May the Productivity Be With You: How Hospitals Can Learn From Star Wars (Episode I)

In healthcare, productivity is crucial for managing labor costs and providing quality patient care. At ALTIUS, we offer benchmarking and operational improvement services to help hospitals work smarter, not harder. But what can we learn from a galaxy far, far away? The Star Wars universe provides valuable insight into technology, training, processes, and collaboration that can improve hospital productivity.

Avoiding the Telephone Game

The rumor mill can create operational challenges and impact employee satisfaction in any organization. Information that has been spread and retold by multiple parties often results in the obfuscation, distortion, or exaggeration of the original statement. Healthcare leaders often find themselves unwittingly playing the “telephone game,” receiving feedback that has made its way “down the lane” and is not a true reflection of reality.

Are You Flirting with Disaster?

February is the month of love, and now is the perfect time to evaluate your organization’s relationship with productivity. Is it one-sided? Does your bottom line give and give without much support from leadership? Productivity is a partnership requiring constant attention. If you are not willing to put in the work and make a long-term commitment, you could be headed for an expensive break-up! Effective productivity management is a consistent balancing act.

What Does Your Favorite Christmas Movie Say About You?

In the spirit of the season, ALTIUS is combining two of our favorite things: the magic of Christmas and the mystery of effective healthcare leadership! We are taking the results of our recent social media poll and are breaking down what your favorite holiday movie says about your leadership style. And the winner is… Elf Released in 2003, this Christmas comedy became an instant critical and commercial success, grossing $220 million worldwide. It is listed among the greatest holiday movies of all time and clearly our followers would agree, earning 46% of our poll votes! Elf tells the story of Buddy, a human raised by Santa's elves, who learns about his origins and heads to New York City to meet his biological father.

The ALTIUS Guide to Drafting Your Fantasy Team

It’s that time of year again! The weather is cooling down, the leaves are changing, and football season has officially begun. In the spirit of the ever-popular Fantasy leagues, ALTIUS is kicking off a new series of effective tips to help healthcare leaders “draft” the most capable teams. “Who’s on your bench?” That’s the first topic we will tackle! Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of your current staff as well as having a “game plan” for any anticipated vacancies is crucial to sustained efficiency.

ALTIUS Answers: Interview with ALTIUS COO, RandiLynn Lukac

ALTIUS is excited to announce a brand-new interview series, ALTIUS Answer/Asks! Over the next few months, we will be featuring discussions with members of our team as well as with industry experts to provide a fresh perspective on productivity, performance improvement, and workforce optimization in the current healthcare environment. Our first installment, an ALTUS Answers interview with ATLIUS COO RandiLynn Lukac, delves into some of the most frequently asked questions we receive about our customized services/solutions.   Why should a hospital/health system engage a consulting firm to support their improvement initiatives? If the goal is to save money, wouldn’t it be more cost-effective to handle these projects internally? There are multiple, excellent reasons to engage a consulting firm.

The “Lucky Charms” of Leadership

The recent challenges to and changes in the delivery of healthcare have spotlighted the demand for more enhanced leadership development moving forward. Throughout the pandemic, staff have displayed their resilience and ability to adapt, made possible by the innovative leaders that guided organizations through recovery towards stability without any predetermined path. This “trial by fire” approach was necessary given the unprecedented situation at hand, but has, in hindsight, proven the value of certain traits that need to be cultivated in future leaders.

Incorporating Social Determinants of Health in 2022

Being such a dynamic industry by nature, healthcare will continue to change and evolve in the new year. One of the main areas that experts are predicting a noticeable shift is in the deliberate and more extensive integration of social determinants of health (SDOH) into all facets of operations from registration through discharge planning. Value-based administration will become more commonplace in 2022 as staff, clinicians, and patients alike are incentivized to discuss and document SDOH as a routine part of each healthcare encounter.