As payers and providers embark on the journey to become agile, they need to communicate their vision to all managers and employees across the organization. Our colleagues from organizational practice have found comparing companies to smartphones a useful method. The enterprise structure, core processes, culture, and core capabilities are essentially the smartphone6 ​​hardware and operating system – the platform on which a more dynamic set of capabilities (the 'app' organizational version) can be built. This platform provides the foundation, framework and skills necessary to enable employees to work effectively and adapt quickly to changes in the business environment. However, an enterprise's core processes and core capabilities must be open and flexible enough so that "applications" (customized dynamic capabilities required by initiatives) can be added or reconfigured easily and quickly.

A common approach by organizations seeking flexibility is to move some of their employees into centralized roles designed to serve and support the organization as a whole. Business units continue to "own" fewer employees, but they retain budgetary authority and can hire needed resources from functions as needed. The result is a more agile allocation of resources to high priority areas, the ability to work more dynamically, and often the creation of centers of excellence in multiple areas of expertise.

While an agile staffing agencies like Healthcare Staffing Agency Toronto still feels like a matrix with dotted reporting, the approach to work and collaboration is typically much less intrusive for two reasons. First, the reporting path to the main function is stable. Second, the dynamic aspects of goal setting and decision making are largely decoupled from the hierarchy, allowing for far greater flexibility and speed (assuming leaders can learn to relinquish control of their domains). This structure is similar to that used by many project-based organizations seeking to avoid the disruption that can result from a growing portfolio of initiatives.

Because agility is still a new concept, there are few examples of truly agile healthcare organizations (see sidebar for two examples). However, the concept is quickly gaining traction in other volatile and complex industries, and it is up to healthcare leaders to decide whether they want to lead in this space or risk being left behind.

Based on our experience and what we have learned from other industries, we propose a five-step path that payers and providers can use to achieve flexibility (Appendix 2). As with any strategic roadmap, the starting point is to clearly define objectives and assess existing organizational capabilities.
When an organization starts implementing agility, it needs to do two things at once: run a separate pilot to test and prove the agility concept within the organization, and build a solid backbone (e.g. core process and reporting structure) to lay the groundwork for broader implementation. This method is similar to the approach taken by ING at the start of its flexibility journey. This ensures that pilots can demonstrate what is possible and the organization can support and develop successful pilots. Continuous learning and subsequent improvement are important characteristics of agility - key to embedding the concept into an organization's DNA.

Organizational health, flexibility and health care

To assess the degree of flexibility within the healthcare industry and its relationship to overall organizational health, we conducted an external assessment of nine payers and providers. In each case, we evaluate the organization based on its overall flexibility and the presence of flexible components in different parts of the organization. This exclusive research helps us identify effective strategies to help healthcare staffing agency gain momentum without losing stability.

Our analysis finds that more agile healthcare companies demonstrate better organizational health, as measured by the McKinsey Organizational Health Index, and better performance, which is reflected in higher patient satisfaction scores, better outcomes, and better financial outcomes. healthier. Two companies, one having achieved a high level of agility and one still in transition, explained the impact of agility.

Take advantage of flexibility to optimize quality and clinical innovation

Company A, a regional healthcare provider, began its journey toward flexibility about a decade ago. As part of this process, the company has changed its operating model from a decentralized, non-standard structure to one with high stability and consistency. In particular, stringent standards for patient care and systems to measure and track performance against these standards have been put in place. As a result, Company A now has a strong backbone focused on clinical quality, enabling it to pursue more innovative models of care and payments.

The journey begins when the company's CEO tells the CMO, "Develop a plan for clinical excellence and I will provide you with the resources you need." Once the plan is approved, the CMO assembles a number of teams, each tasked with providing a process that can be translated to establish consistent clinical standards across the organization.

The team consists of self-appointed doctors who select areas to focus on based on their expertise and interests. The team is supported by a dedicated resource center, including a research team (to collect data and identify best practices) and an implementation team (to put standards into practice and measure and track results).
Currently Company A has more than 20 of these Clinical Advantage Groups. Annually developing new standards and processes for quality and innovation and measurement and tracking systems accordingly. For example, if a staff member discovers an aspect of clinical practice that is not being adequately addressed, a clinical excellence team is deployed in that area. While the initial clinical excellence team focused on acute care, the company is currently expanding the scope of the team to also address outpatient care facilities.

This infrastructure – the combination of a robust backbone and the ability to respond dynamically when needed – has shaped a company-wide ethos of high clinical standards and evidence-based practices. It also helps keep the company's core business alive and running smoothly as organizations begin to implement different supply and payment models. This also enables the company to achieve the best clinical results and solid financial results.

Leverage your center of advantage to increase agility

Company B, a national paying organization, is transitioning to a flexible matrix structure by establishing multiple shared services for functional areas (eg HR, claims) and "centers of excellence" in specialized areas (eg quality, compliance). Lines of business can leverage these shared services as needed for resource-intensive but infrequent tasks, then prioritize and direct activities for the shared workforce assigned to their projects. (An example of such an effort is the need to develop approaches to respond to a large supply demand.) These flexible arrangements allow organizations to quickly develop and scale capabilities that can then be rapidly deployed when needed.

Company B extends this approach to address a wider range of business problems beyond one-time, resource-intensive endeavors. For example, lines of business can now call on a central team when they need to answer a particularly challenging or time-sensitive analytics question. The company is also experimenting with expanding flexibility in several high strategic priority areas by creating work teams that include dedicated employees from various functional areas such as IT and medical management.
The healthcare landscape has changed a lot in recent years, and more changes are underway. Both payers and providers need to better organize themselves in order to react effectively. Many health organizations struggle with this; too often they continue to operate with outdated organizational structures or often undergo “transformations” that become obsolete before they are fully implemented.

Flexibility can help payers and providers adapt more quickly to changing customer needs, competitor responses, and regulatory demands without requiring extensive restructuring and reallocation of resources. In addition, flexibility can enable healthcare organizations to be innovative and leaders, not just reactive. These skills are likely to prove even more important in the coming years