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Are you lying awake in anticipation of (calendar) year-end reports? If so, is it a nightmare or dream come true? Depending on your partners, this can be a varied response. For many, January ties up the data while February ushers in a new set of bedtime reporting novels. Countless pages compiled from various sources, both internal and external. Curiously, there is no “standard” way of reporting, yet each vendor has their own standard they would prefer a plan adhere to leaving a mismatch of comparable or meaningful results. On top of the daily workload, now we must read between the lines to level set our sources and see the truth in the numbers. These numbers are meaningful, impacting our daily decisions such as setting premiums, the need to change plan designs, or measure the effectiveness of change.
I found a recent AHealthcareZ video very thought provoking when approaching annual reporting. What should we expect from our annual reporting and how can we quickly ascertain if the report is of high-quality? The video itself focused on the difference between high- and low-quality providers, the principals are applicable to many facets of life. Dr. Bricker highlights Dr. Osler’s quote for provider shortcomings as “apathy, complacency, indifference.” Therefore, Dr. Bricker suggests we must seek quality through the opposite, “diligence, thoroughness, and attention to detail.” Let’s apply Dr. Bricker’s 3 key observations to quickly identify high quality partners. Surround yourself with those who listen, explain, and wash their hands in front of you!
First, is the ability to listen. How well do your vendors listen to you? Do they ask for your thoughts on what is important, new, changing or challenging? While listening, do they acknowledge and respond directly to the questions or thoughts you posed, or did they stick to their script regardless of applicability to conversation? Is this an on-going dialogue or a check-the-box meeting cadence? Hopefully, you confidently answered your vendors ease your workload by providing you the information you need in a straightforward, on-going manner that allows for confident and efficient decision making.
Second, how well do they explain the prior experience, predict future trends, present emerging issues, and potential solutions? Is the report a resource you continuously come back to throughout the year to quickly respond to questions or learn more about a potential opportunity? Data is only as useful as it’s ability to be interpreted and acted upon when desired. If the results are not explained in a digestible manner, then what purpose is information overload serving?
Third, wash your hands in front of each other! Wait what? This standard requires interpretation for applicability. Consider this perspective, is your vendor willing to show you the raw numbers or continue to drill down to the specificity you request? Is there an open and honest dialogue about your data and outcomes? Are their conclusions and recommendations serving their business or yours? Is your report full of proprietary or aggregated results? While we could interpret washing our hands in front of the patient in a multitude of ways, a message of trust and respect rings loudest. Data integrity and willingness to share are not possible without those guiding principles.
Time is one of our most valuable resources. We spend significant amounts of time reviewing and applying our annual results to our daily work impacting the years ahead. When approaching each annual report meeting and again when we reflect on the experience, did your partner approach the annual reporting with apathy, complacency and indifference or did they take care in providing diligent, thorough and attention to detail reporting? Expect more from annual reporting this year through a vendor’s ability to listen, explain and engage in open dialogue.
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