12 Ideas for Building Physician Relations
Effective communication is an important cornerstone for establishing rapport and building physician relations. Many Marketware clients have created a formal outreach or liaison role that actively builds relationships with targeted providers in key markets, practices, or service lines. This role is often deputized as an extension of your C-suite and is critical for engaging physicians in dialogue around quality, safety, physician satisfaction, and hospital service line development.
Many hospital leaders can connect with their physicians during Medical Staff Meetings — however, these meetings follow a specific agenda as required by medical staff bylaws. Identifying additional ways to share information and exchange ideas between physicians and system leadership can create a culture that encourages medical staff participation in decision-making and planning related to operations.
Below are some tactics and tools you can use to strengthen communication and build physician relations:
1. Schedule Time
Make sure to schedule regular time in the leadership team’s calendar for daily rounding on hospital units and physician areas. Building in this time ensures that you are both visible and accessible to the leadership team to address concerns, and gather feedback on operational matters.
2. Showcase Transparency
Be open and honest in your communication with physicians. Identify opportunities in your organization to showcase transparency. This can be done with bulletin boards, newsletters, leadership reports during medical staff meetings, and by recommending one or more physicians to serve on hospital and health system boards. By keeping physicians informed about key decisions, initiatives, and performance metrics, healthcare organizations can build trust and foster a sense of community among medical staff.
3. Communicate Quickly
Make an effort to be timely when communicating key messages and decisions or when closing the loop on identified concerns. Timely communication shows urgency and creates trust as you build physician relations.
4. Report Progress
Another important strategy is to report progress regularly. Sharing progress reports on identified barriers from recent satisfaction and engagement surveys can help keep physicians informed about the actions being taken to address their feedback, thus promoting transparency and accountability within the organization.
5. Find Engagement Opportunities
Build time on the leadership team’s calendar for quarterly rounding in targeted practices. These can include informal physician leaders who are less engaged. Set a goal to take them out for a cup of coffee weekly to learn more about them, their practice, and points of mutual interest that will reveal opportunities to re-engage them. By setting aside time for face-to-face interactions, leaders can gain valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities faced by physicians on the front lines.
6. Involve the Physicians
Engaging physicians in the development and strengthening of their medical community can help them feel more invested in the organization. By involving physicians in decision-making processes related to operations, planning, and quality improvement initiatives, healthcare systems can leverage their expertise and create a sense of ownership among medical staff. Start by including them in new provider recruitment and engagement efforts.
7. Host Informal Meetings
Host informal meetings where medical staff and leadership can interact in a relaxed setting. Breakfast or lunch gatherings provide an excellent opportunity for open dialogue and relationship-building outside the confines of the workplace.
8. Plan Annual Retreats
Planning annual retreats can further strengthen physician relations. By removing teams from their usual workspace and allowing them to focus solely on collaboration and idea exchange, annual retreats create a conducive environment for building trust and enhancing communication among medical staff and leadership. This dedicated time away from daily responsibilities facilitates strategic discussions and fosters a sense of unity within the organization.
9. Hold Regular Discussions
While physician group administrators often have opportunities to connect with employed physicians, it can be helpful for the hospital’s administrative team to personally reach out to employed physicians 2-to-3 times a year. Use this to discuss operational issues or patient care needs that might influence future strategic or medical staff planning.
10. Leverage Your Outreach Team
Leverage your outreach team and Physician Relationship Manager (PRM) to collect feedback around key operational areas. Make sure to follow up with the outreach team so they are aware of how you used the feedback so they can share it in any follow-up visits. This approach not only ensures that their voices are heard but also facilitates an exchange of ideas that can enhance decision-making processes within the healthcare system.
11. Review Requests
Partner with your Material Management and Operating Room leadership to create a platform for sharing information and exchanging ideas. Establishing a “Technology & Innovation Committee” can be a great step towards this goal. This committee would be tasked with reviewing new equipment and technology requests from multiple perspectives including patient benefit, quality impact, financial impact, and strategic growth.
12. Recognize Contributions
It is essential to recognize and appreciate the contributions of physicians to the hospital or the larger medical community. Acknowledging their efforts not only boosts morale but also reinforces their sense of belonging and value within the organization. Print out positive comments from HCAHPS surveys and highlight any providers’ names mentioned. Another recognition opportunity could be scheduling weekly time to write a handwritten note to a physician who has been actively engaged in some way and thank them for their input and the impact it has had on your organization or its patients.
These strategies can help you strengthen your relationships with physicians and create a collaborative environment that benefits both parties in the long run.
If you’d like to learn more about how you can leverage your PRM to collect feedback, schedule a free, customizable demo with one of our solution specialists here.
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