Are you ‘blazing trails’? Or are you ‘paving the cow path’?

“OMG – I just saw this LinkedIn webinar for some new software that can help us make more money on every case!”?

Sound familiar? Let’s face it—it's hard to go anywhere these days without encountering yet another new technology or AI-driven platform that promises to take your business to the next level. While advances in technology and automation can offer tremendous value to your ambulatory facilities and bottom line, But, before diving in, pause and consider these five questions.?

1. What is the outcome you are aiming to achieve by adding software or technology?
2. What workflow changes may be needed within your facility, physician offices, anesthesia groups, and vendors, to fully utilize this new technology?
3. What additional interfaces or customized programming will be needed to connect the new technology to your current systems?
4. What is the timeline for initial data setup, training, and implementation? Who will do that training?
5. What is the true cost of adding technology? Have you included the implementation, maintenance, software updates, and ongoing customer support?
6. Is the juice worth the squeeze?

It’s important to remember that technology and automation are only tools designed to help enhance your clinical and operational workflows. If the workflows and processes are meeting your goals, then adding technology and automation can elevate performance by reducing inefficiencies and providing real-time, actionable information to the right people at the right time. ‘Blazing trails’ is about leveraging technology to further optimize existing outstanding processes. ?

But too often, we see leaders look to technology as a shortcut for process and workflow improvement, skipping the crucial step of defining the ideal process to achieve desired goals. While there are some great, knowledgeable, and experienced ambulatory surgery technology and software companies that have created fantastic tools ( MedServe DocBuddy TYDEi Health AdaptX to name a few of our favs), there are just as many simply looking to make a quick profit by recycling workflows and technology based on hospital or office processes that don’t quite fit in an ambulatory facility. If your core processes or workflows need improvement, bolting on new technology can complicate matters further with disconnected or nonspecific elements, leading to more workarounds, and more frustration. ?

In the end, process improvement starts with clearly defining your desired outcomes and developing workflows that effectively support them. Before purchasing any new technology for your ambulatory facility, make sure to do your homework by first defining the desired outcomes and fine-tuning your current workflows. That way, you can avoid “electron-ifying” an ineffective process (‘paving the cow path’) and fully capitalize on your next technology upgrade.

For help with process improvement, clinical workflow design, or determining how and where new technology or software might fit into your ambulatory facility, visit us at www.lchadvisors.com, we would love to connect. ?

If this resonates with you, don’t forget to LIKE, SHARE our content, and FOLLOW us on LinkedIn LeftCoast Healthcare Advisors ?