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Reasons You Aren’t Reaching Your Career Goals
Have you been passed up for a promotion lately? Are you not where you thought you would be in career by now? You’re smart, hard-working, and creative. So what’s the problem?
There are a number of very real reasons that could be holding you back from reaching your potential including fears you may have or false-thinking patterns. No matter what the reason, once you recognize the issue, you have the power to change it.
From my experience and vantage point, here are the 10 biggest reasons why you’re not where you should be in your career:
Fear of Success. Many people feel they don’t deserve success in life or fear their own greatness. Just as the fear of achieving a personal worst can motivate personal growth, the fear of achieving a personal best can also hinder achievement. You need to believe in yourself and that you deserve to succeed. Have you heard of “Fake it till you make it?” It means if you don’t feel confident, pretend you are until you gain the confidence needed.
Fear of Failure. Fearing failure can damage everything at work and in life. It ruins your productivity, destroys your dreams, and keeps you from building the professional success you’re trying to build. Don’t fear failure but expect it. Your mistakes will teach you and show you a better way to get what you want and remember there’s no reward without risk.
Thinking Way Too Small. You may be looking at the future one day at a time or even one week at a time. You don’t have vision for the long-term. You see the trees and not the forest. Transformational leaders have one thing in common…their vision is bigger than average. Just like them, you need to open up your mind’s eye to continually seek new opportunities.
Lack of Soft Skills to do the Job. Your hard skills might have landed you the job but the lack of the right soft skills will hold you back from moving forward within the organization. According to Careerealism, the critical soft skills employers most desire in their employees today are honesty and integrity, strong work ethic, emotional intelligence, self-motivation, high energy, and being a team player. The good news is that soft skills can be learned. Take the initiative and get trained on those you need.
Preoccupied with Social Media. If you waste valuable work hours and productivity time on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or other social media platforms (unless your job is in social media), you’re not going to get anywhere. Employers will see you working on “not working.” Your chance for a promotion is gone and soon you’ll be gone.
Feeling Entitled. Entitled, comfortable and security are words that you should never utter or experience. These are words that justify complacency, certain privileges, and low performance on the job. Being “entitled” to be treated differently than you are being treated can absolutely ruin your career. The reality is that coworkers don’t appreciate others leaving more work for them and bosses don’t reward bare minimum performance.
Paralysis by Analysis. Wiki defines Paralysis by Analysis as the state of over-thinking a situation so that a decision or action is never taken, in effect paralyzing the outcome. There’s a great cost to an organization if the decision making process overwhelms you and therefore prevents you from making any decision at all.
Negative Thinking. Negative workplace attitudes have an effect on every person in the organization and negative attitudes effects employee morale, productivity, and team building abilities. It also has an effect on the overall workplace environment or culture. Get rid of your toxic thinking and beliefs before they send you into a downward spiral and ruin your career altogether.
Lack of Goals. If you don’t plan anything, play it by ear, and just hope things will fall into place, you are not being realistic. What you need is a clear understanding of the company mission and create a number of professional and personal goals that relate to the company’s mission and success. Put your goals in writing. This makes them more real. By not setting goals, you look lazy and management will perceive you as having a lack of ambition or initiative.
Thinking Like an Employee and Not a Leader. Today, companies are in dire need of future leaders. If you’re giving them the impression you’re only showing up for a paycheck, it’s not likely that you’ll be high on their list of those ready for a promotion or leadership position. Therefore, to get ahead, it’s a good idea to demonstrate that you have leading edge ideas and the ability to implement them for the continued success of the company.
Is there something that’s keeping you back from reaching success in your career? If so, please share your story or comment below.
A Look Back at HIMSS 2015 by Norman Volsky, Director of Mobile IT Practice, DRI
Last week I attended the annual HIMSS conference in Chicago. It was an exceptional event with world class speakers, the latest in HIT products and services and great networking opportunities.
While there, I met with executives at numerous Healthcare IT companies. Below are specific companies I met with that were doing some very unique and innovative things that I felt were noteworthy:
HEALARIUM
Mobile platform designed to help patients follow their customized care plan. Healarium has 15 ready-to-use condition based care plans (30,000 completed by patients).
SEAMLESS MD
Patient Engagement solution specifically geared towards Surgery. The platform delivers customized clinical programs for pre-op and post-op patient engagement, data collection and monitoring across surgical episodes of care.
QUALCOMM LIFE
Cloud-based system that is an open ecosystem for medical devices and applications, enabling end-to-end wireless connectivity allowing medical device users and their physicians/caregivers to easily access biometric data. This platform is a turnkey solution to monitor high risk patients in a home setting. During the Keynote address, Walgreens announced their partnership with Qualcomm Life. Qualcomm also recently announced a strategic relationship with Cerner.
VISUALDX
Visual Clinical Decision Support tool that allows physicians to enter a patient’s symptoms and information to help them diagnose rare diseases. VisualDx has been getting a lot of interest from EMR vendors from an integration standpoint due to new Smart on FHIR API Integration capabilities. Here is a great article that was written about the company recently: http://www.wired.com/2015/04/visualdx/
HEALTHLOOP
“Automates Fantastic” is the company’s slogan in regards to its high touch cloud-based Patient Engagement platform. Healthloop strives to help Health Systems, IDN’s and Practices provide quality care to its patients and improve the overall patient experience. Healthloop has recently earned a Net Promoter score as good or better than Apple which shows how much its users like and adopt its second-to-none design.
SOCIALWELLTH
Focused on Prescriptive Digital Health by providing access to over 100,000 apps and helping Providers, Employers and Payers prescribe the appropriate apps to the consumer based on their condition. Helps facilitate communication between consumers and their healthcare sponsors at the point of care. SocialWellth announced a new “Wellth Chips” program at HIMSS to incentivize consumers to use its platform.
MEDAWARE
Behavior based software solution that detects and eliminates prescription errors. Similar to fraud detection in the credit card industry, MedAware takes EMR data, builds a mathematical model which represents real-world treatment patterns and detects when a prescription largely deviates from the standard treatment spectrum.
CRITICAL ALERT
Nurse Call system that does not need middleware to be able to function. Combines Secure Messaging, RTLS, Real Time Dashboards and Reporting and Clinical Workflow Escalations to allow hospitals to improve patient satisfaction, enhance outcomes and drive down costs.
PINGMD
Communication platform that allows two-way message, call and video chat (both patient-to-physician and physician-to-physician). PingMD helps build a “professional dynamic network” so that physicians can give effective referrals. PingMD helps care teams manage a patient’s treatment.
EXTENSION HEALTHCARE
Alarm Management vendor that has built a next generation mobile platform that has been getting significant traction recently. Its open architecture allows seamless interoperability. Extension manages alarms, alerts and secure texting all under one umbrella to reduce alarm and interruption fatigue to improve workflow, response time and patient satisfaction.
APPSCRIPT
mHealth prescribing platform trying to make sense of over 125K health apps and 1000’s of wearables and clinical devices. IMS’s goal is to help doctors know which apps will provide the best clinical outcomes for specific conditions allowing Providers and Health Plans to better manage their populations.
AIRSTRIP
Mobile Interoperability platform that allows live remote monitoring enabling clinicians to access critical patient data whether they are inside or outside of the hospital. This innovative tool enables care collaboration and single workflow visualization to improve decision making. Airstrip’s goal is to provide clinicians with less overall data to quiet the “noise” but more actionable data to help treat patients effectively.
INTELLIGENT INSITES
Real-Time Operational Intelligence vendor that focuses on RTLS/RFID, Asset Management, Workflow Management, Environmental Monitoring, Patient Safety and Infection Control. Having both a mobile and desktop platform, Intelligent InSites provides its customers with second to none analytics and dashboards to improve financial and operational efficiency, quality, regulatory compliance and patient satisfaction.
