We have all heard of the quote, “Doing it with data” which was made famous by Edward Deming, but did you know that his advice was only a half-truth? In healthcare value analysis, data alone will only get you so far without a good story to tell that is consistent and convincing to your customers. Otherwise, your data is considered irrelevant!
Healthcare Value Analysis Data
To be convincing, the data (graphs, charts, and statistics) you show your customers should be like a successful movie or book; fast-paced, emotional, and remarkable. A story that we often tell our prospective clients (where data is the star) is how one of our clients saved $93,296 (or 22%) on their I.V. set purchases after they squeezed every last dime out of their price savings (i.e., GPO contract at the highest tier, 95% standardized on one IV manufacturer, and a rebate of $40,000 annually) by changing their I.V. set change policy from an average of 31 hours to 48-72 hours, and mandating that time and date labels be placed on all I.V. sets to ensure compliance with their new change policy.
Waste and Inefficiency
Everyone we tell this story to is convinced that this is a best practice that should be institutionalized at all hospitals once we help them visualize this fact with our data-driven story. They believe this same problem could be occurring at their own healthcare organization. This is because the story we tell gets our point across credibly. No one has refuted our data which shows there is waste and inefficiency in 1 out of 4 products, services, and technologies that any and all hospitals, systems, and IDNs buy annually.
We have made it a practice of preparing PowerPoint data-driven stories for our clients’ use to show to their customers to help them understand that change is necessary to improve their department’s cost, quality, or safety. We have found this tactic to be quite successful in changing the minds and hearts of our clients’ department heads and managers.
You, too, can do the same. All you need is data, a great story, and PowerPoint slides to get your message across to your own department heads and managers. But don’t forget, your story needs to be fast-paced, emotional, and remarkable to get and hold your customers’ attention and then convince them that your data is credible and actionable. Otherwise, they could consider it irrelevant!
Articles you may like:
Healthcare Value Analysis: Brainstorming Myths and Missed Opportunities