcare® is successful in engaging physicians in cost savings initiatives for three reasons:
1. We present cost data relating to utilization and spend in an organized, structured way.
Physicians are scientists with high respect for evidence-based research and focus their attention on patient care.
2. We don’t suggest changes to their practice unless there’s a specific initiative around a standardization event.
Our process involves:
- Delivering data and marketplace insights to physicians.
- Present physicians with several options aligned to pricing.
- Involve them fully in the strategic decision making process.
3. Numerous studies show how important physicians are in the cost savings process.
One study, Association between Surgeon Scorecard Use and Operating Room Costs, revealed the following:
- The physicians in the group provided with cost insights reduced their costs by 6.54%.
- Those in the second group were not given access to cost data.
- Their costs increased by 7.42% during the study.
- That’s a fascinating14.02% in cost variance between the physicians who had access to cost data and those who didn’t.
Engaging your physicians in cost awareness offers numerous benefits including:
Greater efficiency and higher retention levels among your physicians.
Improved quality of patient care and better patient satisfaction.
An increase in patient referrals (3% rise in outpatient and 51% more inpatient referrals according to Gallup).
At VIE Healthcare®, we’re big believers in involving physicians in cost savings conversations.
Simply listing prices alongside implant items in the OR can lead to significant cost reduction.
That’s why we provide a Cost Playbook to the hospitals we work with, together with a comprehensive price comparison analysis.
Reach out at lmiller@spendmend.com to discuss your cost savings goals and how we can support and accelerate cost savings opportunities in your organization.
