4 WAYS OF ACHIEVING HOSPITAL GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

Growth is the process of being more mature. Growth can also be described as an increase in number, power, intensity and size. Development on the other hand is the process of change that enables growth to occur. Hospital growth is therefore the process of making your hospital larger, bigger and better through effecting necessary internal and external changes. There are four (4) major things you must consider before you decide to grow your hospital. 

Do you have the right people, the right processes and adequate controls to handle growth? Also, are you, the Hospital Entrepreneur ready to grow? You cannot grow your hospital without personal growth and development. You cannot grow beyond the level of your people, processes and control systems. So putting the right people, processes and controls in place will help you achieve and sustain growth. It will be foolhardy to buy a phototherapy unit when your facility lacks employees with the requisite skills to operate it. In addition, you must embrace continuous learning in order to grow. Thank goodness for the CPD courses introduced some years ago!

Hospital growth can be achieved in four ways:

·     1    Improvement

This means improving your processes, people and product (healthcare service). This is done through regular training of employees, as well as the formulation and implementation of relevant hospital policies.

·  2       Expansion

Through scaling or expansion i.e. doing what you are doing presently on a larger scale. For example, the hospital management could decide to build an additional ward or theatre. But note that you must have the right people and processes to manage the expansion.

Expansion can also be achieved by increasing your market share in a particular patient segment. For instance, an obstetrician/gynecologist may decide to go into the IVF market by adding IVF services to his/her current practice. One question to ask before embarking on expansion is “do we possess the necessary people with the required skills to pull this off?” This makes up your core competence. Your core competence gives you a competitive advantage over other facilities.

·  3       Innovation

Innovation is doing something really new or different for you. It means thinking outside the box or adapting something from a different industry into your practice. Innovation also means being creative. You could introduce innovation into your hospital processes by changing the way things were being done. Put on your thinking cap and get creative! Customers love seeing new things.

·     4    Acquisition

This is the act of obtaining something i.e. buying into/over another hospital or clinic. Again, before going ahead to acquire another facility, ask yourself if you have the right processes, people and controls to pull it off. Also, are adequate resources available?  What is the risk-benefit analysis?

After looking at your present hospital structure you may decide to adopt any of the four ways to move to the next level. Each method of growth carries inherent risks as well as enormous benefits.

Furthermore, there are five Hospital Growth tips you should consider:

·         Pace

When trying to grow your hospital, learn to pace things. Pace growth so that people, processes and controls can catch up with you. Just like a toddler learning to walk, don't take big steps at one time. Rather, take little steps on a consistent basis. That way, you will not outpace your people, processes and controls. Growth can be a stressful time for both management and employees, so go gently.

·         Focus

Have a strategic focus and don't try to do everything at the same time. Do more of what you do well. For example, if you are a good surgeon focus more on that. With time, you will develop a reputation for yourself that will invariably lead to increased patronage.

·         Culture

What are your values? Your values help to shape your organizational culture. Culture defines your habits and the way of doing things in your facility. Develop a good organizational culture and teach your people. Your culture may be a culture of excellence or a culture of promptness. Whatever it is, let your people know. Then, match growth with your culture because too much growth can dilute your organizational culture. I.e. if you bring in new people, they must imbibe your culture or else they will dilute it with their own practices.

·         Learn

Learn from your mistakes. A success is an ex-failure! A mistake in a thing makes you know one way of not doing that thing. When you notice something isn't working, stop doing it and try something else. Also, learn from people around you. Learn something beneficial from a different industry and transfer it to your business. That is a form of innovation.

• Collaboration

Finally, get your employees involved in the planning process. They are the ones at the front line of patient care. In addition, they are the ones to implement the decisions taken to create growth. It is therefore important that they understand the vision and how to achieve it.

Have a great week ahead.