Importance of Change Management in Healthcare

There are a lot of changes and they’re transforming the healthcare industry by launching new systems, processes, and technology to serve the needs and demands of patients. Managing multiple changes would require specialized skills, expertise, and knowledge. Today, we’ll discuss the importance of change management in healthcare industry; its strategic approaches, and examples.

Strategic Approaches of Change Management in Healthcare

Let’s discuss the strategic approaches and importance of change management in healthcare industry; they’re as follows;

Top-Down Approach of Change Management in Healthcare

As the name implies, when the top management initiates and starts the change project from the top. It comprises developing a clear vision and a strategic approach for the change project. They need to clearly communicate the changes with employees and stakeholders, and offer them the necessary support and resources to execute the changes.

However, the top-down strategy offers support, guidance, and direction for the change project; it guides employees to comprehend the reasons and their role in the change project. It requires them to have a strong commitment to leadership and implement change in a fast-paced environment. This strategic approach experiences a lot of employee resistance during the change project.

Bottom-up Approach of Change Management in Healthcare

The bottom-up is a type of strategic approach where the front-line staff and employees start the change project. It comprises collecting ideas and thoughts from stakeholders and employees for the purpose of planning and executing changes. However, this strategic approach offers a lot of benefits and advantages;

• Higher adaption and acceptance rate of employees and they participate in the planning and execution process
• Better comprehension of problems and issues and they have tools to recognize improvement needed areas
• Higher employee engagement and motivation level and they feel a valuable member of society

Collaborative Approach of Change Management in Healthcare

As the name implies, collaboration is a type of strategic approach in which the employees and management initiate and start the change project. It comprises proactively gathering input and feedback from employees and leaders; encouraging them to participate in the planning and the decision-making process. Employees and stakeholders would show interest in the change project if the management consulted with them in the planning and execution process.

If the management and the leadership involve employees in the change project, they would develop a better comprehension of resolving problems. As a result, it improves employee motivation and engagement level, they would contribute more as they feel a valuable member of the company.

Importance of Change Management in Healthcare

Some of the top reasons for the importance of change management in healthcare industry; they’re as follows;

Better Patient Care

The change management project focuses on recognizing the improvement areas for launching changes to new systems and processes. If you recognize the improvement areas and execute the changes to resolve problems, hospitals, and healthcare institutes will offer better and improved efficient service to the patients.

Efficiency

A change management project helps hospitals streamline their processes to reduce costs and achieve efficiency. The change initiative focuses on implementing new technology, systems, and process automation. For instance, hospitals and healthcare institutes implement electronic healthcare record systems to automate their processes by gathering and storing information to decrease manual data processes and the risk of human errors.

Adapting Latest Technology

The healthcare industry and the hospital are implementing the latest technologies to treat new types of diseases efficiently. The change initiative helps hospitals to become relevant with the changes and implement the new methods of offering healthcare services to the companies.

Complying with Regulatory Requirements

Healthcare institutes and hospitals should comply with a lot of policies and regulations. It allows them to stay relevant by recognizing the improvement needing areas. Companies should adopt the new system, regulations, policies, and mechanisms with the support of change management principles.

Higher Performance

The change project helps hospitals and healthcare institutes to achieve goals, and objectives, and improve the quality of their products and services. Higher employee engagement and customer satisfaction levels and improve the overall performance of the company.

Examples of Change Management in Healthcare

Let’s discuss the main examples of change management in healthcare industry; they’re as follows;

Electronic Healthcare Record

Many old hospitals follow the traditional manual hospital paper-based system for building and maintaining medical records. It causes a lot of flaws and errors in the medical record due to inaccuracy and inefficiency and it has limited data accessibility. However, many hospitals are implementing the new EHR (electronic health record) system to serve patients better and remove a lot of errors. The implementation of the EHR System comprises of following stages;

• Recognizing the specific needs and demands
• Explaining changes to stakeholders
• Communicating proposed changes to employees
• Helping and guiding employees to adapt to new changes in the system

The new EHR System offers the following benefits to hospitals and healthcare facilities;

• Improving the operations of hospitals
• Higher efficiency
• Saving time and cost by offering the right information to the patients
• Amplifies medical record and accessibility
• Improves the patient satisfaction level
• Higher employee engagement rate

Conclusion: Importance of Change Management in Healthcare

After an in-depth study of the importance of change management in healthcare industry; we have realized that change projects are equally significant in healthcare industry. If you are learning about the significance of change management in healthcare industry; then you should keep in mind the abovementioned examples, strategies, and reasons for importance.