Overall the conference displayed state-of-the-art healthcare technology. The emerging solutions that the companies I met with have developed will undoubtedly change the way healthcare is provided. Most impressive, was the incredible passion of the people I met with for what their companies are doing to improve healthcare delivery. I feel so lucky to work in an industry where people are so passionate for what they are doing and truthfully, it is what drives me to wake up and come to work to talk to so many interesting people every day!
For more information about HIMSS 2015, contact Norman Volsky 440-996-0059 or nvolsky@directrecruiters.com
Matthew Cohen Interview Michael Best, VP of Software Operations at SClengery
Matthew Cohen, Energy Management Practice Leader with DRI, intervbest-michael-smiews Michael Best, VP of Software Operations at SCIenergy, who shares his insights on how best to overcome the many obstacles in the energy analytics space.
The following interview was also featured on EnergyManagerToday.com. Click here to see the original article.
Overcoming Obstacles in the Energy Analytics Industry
The energy management software industry has transformed itself from a novelty to a necessity for building owners and managers in the last few years. The energy management software industry is thriving. It is moving quickly to adapt to a market that is experiencing exponential growth and building owners whose need for performance data has increased tenfold. I asked Michael Best, vice president of software operations for SCIenergy to share his insights on how best to overcome the many obstacles in the energy analytics space.
Matthew Cohen: How can an energy analytics company differentiate itself from its competitors in the current market?
Michael Best: Energy analytics on their own don’t actually change anything; they only give the information to change. End users that pay the fees to get analytics installed and configured need to be committed to make change. Energy analytics companies get the best results when they become the active energy managers for the end users and guide their customers with the help of the analytics to fix the most important things first and hold them accountable with constant communication and reports of their efforts. Once they see the success of their actions, they are much more likely to make policy change from that point forward. The value of an energy analytics company is its outcome, not just its software.
Matthew Cohen: What type of buildings are being underserved by energy intelligence software, and what can the industry do to change that?
Michael Best: There are probably 80 percent of commercial real estate buildings in the market that do not have energy intelligence in them. The reasons could be…
- There is no building management system (BMS) installed.
- The value of the results of energy intelligence does not get acted upon.
- There is no budget to do energy intelligence, fixes or retrofitting.
All of these problems can be overcome.
There are many ways to collect data from a building, such as a simple BMS system that provides scheduling, data collection and control. There are impressive documented savings for a building with a BMS versus those without a BMS.
The value in currency and in kWh from the data is vitally important to prioritize fixes, to show improvement and to measure and verify results.
If real-time miles per gallon is displayed in our vehicles, we change how aggressively we drive because we know it is hurting us in our pocket. This takes behavioral change and accountability. Likewise, if results are shown from energy intelligence and we do nothing, we will save nothing. Results need to be acted upon.
Matthew Cohen: As VP and a team leader, how do you attract and retain top-performing talent in the energy analytics space?
Michael Best: HVAC is moving from being an old-school, manual industry to a “cool” big data industry and is starting to attract younger more technology driven industry.
The younger generation see energy big data analytics as a game changer for the environment, and that is driving the hiring process. The data side is also driving salaries a little higher, which helps retain talent. The sustainability side of buildings is attracting women to a traditionally male career, which is exciting as well.
Matthew Cohen: What do you see as the next frontier for energy analytics?
Michael Best: Integration to preventative maintenance or other CMMS systems via software application programming interfaces (API’s) is imperative and can bring additional checks and balances to help drive the behavioral changes needed.
The addition of the “Internet of Things” excites me immensely. Having the ability to add extra sensor data to analytics brings even more value. Being able to bring lighting, occupancy, plug loads, data center data, security, elevators, audio visual, parking, water management and irrigation, look up pricing, ADR and the smart grid using dashboards and digital signage to display the results in a meaningful non-confusing manner is the next frontier.
Doing all of this and not exposing the building to a security risk is of utmost importance, and one-way communication for the data outbound only is important. There should be no need to reach into a building to get the data, the building needs to send the data only; the rest is done in secure servers.
