These days, healthcare systems feel pressured to transform in order to drive down costs and improve patient care.
Hospitals and healthcare systems are better off focusing on cutting their costs instead of building gains, said Robert Masternak, president of Masternak and Associates, a consulting firm specializing in gainsharing programs in Medina, Ohio, and one way to do that is through utilizing an employee gainsharing program.
During a 10 a.m. breakout session on Wednesday, June 27, at ANI: The 2012 HFMA National Institute conference in Las Vegas, Masternak; Michael Camuso, director of compensation at Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack, N.J.; and Lani Garris, administrative director at Hackensack University Medical Center, will discuss ways in which gainsharing can be used as a tool to promote employee engagement, productivity and cost reduction in hospitals.
Camuso will be sharing the results of Hackensack University Medical Center’s 12-month pilot gainsharing plan in its outpatient surgical unit, which includes a 12 percent cost savings ($4,200 per full-time equivalent), an increase in the unit’s patient satisfaction from the 83rd to 90th percentile and shared savings from over $8 million in productivity and surgical supplies. Hackensack is a 775-bed nonprofit, research and teaching hospital that employs over 8,000 people.
“Gainsharing is a proven tool in other business sectors. It’s part of HackensackUMC’s Strategic HR Initiatives. It moves employees from renters to owners,” said Camuso. “It’s a system or philosophy of management that promotes higher levels of organizational performance through the involvement and participation of its people. As performance improves, employees share financially in the gain.”
Masternak agrees that the key learning in starting a gainsharing plan is to involve all employees.
“It’s important to listen to everyone’s ideas. It can be a powerful thing. If you think about it – if you own something, would you do anything differently?” said Masternak. “You’d become more engaged and have ideas. People feel respected this way and that’s important.”
“The hospitals that grow and survive in the future environment of healthcare will be the companies that engage their employees and promote teamwork to cut costs,” added Camuso.