I would like to address the following comments to my readers in the healthcare field, especially those in Health Information Management (HIM) and Information Technology (IT).
This past month I attended meetings of two different healthcare-related professional associations. In both groups, my peers complained they weren’t invited to the table when important discussions were occurring regarding technology and health information management. In most cases, I hear the HIM professionals complain that IT leaves them out. This week, it was the IT folks that complained that they weren’t invited to the table by the HIM folks. However, in the 25 years I have been in the health information management field, I have always been invited to the table for discussions between the medical staff and the hospital administration or practice administrator, whether I was in the role of employee, administrator, or management consultant. So what is different that I am invited to the table while my peers are not? I assure you it isn’t my charming personality. It is because I am perceived as adding value to the discussions.
In a previous article, I wrote that it is an important strategy to be recognized by your clients and peers as a subject matter expert. If you haven’t developed relationships within your organization to demonstrate you have valuable information for your colleagues, how would they know to call upon you to assist them? Sometimes management consultants are called in because there aren’t enough resources to do everything that a schedule requires. But many times, consultants are brought into an organization because the leadership does not know they have knowledgeable and valuable resources available internally. They don’t recognize the value you can add because you haven’t helped them identify you as a subject matter expert.
Do a reality check on yourself by answering the following questions:
- Do your coworkers know what you do?
- Have you asked for an appointment with members of your organization’s leadership so you can listen to their needs and therefore know what you can provide to them?
- Do you share journal articles that reflect that you understand management’s needs and interests and “thought they’d find this article interesting”?
- Do you occasionally ‘pop in’ to the department with good news or just a smile? Let’s face it – IT and HIM people traditionally only cross paths during an implementation, when something is broken, or when some regulation has been violated.
- Does the Medical Staff see you as friend or foe?
- Does the clinical staff see you at times other than when the computer won’t work or when a patient is requesting information?
- Do you regularly sit with the staff in the cafeteria and actually recognize them as colleagues–individuals with names, interests, and families?
It can happen in all companies, but in healthcare we are notorious for not recognizing each other as teammates. We work as islands unto ourselves. If you are going to successfully meet the demands of the upcoming impact of healthcare reform, EHR implementation, and ICD 10 migration, you will want to be seen as a valuable resource for your organization. If you aren’t at the table for these important discussions and transitions, then identify what you can do to be seen as a subject matter expert by your colleagues, peers, customers, and stakeholders.
Frequently, I’ll hear a director or department head comment that they have said for years what administration heard coming out of my mouth as a consultant. So yes, occasionally it takes an outside person to change a culture or develop a strategic plan. But on the average day, you need to be seen as the subject matter expert within your organization. If you aren’t at the table for the critical dialogues that should be occurring for the upcoming legislative impacts, identify your strategy for making you a recognized value that is needed for these changes. You can’t control anyone else’s behavior, but you can control whether or not you are viewed as a subject matter expert