Matthew Cohen: As a leader in the industry, what is your biggest challenge in keeping pace with changes in technology?
Michael Best: We have only begun the big data analytics revolution, especially with all the additional potential sensors. I believe energy analytics companies can give time back to people running buildings by using technology, analytics and insight to drive savings and be their trusted technology advisors.
There are so many new technologies, new sensors, and communication protocols that they have no time to start to understand it. Let your analytics company do that for you and stay abreast with the growth explosion.
There are multiple barriers to adoption of new technologies — trust, privacy, security, protocols, value propositions and standards — but the opportunities for solutions and outcome services are endless.
Matthew Cohen
Energy Management Practice Leader
Direct Recruiters, Inc.
440-996-0860
mcohen@directrecruiters.com
What Today’s Employers Expect From Employees
These days, employers look for skills beyond the ‘academic qualifications’ of candidates. Many of them believe that academic qualifications and experience are something that can easily be found but the right combination of characteristics that help a company make money or save money, are hard to find.
With that in mind, here are 6 of the most desirable characteristics that employers expect from employees:
Taking Initiative. Initiative is all about taking charge. It’s having the motivation to accomplish tasks on your own. If you want to be great at what you do and be considered for a leadership position, you need to show that you are ready, able, and willing to get things done without being asked.
Positive Attitude. Many employers believe that having a positive attitude is more important than the knowledge an employee brings to the table. A positive attitude is infectious. It spreads to all others in the workplace. Also, if you’re a positive person, you tend to be more curious about things. As a result, your job performance is usually better than a negative person because you are always looking for new ideas that yield higher productivity levels.
Entrepreneurial Spirit. Entrepreneurs are innovators. They are always trying to figure out new ways to accomplish tasks. Entrepreneurs like change because change often brings a plethora of opportunities. The essence of the entrepreneurial attitude is that you are able to anticipate change and formulate innovative responses to change that will result in success.
Results-Oriented. Results-oriented individuals are focused on making things happen no matter the challenges or road blocks. This means you dig through projects and figure out how to obtain the desired result(s). In addition, you stay resolute and focused on each project, meet deadlines, and deliver value to the organization.
Team Player. Employers know that their employees are more productive and tend to be more loyal and committed to the organization when they see themselves as an integral part of a team. Team players show a willingness to collaborate with others in order to execute work assignments and accomplish goals.
Dependable and Responsible. Being dependable means that you do what you say you will do. Employers value employees who come to work on time and take responsibility for their actions and behaviors. In addition, employers know that dependable and responsible employees value their job, job expectations, and their performance level.
Desire for Continued Learning. Continual learning enables employees to increase the contribution they make to the company. If you show a willingness to take advantage of training programs offered at work, attend seminars, read relevant books etc. you become more valuable to every assignment and ultimately the organization. Also, don’t forget to ask for advice from your team and manager on things you need to learn in order to progress.
If you are a hiring manager, are there any other characteristics that you consider to be "must haves" in your workplace? Please share your comments below.
Candidate Background Checks More Important Than Ever by Dan Charney, President, DRI
A significant number of job candidates falsify information on their resumes. Surprisingly, many applicants who fabricate their information still land the job. How is that possible?
According to Neil Adelman, President of Safeguard, a comprehensive background screening company in Beachwood, Ohio, “About 50% of resumes contain incorrect information and many businesses either lack the proper in-house resources or initiative to carry out full employment verification procedures or criminal record checks. As a result, companies can easily make poor and costly hiring mistakes.”
There are a variety of reasons why candidates falsify information. From my experience, the reasons run the gambit of trying to hide periods of unemployment, conceal substance abuse, and/or hide a criminal record. For some, it’s simply to get the competitive edge in today’s economy and fierce job market.
