The More You Know About Hospital Value Analysis, the More You Don’t Know and Need to Know Soon!
I’m sure you have heard the term “Winging it”, but maybe not in the context of your value analysis team or teams. According to BetteratEnglish.com to wing it is an idiom that means to improvise, to do something without proper preparation or time to rehearse. Unfortunately, we have observed this ‘Winging it” phenomena over the last 31-years when we have audited scores of value analysis team meetings.
Little or No Formal Value Analysis Structure, Training or Process
Many value analysis teams we have helped over the years started out with little or no formal structure, training, or process for evaluating their products, services and technologies. Whatever their value analysis team leader or a team member decides is a good approach for an evaluation, that is the way it is done. I remember a value analysis project manager spending a few weeks visiting other hospitals’ labs to see what their best practices were on point-of-service lab kits, while another VA project manager had a sales representative do all her project’s work. Does this seem like everyone was on the same page at this hospital’s value analysis team or were they “Winging it”?
This is how we will do business from now on
I remember a vice president of support services of a large teaching hospital who was introducing SVAH’s team to his department heads and managers before we conducting our advanced value analysis training program who told those attending this VA training program, in no uncertain terms, “This is how we will do business from now on”. In fact, he said there would be no other way for his department heads and managers to obtain approval of their new products, services and technologies, but through the process that was being taught today.
Get everyone on your Value Analysis team(s) on the same page with training
To avoid your value analysis project managers “Winging it”, you need to get them on the same page with training for the following four reasons:
- Training is a shortcut to excellence: No one gets better in VA without being taught the skills of functional analysis, project management, target costing, etc., because these skills aren’t intuitive.
- Training helps to avoid costly mistakes and missteps: Why learn from experience, when you can learn from others experience from case studies.
- Enables VA studies/systems to be audited for compliance: If you have a defined process for your value analysis studies and systems you then can audit them to make sure that your team members follow them precisely.
- Provides common language for your VA team(s): So, everyone of your team leaders and members are fluent in the vocabulary of value analysis, you need to give them a common language. Otherwise, your team members could be talking at cross purposes.
Sometimes it is hard to quantify or justify training to your senior management. However, guess at what the cost is of having no training for your value analysis team(s) who approve, review or study millions of dollars of your healthcare organization’s multi-million dollar supply chain purchases annually. Just think, one mistake made by your hospital value analysis teams that could be avoided through training, could cost your hospital, system or IDN millions in any given year. Now, you know that the cost of not training your VA team(s) can be significant.