THE DEADLY SINS OF COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTERS - PART 4. MEANINGLESS NETWORKS

The Deadly Sins Of Community Health Centers - Part 4. Meaningless Networks

In our post from yesterday, we discussed Community Health Centers’ Inability to Embrace Proven Management Techniques. Today, we’ll look at the fourth sin: Meaningless Networks.

4. Meaningless Networks

Without question, there is value and strength in numbers. It is a fundamental principle driving the development of large healthcare organizations. It is also in part the logic behind integrated delivery systems.

However, far too many community health centers create and participate in meaningless networks. Everyone in the network believes it will lead to lucrative and otherwise unobtainable contracts. Nevertheless, many of these benefits are available to the CHC - whether it is FQHC, or look-alike, with or without network affiliation.

Since CHC Boards are required to meet each month, they need to raise certain questions with their Executive Director at each meeting:
1. What is the cost-benefit effectiveness of our network affiliation?
2. What are some recent and continuing examples?
3. What is the cost-benefit effectiveness of the Executive Director and senior management’s outside activities?
4. How have the patients benefited from those efforts?
5. What have those activities cost the CHC in money, time, and lost
opportunities?
6. What other direct patient efforts are planned for the coming month?
7. What are the expected direct results?
8. What results - within what timeline?

Answers to these questions will begin to channel a center’s finite time, energy and money into relationships and alliances that genuinely strengthen medical services to help directly serve the underserved – for today and tomorrow.

Next post: The Deadly Sins of Community Health Centers: Part 5 - Resistance to Change and Denial …