Health Care Leaders Are Positioned to Affect Industry Change
In the fast-changing technology industry, the theory of innovative disruption is well-known and enthusiastically embraced. This theory describes the process by which a product or service is designed for a new set of customers as a low-cost alternative for simple applications, eventually leading to the displacement of the more costly products or services by the low-cost alternative. As the healthcare industry struggles to find reliable solutions to challenges produced by a shifting cultural and political landscape, the questions become whether innovative disruption would also apply as successfully to health care models.
A leading American health care provider network, athenahealth, certainly thinks so. Over the past two years, the company has convened health care leaders at roundtables and surveyed more than 150 executives to gather ideas about how to best meet the challenges and opportunities they face. “What we found was a remarkable portrait of courage – a willingness to abandon the status quo in favor of an uncertain path,” said Paul Merrild, senior vice president of enterprise solutions at athenahealth, writing in the Harvard Business Review in February 2018. More than half of health care leaders surveyed, Merrild said, thought their operational model needed to be changed or disrupted.
While most leaders expressed confidence in their organization’s strategic direction, their responses generally pointed toward a realization that they must become their own disruptors in order to implement the necessary changes. For instance, as the industry finds itself under increasing pressure to cut costs and improve quality, many leaders may want to plan for a future that puts less priority on payment based on patient volume and more on payment based on delivering value.
At the American Board of Physician Specialties® (ABPS), we believe that a chief component of delivering first-rate medical care is giving qualified professionals diverse opportunities to demonstrate mastery in their chosen medical fields. We are a nationally recognized physician multi-specialty certifying organization that offers a path toward board certification and recertification in many different specialties. Our stringent eligibility requirements ensure that only the most talented and dedicated doctors attempt certification with the ABPS. Furthermore, our clinically based exams are developed under the most rigorous standards in the industry. Because ABPS Diplomates are also committed to continuous learning and career development, not only can they be trusted to provide superior medical care, but they are also well positioned to deliver care that will meet the changing needs of the public in an evolving healthcare industry.
Health care leaders who seek to improve the quality of care through innovative disruption would do well to turn to the physicians who advocate publicly for the highest level of patient care, as ABPS Diplomates do. For them, providing a high level of care means putting people first, not the politics of medicine. All of this means that as the industry prepares to focus on delivering more value to patients, our Diplomates stand ready to serve as ideal partners in the successful evolution of American medical care.
For more information about the ABPS, or to verify the credentials of one of our Diplomates, contact the ABPS today. The ABPS is the official certifying body of the American Association of Physician Specialists, Inc.®
