Happy Anniversary to the Pulse Check Blog! This week marks the 1-year anniversary of the blog series. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading the posts as much as I and my colleagues Noelle, Sam, and Andrew have enjoyed blogging. Hospitals and Medical Groups are facing complex challenges in an ever-evolving healthcare industry. Creating a network community where insights are shared is the mission of HBI’s Pulse Check Blog and we hope you find the posts helpful.
Speaking of missions, do you know your organization’s mission? What about its vision and values?
It’s not uncommon for revenue cycle staff to feel disconnected from their healthcare organization’s mission. Whereas a nurse, for example, may more easily connect with a mission to provide the best care or improve community health, a Patient Financial Services representative may feel more disengaged.
A mission statement is so much more than fluffy words. A mission and vision statement enable effective strategic planning. It helps to connect people to purpose and guides growth. The mission is your brand promise to those you serve.
Each person working in healthcare, whether they directly touch the patient or not (from physician, scheduler, to housekeeper), plays an important role in your organization’s mission.
An exemplary hospital that stands out to me for its commitment to its mission, vision, and values is Fort HealthCare. Fort HealthCare is a 49-bed hospital located in Southern Wisconsin. For many years when I lived in the area, I was a patient of Fort HealthCare.
When you walk through the halls of the hospital, on the walls you see Fort HealthCare’s prominently displayed mission, vision, and values on a clever, artistic community map. The map features unique community staples, such as the local University mascot, the Rock River, cornfields, and dairy cows. Their values of Responsiveness, Excellence, Sensitivity, Professionalism, Empowerment, Cultural Diversity, and Teamwork spell out RESPECT.
On their website, it reads, “Our Mission Statement guides us in our daily endeavor to provide the best health care possible. It is simple and memorable for us all. We promote it widely for all we serve to read, understand and to help our public hold us accountable for the promises we make.”
Take some time to look at your organization’s mission, vision, and values. Understand how the work you do contributes to the mission. For example, a Patient Financial Services representative helps to recover payments and improve cashflow, which enables an organization to reinvest in opening new clinics, hiring new staff, upgrading technology, and participating in community health outreach initiatives. All of these investments help the organizations fulfil their mission and pursue their vision for the future.
I’d also recommend taking time to look at your organization’s values and define what each value means to you. For example, Integrity is one of HBI’s core values. Integrity to me means honesty and transparency. It means doing what I believe is the right thing, even when doing the right thing is difficult.
I’d love to hear how you connect to your organization’s mission, vision, and values. Fill out the form below with your thoughts.
Liked the topic? Check out these other posts: