THE DEADLY SINS OF COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTERS - PART 1. THE LACK OF URGENCY.

The Deadly Sins of Community Health Centers -Part 1 - The Lack of Urgency

Much discussion has been focused on how community health centers (CHCs) could not only respond to current market forces, but also assist with universal health care. But just as challenging — and less addressed — is the self-inflicted damage that community health centers and their management commit - which poses a serious threat to their financial health, if not their survival.

Questions frequently asked are –

“If CHCs have been around for over 35 years, why are they not serving more underserved people?” (A typical CHC will serve only a small percentage of the underserved in its area.)

Is it lack of direction from the Board of Directors?

Is it a lack of Executive Director skill and competence?

Why are appointment waiting times so long? (Typically over two weeks)

Why are the daily patient schedules of the CHC doctors’ not full?

Before community health centers can compete effectively in the current and future health care environment, we must address the following deadly sins:

1. Lack of urgency
2. Tendency to chase the latest trend
3. Inability to embrace proven management techniques
4. Meaningless networks
5. Resistance to change and denial
6. Hamster wheel as strategy

The Deadly Sins of Community Health Centers - Part 1

1. Lack of urgency
Physicians usually respond quickly to their patients' needs, but community health centers often lack the same sense of urgency in making management decisions.

Businesses ask --

"How do we solve this problem in a way that achieves an advantage for us and our customers?”

“What makes us different?”

Community health centers merely ask --

"What are other community health centers doing?"

It’s dangerous to assume that one center’s unique issues can be addressed by selecting from a smorgasbord of solutions already tried by others. If a community health center cannot distinguish itself from the competition — in the eyes of patients, payers, grantors, and referral sources — then, over time, its patient base will be lost, new patients will not be gained, current patients will drift away, and the Community Health Center will gradually become irrelevant.

Next post: The Deadly Sins of Community Health Centers (continued - Part 2)