Strategic management of a healthcare organization: engagement, behavioural indicators, and clinical performance

Abstract

Healthcare organizations today are facing a series of problems due to two main factors: increasing difficulty in satisfying a progressively more ‘aware’ and demanding user, and the need to change their internal organization to keep pace with the very rapid changes taking place in technology and approach. A continuous increase of complexity and the capacity of physicians will not ensure the fundamental requirement of any business: to really deliver what its customers need. Hence, it is time for a revolutionary strategy focused on: (i) maximizing value for patients by obtaining the best outcomes at lowest cost and (ii) moving from a physician-centred organization to an ‘organization-driven’ care process. However, complex systems are typically conservative and rather resistant to change, and the healthcare system is no exception to this rule. The challenge is that doctors have to be central players in the healthcare revolution and any strategy that they do not embrace will fail. Certainly, a piecemeal approach will not work. Engaging doctors in transforming the system requires focusing on shared goals, by using motivational tools: shared purpose, peer pressure, measuring performance, and enhancing a patient-centred approach. GVM Care & Research is a holding operating in the health, pharmaceutical, spa-well-being, research, biomedical industry, company-aimed services, real estate, and financial areas. The core business is the network of highly multi-specialized hospitals and day-hospital outpatient clinics: this complex system, involving specialized facilities and highly qualified professional expertise, is present in numerous Italian regions and extends also to France, Albania, and Poland. GVM is one of the key players in Italy in cardiac surgery (responsible for ∼15% of all cardiac interventions in Italy) and interventional cardiology, with documented excellent outcomes (cf. the Italian National Healthcare Agency and Italian Ministry of Health). The first step in any strategic transformation is to clarify the institutional mission, …