According to the Wall Street Journal and the Society for Human Resource Management, here are the top reasons why employers should screen their applicants:
- Reduce Legal Liability
- Ensure a Safe Work Environment
- Prevent Theft & Other Criminal Activity
- Comply with State Law
- Assess Overall Trustworthiness
I’d like to add two more…it saves time and money. For example, I recently advised a client of mine to conduct a thorough vetting process before hiring my candidate or any candidate for that matter. The hiring manager said it was their policy to hire first and then check. Unfortunately, they initiated their criminal background check well into his first month of employment, after on-boarding and training were completed. To their dismay, they found criminal activity in his past that if repeated, would put their company at risk. They terminated his employment immediately. Neglecting to do a background check before hiring was a costly mistake for them. Thousands of dollars in company resources including financial, human capital, and time were wasted.
I recommend that the best time to do a background check is when you narrow the playing field to one or two candidates and before a job offer is even discussed. Employment and background verification is too important for your company to hesitate on, delegate to an untrained employee, or disregard your state’s guidelines and requirements.
Frankly, you have a duty to take care of your workforce as well as mitigate risk for your company. That’s why DRI uses screening services before hiring our own employees and recommend the same to our clients.
Matthew Cohen Interviews Jon Hillberg, President & CEO of KMC Controls
Matthew Cohen, Energy Management Practice Leader with DRI, interviews Jon Hilberg, President & CEO of KMC Controls who talks about new technology and talent acquisition in the Building Automation space.
KMC Controls helps facilities achieve higher levels of indoor environmental quality and energy efficiency by automating and controlling building systems.
1) In what areas do you see the greatest growth in the Building Automation Industry?
The Building Automation Industry is going through tremendous change right now and it is only accelerating. As the world becomes more “connected” via The Internet of Things (IoT), massive data collection (Big Data) the opportunity in the BAS Industry will be exponential over the next 10-15 years. While Green Buildings have grown in popularity, the “openness” of systems running in buildings today is paramount. C-level executives today want data they can have in “real time” which allows critical decisions be made without waiting for “old data”. This data also ties very closely to the Demand Response world and Utility Companies need to control electricity usage at critical times. Cloud based systems are also becoming more accepted and utilized allowing large building data storage to be housed remotely and securely away from the facility itself. There are many growth factors as you can see. The challenge is to “pick a lane” and stay focused on it.
2) What do you see as the biggest challenge facing BAS manufactures and system integrators today?
With the popularity of “Apps” today many of the mundane, time-consuming tasks are being cut back or eliminated that SI’s face today. That being said finding qualified technicians that are both HVAC and IT savvy is a tremendous challenge. “Speed to Market” with new, robust, easy to install products challenge the manufacturers as well as continued market pricing pressures.
3) In choosing senior level talent for KMC, what are the key factors you look for when expanding you team?
We look for dedicated, passionate employees who are willing to go the extra mile. Being a smaller player in the BAS space, we have people performing more than just one task if they are capable.
4) What are the major challenges you face when acquiring top talent in the BAS industry?
The biggest challenge we face as a manufacturer is drawing talent to the smaller rural area where we reside. Lifestyle is valuable to many and if they want a larger city environment, it makes our recruiting tougher. We are addressing by opening a design center in a major city which will help somewhat. Allowing people in certain positions to work form home at least 2-3 days a week if not full time also has helped.
Matthew Cohen
Energy Management Practice Leader
Direct Recruiters, Inc.
440-996-0860
mcohen@directrecruiters.com
7 Factors That Influence Whether You Get Hired or Not
What is going through a hiring manager’s head when selecting a candidate? There are 7 top factors that influence their decision making about whether you get hired:
A Great Resume.
To get noticed in the first place, you have to have an impressive resume. Remember, your resume is the first impression the hiring manager will have of you. Keep it current and fresh. Also, look at other people’s resume typical to your industry and check how yours compares.
Showing Long-Term Potential.
Employers want people in their organization to work their way up and grow with the company. Flags go up if they see that you like to change jobs every 2 years. So if asked where you see yourself in 5 years, it’s best to say that you envision your future at the company on a continued success track.
Ability to Get Along with Others.
