How do you manage risks when collaborating with external partners in healthcare projects?

1 Identify the risks

The first step in managing risks is to identify them. To do this, you should consider potential sources, impacts, and likelihood of risks that may arise from collaborating with external partners. These risks could include communication and coordination issues, performance and quality issues, legal and contractual issues, or cultural and ethical issues. You can use various tools and methods to identify the risks, such as brainstorming, checklists, interviews, surveys, or risk registers. For example, misunderstandings between the project team and external partner could lead to delays in delivery or even conflicts. Poor or inconsistent delivery could be a sign of poor alignment or non-compliance with standards and regulations. Disputes or breaches of confidentiality or intellectual property rights could arise from differences in values, norms, or expectations. Identifying these risks is an essential step in managing them.

2 Assess the risks

The next step in managing risks is to assess them. You need to evaluate the severity and probability of each risk, and prioritize them according to their potential impact on the project objectives, scope, budget, and schedule. You can use various tools and methods to assess the risks, such as risk matrices, scoring systems, or qualitative or quantitative analysis.

3 Mitigate the risks

The third step in managing risks is to mitigate them. Strategies and actions such as prevention, transfer, avoidance, and acceptance can be used to reduce or eliminate the negative effects of the risks, or to increase the positive effects of the opportunities. Prevention can involve clarifying roles and responsibilities, setting expectations and deliverables with the external partner, or establishing communication channels. Transfer strategies include outsourcing, insuring, or sharing the risk with another party. Avoidance can be achieved by changing the scope, schedule, or budget of the project, or terminating the collaboration with the external partner. Acceptance involves acknowledging and monitoring the risk, or allocating contingency resources or plans to deal with it if it occurs. Tools and methods such as risk response plans, contracts, agreements, or policies can be used to mitigate risks.

4 Monitor the risks

The final step in managing risks is to monitor them. You should track and review the status, progress, and performance of the external partner, as well as the effectiveness of the risk management strategies and actions. Additionally, you should be aware of any new or emerging risks that may arise during the project lifecycle. To do so, you can use different tools and methods, such as regular updates, feedback, or evaluations from the external partner or project team; verifying, inspecting, or testing the quality, compliance, or delivery of the external partner; and conducting risk assessments, meetings, or lessons learned sessions to identify and address any issues, gaps, or improvements in the risk management process.

5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?