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    Why Healthcare Professionals Need Business Skills

    Nurse measuring the blood pressure of a patient
    • 18 Oct 2018
    Lauren Landry Author Staff
    tag
    • Business Essentials
    • CORe
    • Career Development

    The healthcare industry is undergoing considerable change. Today’s physicians face economic pressure to reduce costs while improving care—amidst a digital transformation that’s changing how and when patients seek treatment. Consider this: Individuals can now spot symptoms with an activity tracker and then video conference their doctor to more quickly reach a diagnosis.

    “The complexities of delivering medical care are rapidly changing,” says Dr. Richard Pitts, vice president of clinically integrated networks and senior medical director at St. Joseph Heritage Healthcare, which is part of an 11-state, 50-hospital health system. “There’s a constant pressure to find more effective ways to deliver healthcare while improving quality and still holding the line on costs.”

    But balancing those priorities requires more than just medical know-how. Healthcare professionals also need business skills if they want to deliver a high-quality patient experience while still meeting organizational goals.

    “Paying attention to the best treatments, along with the cost of those treatments, requires both business and medical skills,” Pitts says.

    It’s why Pitts enrolled in CORe, an online program featuring courses in business analytics, financial accounting, and economics. At the time, he was the chief medical officer at a large teaching hospital in Southern California and wanted to understand the business more broadly, so he could better understand the implications of his decisions and more effectively communicate with colleagues.

    “CORe filled in the missing pieces with respect to my business skills,” Pitts says. “I’m now able to make meaningful business comments in meetings. Colleagues appreciate my having a basic understanding of the business world.”

    A Guide to Advancing Your Career with Essentials Business Skills | Access Your Free E-Book | Download Now

    Pitts uses population health—summarized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as “the distribution of health outcomes within a population, and the range of personal, social, economic, and environmental factors that influence the distribution of health outcomes”—as an example of where business and medicine intersect. According to Pitts, there are nine major diagnoses, including diabetes and hypertension, in population health. When they are treated aggressively, it can result in a dramatic decrease in any associated complications.

    “This saves unnecessary hospitalizations and billions of dollars of healthcare expense, while dramatically improving the quality of life for patients,” Pitts explains. “The professionals heading up this effort speak the language of business and medicine almost simultaneously.”

    That example is just one of many ways healthcare professionals could benefit from having business skills. Here are five other competencies physicians should consider adding to their resume.

    Business Skills Every Healthcare Professional Needs

    1. Analytics

    Analytics can help physicians identify disease outbreaks, track health epidemics in real time, and deliver more personalized care to patients. Achieving those goals requires developing a data mindset, however, and understanding how to recognize trends, analyze relationships between variables, and estimate the accuracy of statistics.

    “My business analytics course covered regression analysis and, most importantly, the meaning of statistical significance and hypothesis testing,” Pitts says. “These are essentially the same tools that are used in healthcare to decide the outcomes of various treatments in medicine.”

    2. Financial Accounting

    Given how focused healthcare organizations are on reducing costs, it’s imperative for physicians to have a basic understanding of financial accounting. Not only can that knowledge lead to more strategic business decisions, but it can also help physicians analyze their team’s performance, measure the impact of their work in terms of revenue, and manage the department’s budget.

    3. Ability to Lead Large, Diverse Teams

    The health system Pitts works for is composed of 111,000 employees, 38,000 nurses, and 20,000 physicians alone—leading to large, diverse teams. And when faced with statistics like one in four Americans has multiple chronic conditions, it’s becoming more apparent that patients require care from multiple providers for optimal results.

    The New England Journal of Medicine notes that physicians who want to lead effectively need to know how to “develop a team culture of feedback to improve patient care.” This includes understanding what motivates the team, regularly soliciting advice and incorporating suggestions, providing ongoing feedback, and acknowledging successes while constructively addressing the team’s weaknesses.

    4. Strategic Management

    As teams grow, so do departments’ needs and priorities. It’s important for leaders to set an organizational structure and strategy to not only guide their team but also help employees determine what to pursue and what not to pursue.