Since you will spend a lot of time with co-workers, employers want to make sure you have the ability to work well with lots of different people. Also, employees who have a sense of belonging with their co-workers tend to be happier at their jobs.
A Clean Online Presence.
These days, there’s a good chance that the hiring manager found you through social media in the first place. Turn your social media presence into a positive by making sure your public profiles are appropriate and kept up to date.
The Right Skills and Experience.
Having the right hard and soft skills with experience in the industry will put you ahead of the pack. Employers want to know that you can contribute from day one.
Giving Specific Examples.
Hiring Managers want people who can prove that they will increase the organization’s revenues, decrease costs or help it succeed in some way. Provide specific examples in your interview of how you were able to contribute elsewhere and quantify your work if you can.
Positive Attitude.
Just about every hiring manager will be excited about a candidate who is enthusiastic and gives off positive vibes. People are attracted to happy and positive people. If you lack experience and skills, this could be your trump card.
If you’re a Hiring Manager, what else has influenced your decision to hire a specific candidate?
7 Things Successful People Have in Common
Success has nothing to do with luck. Success begins when developing a successful mindset. This mindset in turn builds character and ultimately creates success.
There are 7 things that all successful people have in common. Not to worry if you don’t have all seven. They can be learned. Find a role model and emulate their habits and behaviors that brought them success. Also, ask them to be your coach in order to help you learn and grow.
1) They are dreamers. Successful people dream big and don’t put boundaries on how far they can reach. They will do one thing each day that puts them closer to reaching their goals. However, they dream with a plan because without a plan, a dream is just a wish.
2) They are willing to fail. Success doesn’t come easy and people are bound to fail along the way. Rather than staying down, Successful people pick themselves back up and learn from their failures and use them as stepping stones to success.
3) They invest in themselves. Successful people invest their time and money towards bettering themselves. They strive to learn a new skill or improve their current ones. They realize that without knowledge, they don’t have power and without power, they cannot reach the next level.
4) They network and connect with others. Successful people network with like-minded individuals. They seek out people with similar goals and who bring out the very best in them. They will join associations and attend events to stay connected.
5) They take action. Successful people take immediate action and have excellent decision making skills. They don’t wait for things to happen but make things happen and do it without looking back or having regrets.
6) They embrace change. Successful people don’t fear or resist change, they embrace it. With the world moving at warp speed and technology rapidly changing, they adapt and realize that change is inevitable.
7) They see the bigger picture. Successful people never stop moving forward. They knock down any brick walls in their way. They also know that the problems they are facing today probably won’t matter next week or in the long run. They are unstoppable.
What other traits do you think successful people have in common? Please post below!
Matthew Cohen Interviews Roderick Morris, Opower
Matthew Cohen, Energy Management Practice Leader with Direct Recruiters, Inc. interviews Roderick Morris, SVP, Marketing and Operations at Opower, provider of cloud-based software to the Utility Industry.
Roderick, one of your “Influencers” on your LinkedIn profile is Joel Peterson, Chairman of Jet Blue. What makes him an Influencer to you?
Joel is an incredibly successful business leader, investor, and teacher. I took a course in real estate finance from him at Stanford, and like many of my classmates realized that Joel was much bigger than any particular function or discipline. He is a very smart person, but the thing that runs constant to me across everything he does is a focus on integrity. You can see it in any of the posts he writes on LinkedIn.
Also on LinkedIn, the recommendations you received commend you on your leadership skills and abilities. What do you feel it takes to be a great leader?
If you’re authentic and decisive, it can make up for a lot of other flaws. There is plenty for me to learn in order to be a better leader, but people I work with seem to appreciate my direct approach and my passion for helping others achieve their goals without delay.
What are your thoughts on the looming global leadership shortage in the energy and utility industry? What actions should companies be taking now?
It’s impossible to create leadership experience out of thin air. We are always looking for talented managers we can pull in from outside. At the same time, domain experience is important and promoting from within must be part of the solution. Senior teams need to make bets on unproven talent now so that there is an opportunity to test and grow inexperienced managers. Along with that is a required commitment that the senior team invest more time coaching folks multiple levels down in their organizations. At Opower, we are growing quickly, and this sort of approach is necessary as we scale up departments.
