CMO Strategies for Improving Physician Engagement and Clinical Efficiency

Physician engagement is essential to drive positive clinical outcomes for patients as well as to achieve physician satisfaction. Clinical efficiency is crucial for healthcare organizations to establish an effective workplace environment and to control costs.

The latest webinar for HealthLeaders’ The Winning Edge series was held yesterday on the topic of improving physician engagement and clinical efficiency. The webinar featured a four-member panel of experts: Ruric “Andy” Anderson, MD, MBA, chief medical and quality officer at RWJBarnabas Health; Thomas Balcezak, MD, MPH, chief clinical officer at Yale New Haven Health; Patrick Hunt, MD, CMO at QGenda and CMO of acute care at Prisma Health; and Ghazala Sharieff, MD, MBA, corporate executive vice president and chief medical and operations officer for acute care at Scripps Health.

Enlisting medical staff to drive efficiency and cost savings

The panelists said CMOs and other clinical leaders need to engage medical staff to boost efficiency and achieve cost savings.

Physicians and the choices they make have a pivotal impact on efficiency and costs, according to one of the panelists. CMOs and other clinical leaders need to tap into physician expertise and experience to launch successful efficiency initiatives and control costs, the panelist said.

To improve physician efficiency, health systems, hospitals, and medical groups should optimize physician scheduling, according to one of the panelists.

To improve clinical efficiency, CMOs and other clinical leaders should encourage a medical staff to focus on access to care. An important part of this strategy is to help physicians use their time efficiently to boost access, the panelists said.

Another strategy to boost clinical efficiency is to improve patient throughput in the hospital setting by making sure physicians are working effectively with other clinical care team members such as nurses and technicians, according to the panelists.

To help control costs, CMOs and other clinical leaders should enlist service line clinicians to work with medical device vendors to secure the best deals for a health system or hospital, one of the panelists explained.

Care team communication strategies

CMOs and other clinical leaders can employ multiple strategies to communicate with physicians, nurses, and other care team members to help drive patient safety and care quality improvements, the panelists said.

One communication strategy is for clinical leaders to emphasize with physicians and nurses the importance of accurate and complete clinical documentation. Ensuring that clinical documentation is accurate and complete avoids reimbursement penalties.

Additionally, CMOs and other clinical leaders should set goals for their communication with care team members and target particular patient outcomes. By setting goals and targets, communication can be meaningful for clinicians and help drive improvements in patient outcomes, the panelists said.

Engaging physicians in strategy decisions and technology adoption

CMOs and other clinical leaders should be intentional in engaging physicians about strategy decisions and technology adoption, the panelists said. Physicians should be queried about their pain points and should be consulted when potential solutions are identified.

When CMOs and other clinical leaders are considering the adoption of new technology, they should include physicians in the planning stage and have physicians play a role in pilots that test the technology.

Lastly, when there is a change in strategy or adoption of new technology, CMOs and other clinical leaders must provide physicians with a concise and compelling explanation for why change is necessary, according to the panelists. For example, a change in strategy or adoption of new technology may result in better patient outcomes or improved physician experience.

This webinar was sponsored by QGenda.

Christopher Cheney is the CMO editor at HealthLeaders.