    Physicians should start first with defining their mission—what the organization stands for—and then begin answering the tough questions. Where are revenues coming from? Is money being spent in the right places? How can the team optimize operations to improve the patient experience? With each response will come a clearer picture of where the team should focus their efforts.

    5. Effective Communication Skills

    Strong communication skills go far in healthcare. Physicians need to practice empathy and know how to properly speak with patients and their family members. Beyond that, they also need to communicate with key stakeholders, including other physicians. The more effective they are, the stronger their operations and more streamlined their processes will be.

    The Importance of Business Skills

    “It's important for physicians at all levels of leadership to have business skills, in order to be an effective member of ever-forming teams in the modern world of medicine,” Pitts says. “Having business skills helps to cross what often is a ‘chasm of understanding’ between physicians and finance members of the healthcare team.”

    Do you want to take your career to the next level? Download our free Guide to Advancing Your Career with Essential Business Skills to learn how enhancing your business knowledge can help you make an impact on your organization and be competitive in the job market.

    About the Author

    Lauren Landry is the director of marketing and communications for Harvard Business School Online. Prior to joining HBS Online, she worked at Northeastern University and BostInno, where she wrote nearly 3,500 articles covering early-stage tech and education—including the very launch of HBS Online. When she's not at HBS Online, you might find her teaching a course on digital media at Emerson College, chugging coffee, or telling anyone who's willing to listen terribly corny jokes.
     
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    How are HBS Online courses delivered?

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    We offer self-paced programs (with weekly deadlines) on the HBS Online course platform.

    Our platform features short, highly produced videos of HBS faculty and guest business experts, interactive graphs and exercises, cold calls to keep you engaged, and opportunities to contribute to a vibrant online community.

    Are HBS Online programs available in languages other than English?

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    We expect to offer our courses in additional languages in the future but, at this time, HBS Online can only be provided in English.

    All course content is delivered in written English. Closed captioning in English is available for all videos. There are no live interactions during the course that requires the learner to speak English. Coursework must be completed in English.

    Do I need to come to campus to participate in HBS Online programs?

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    No, all of our programs are 100 percent online, and available to participants regardless of their location.

    How do I enroll in a course?

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    Certificate Programs

    HBS Online welcomes committed learners wherever they are—in the world and their careers—irrespective of their professional experience or academic background. To extend the reach of HBS Online, we no longer require an application for our certificate programs. (Applications are still required for our credential programs: CORe and CLIMB.) You can now immediately enroll and start taking the next step in your career.

    All programs require the completion of a brief online enrollment form before payment. If you are new to HBS Online, you will be required to set up an account before enrolling in the program of your choice.

    Our easy online enrollment form is free, and no special documentation is required. All participants must be at least 18 years of age, proficient in English, and committed to learning and engaging with fellow participants throughout the program.

    Updates to your enrollment status will be shown on your account page. HBS Online does not use race, gender, ethnicity, or any protected class as criteria for enrollment for any HBS Online program.

    Credential Programs

    HBS Online's CORe and CLIMB programs require the completion of a brief application. The applications vary slightly, but all ask for some personal background information. You can apply for and enroll in programs here. If you are new to HBS Online, you will be required to set up an account before starting an application for the program of your choice.

    Our easy online application is free, and no special documentation is required. All participants must be at least 18 years of age, proficient in English, and committed to learning and engaging with fellow participants throughout the program.

    Updates to your application and enrollment status will be shown on your account page. We confirm enrollment eligibility within one week of your application for CORe and three weeks for CLIMB. HBS Online does not use race, gender, ethnicity, or any protected class as criteria for admissions for any HBS Online program.

    Does Harvard Business School Online offer an online MBA?

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    No, Harvard Business School Online offers business certificate programs.

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    We also allow you to split your payment across 2 separate credit card transactions or send a payment link email to another person on your behalf. If splitting your payment into 2 transactions, a minimum payment of $350 is required for the first transaction.

    In all cases, net Program Fees must be paid in full (in US Dollars) to complete registration.

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