As part of a Blog you wrote about recruitment and hiring, you made a point of saying that recruiting is at least 50% on the Hiring Manager. Why do you think Hiring Manager’s do not realize this?
Hiring managers might fail to realize that it is their duty to be an equal partner with the recruiter for a number of reasons. Sometimes they aren’t used to being in a demanding hiring environment with high standards and big hiring targets where it is all hands on deck. Or they might not understand that the only way a recruiter will find their perfect candidate is through a process in which the hiring manager and the recruiter iterate through a candidate pool and focus in on what’s most important. Finally, recruiting is a lot like selling; some people just don’t have it in them.
Mike Silverstein Interviews Vince Panozzo, Strata Decision Technology
Mike Silverstein of Direct Recruiters interviews Vince Panozzo, Senior Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer, Strata Decision Technology
Vince Panozzo is the SVP and Chief Revenue Officer at Strata Decision Technology. Mike Silverstein is a Managing Partner and the Director of Healthcare IT at Direct Recruiters, Inc.
Tell us about yourself and the company.
I started my career at Strata Decision in 2003 and currently serve as Senior Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer. As CRO, I lead sales and business development for Strata Decision and am responsible for expanding the company’s footprint with new and existing customers.
Prior to my role as CRO, I served in a client services leadership role, overseeing implementations at a number of the nation’s leading healthcare organizations including: Cleveland Clinic, Duke University Health System, New York Presbyterian, Orlando Health, Spectrum Health, Yale New Haven Health, Legacy Health, and Providence Health and Services amongst others. I continue to serve as a strategic advisor on the use of the Strata Decision systems for our clients.
Strata Decision Technology was founded over 17 years ago, based on the following ideas:
- Decisions drive healthcare…and better information can lead to better decisions.
- There is a need to focus on strategic decisions…as they have the most significant impact on both the organization and the population they serve.
- The right technology in the hands of the right people…can make a meaningful difference and change healthcare for the better.
- Our mission is to fulfill our triple aim of building great products, delivering a best in class client experience and growing our footprint.
Strata Decision Technology software has now been adopted by more than 1,000 healthcare organizations including: major academic medical centers, community hospitals, children’s hospitals and many of the largest and most influential healthcare systems in the U.S. One out of every five hospitals in the U.S. is using StrataJazz–meaning that we are trusted and deliver results. The technology is a single platform for Cost Accounting, Contract Modeling, Operating Budgeting, Capital Planning, Financial Planning, and Monthly Reporting.
What can hospitals and healthcare networks do to truly understand their costs?
With the transition to high deductible plans and patients taking on more of the financial burden, healthcare is now a consumer issue. Patients (a.k.a. buyers) want to know what their healthcare costs so they can make informed decisions. Historically, there was very little relationship between pricing and the cost of care delivery. In other words, prices were set independent of cost. Healthcare networks now need to understand cost so they can develop rational and visible prices for services. In order to fully understand their costs, health networks need to look at costs in a horizontal (episode, service line) fashion rather than in a vertical (departmental) way. Hospitals are implementing state-of-the art EHR systems, Decision Support technologies and ERPs with one of the major goals being to understand the true cost of care.
How do you retain top industry talent?
We have very high employee engagement at Strata Decision, which we are very proud of. There are a number of things we do to build buy-in and to retain our incredibly talented, passionate team members. One of the things that is often overlooked in keeping talent is doing something that matters every day. Ultimately, our team is helping their clients use technology to effectively allocate resources so they can drive margin to fuel their mission of delivering high-quality patient care. That is something that really energizes the team. Additionally, to make sure we are supporting our team, we also survey 100 percent of the company every quarter and the results are meticulously reviewed by our executive team. If we are falling short, we take action.
One of your influencers on LinkedIn is Toby Cosgrove, CEO & President at Cleveland Clinic. Why is he an influencer for you?
