“Best practices, such as those we have outlined, should be practiced on an ongoing basis to lessen the burden.”
Let’s face it, there is always more to be done in the value analysis world that continues to pile up on an ongoing basis. You could easily get backed up with just one or two new product evaluations, product conversions, or classic value analysis reviews. It does not take much to put you behind the eight ball time and resources wise. Traditionally, we would just put our heads down and put in more time to plow through to the finish, but value analysis is never finished. There is always another project, conversion, recall, or resilience problem that will need to be addressed ASAP. Value analysis is relentless, but we must look to how we can alleviate this to some degree.
I thought it would be a good idea to share our best practices that have been successful coast to coast when working with hospitals and health systems’ value analysis teams.
4 Value Analysis Best Practices
1. Go to Bi-Weekly or Twice a Month Meetings – I know you may be thinking, “Geez, I have my hands full just making the deadlines for a monthly meeting, let alone twice a month or bi-weekly.” The good news here is that bi-weekly meetings will make your projects go faster, your results happen quicker, and your savings and cost avoidance will be implemented faster. Today, a monthly meeting is very unproductive for a true team and even a committee that has a full agenda. Imagine if a new product request is submitted the day after your monthly meeting, then the surgeon is going to have to wait at least four weeks until it even hits the team or committee. I guarantee your meetings will be shorter, your customers will be happier, and you will be able to manage everything more efficiently in the two-week scope versus monthly. This is definitely worth a test run! I know your bosses are encouraging this, but this is a change that a value analysis leader implements.
2. Keeping Attendance at Your Meetings – One of the most important things we have learned over our 37+ years in the VA field is that attendance is very important to the end results of what your VA teams bring. Your VA teams should average 85% attendance throughout the year. If not, then you need to find out why team members and leaders are not attending the meetings. The key factor here in the attendance is that those who show up and participate at all levels are your best performers and those that don’t are not. If the poor attendees have meeting conflicts, then perhaps you can arrange the meeting schedule to accommodate them or others in the same situation. If they are poor performers and just don’t see the value in showing up, then you should move them along and replace them.
3. Commit to the Team Model – There is still a majority of value analysis programs that consider themselves mature VA models, yet they are still using the committee approach vs. the team-based model. What is the difference? Well, a committee approach is when one, two, or three people do all the work for the committee and the members, and then show up and vote or give feedback each meeting. Whereby in a true VA team model, the members will all have a role to play and if projects come up that are in their department or require them to take a lead in the VA project, then they will be assigned that project and bring it to fruition. Instead of the VA leaders being bogged down with doing all the work, they will still do some of the groundwork but will enlist team members to quarterback the projects through while they work and coach them on the VA process steps.
This will allow your teams to be more productive. In addition, department heads and managers will get real value analysis experience as they are responsible for their departmental budgets, which will enhance their skills in managing those better.
4. Don’t Be Afraid to Change Out Unproductive VA Team Members or Even Team Leads – Health systems depend on their value analysis teams to do a lot for them and are mission critical in the organization’s cost, quality, and outcomes. If you have team members that are not productive, don’t show up to meetings, or are just in them to watch their turf and not do much more, then you need to move them along. You will want to always be on the lookout for new value analysis team members who can bring their expertise and experience to the team to help make the VA team better. Believe me, those sitting on the team who don’t do anything at all but vote or do not even show up most of the time will be grateful for not having to be part of that team. We need the best of the best on our VA teams, not members or leaders who just show up.
Lessen the Burden of Your Value Analysis Teams with These Best Practices
There is a multitude of best practices that we can apply to our value analysis programs but there are some that have always been there and should be considered on an ongoing basis like the ones outlined above. Your value analysis program needs to be moved forward in a positive way that will lessen the burden on you, your team members, and your bottom line, yet provide better results, better outcomes, and happier customers/stakeholders.
Below are some similar articles that you may find interesting.
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