Dr. Cosgrove is an incredibly innovative thinker who gets me excited about what is possible in the healthcare industry. As we all know, healthcare is currently going through a major transformation. We need to have innovators like Dr. Cosgrove who will contribute their great ideas to guide us through this change. Other people that fall into this category are Dr. Atul Guwande at Harvard and Don Berwick, the former Administrator of CMS. Cleveland Clinic is one of Strata Decision’s great clients so it is exciting to hear how Dr. Cosgrove’s vision gets turned into action there.
Strata Decision Technology hosts an annual Strata Decision Summit. Tell us about the Summit and why it attracts so many leading healthcare organizations from across the country. What can we expect from the 2014 Summit?
The Strata Decision Summit has been so successful because our clients provide the content. All of the content is the product of our clients’ brilliance. Here is a great example of one of the presentations from last year’s event: http://www.stratadecision.com/physicans-finance-=-love. We are already working on some really exciting things for the 2014 Strata Decision Summit. I cannot tell you about the details yet, but a major theme will be taking waste out of the healthcare system.
What is the biggest challenge currently on your plate?
I spend a lot of time travelling across the country meeting with our clients and potential clients. The discussions I have with them are one of my great joys, as major innovations are taking place from coast to coast. Harnessing all these ideas and getting them back in front of our team to ensure we are taking action on them is the biggest challenge I currently face. This includes making sure that we are providing the right technology and services needed to support the current changes happening in the industry such as: population health, value based care, reimbursement changes and physician variation analysis.
“Well, I agree with Vince’s take on decisions being at the lifeblood of the enterprise. I would go further, though: data are not enough, and it is the value derived from data that make them truly meaningful. In the next few years analytics (population, patient, clinically-based, disease-centric) are where the need will be in order to improve outcomes. Not all of the data will be derived directly from the EHR—some will be taken directly from point-of-care and screened prior to EHR upload. Of highest import will be chronic afflictions like CHF, Diabetes, COPD as well as Fall Prevention and Detection. But, there is also a great need to address high-cost, high-mortality inpatient issues, such as Sepsis (Septicemia), ventilator acquired pneumonia (VAP), and others, including iatrogenic problems, that translate into prolonged patient misery, death, and very high costs.”
John Zaleski. Chief Informatics Officer, Nuvon, Inc.
“I think Vince captured the essence of the shortcomings of healthcare providers as they are facing sweeping changes in business modeling and culture. I agree completely that there exists a huge disconnect between the price of delivering care and the actual cost of care. Healthcare has normalized dysfunction to the point that actionable data analytics both in the clinical and business environments is foreign and only now emerging as a business sustainability requirement. The confluence of business systems and clinical systems is critical to accurately measure clinical outcomes and the costs associated with performance to benchmark standards.
My concern is that we do not have the juice in healthcare to tackle all the required changes to the “way we have done business” to adjust to the new paradigm. Certainly there is bound to be a big churn in the industry with many organizations failing. Good interview!”
Shawn McKenzie, President, CEO. Ascendian Healthcare Consulting, Inc.
“Interesting take, but some of the key issues on the question, “What can hospitals and healthcare networks do to truly understand their costs?” are missing. I’d add that both cost AND quality are key for payors and providers to truly understand their costs. As you know, each provider sets a contract with payors for the cost of services. However, these prices have little to do with the quality of the services rendered. For example, a MRI can cost $500 at one facility and $5000 at another. Both produce the exact same MRI. One is a big name practice, the other a mom and pop shop. The provider writes the order for the big name provider without considering how much it costs. The patient (unless they are paying more out-of-pocket for the MRI) goes along with the order, never looking at the cost. $4500 could be saved for the exact same MRI. It’s basically what Castlight Health is offering the market, price transparency. It affects both sides of the case equation, and it will effect patients (buyers) more as they assume more of the responsibility for their health care costs.”
Brian Bogie, Vice President, Marketing, HealthEdge