Strategic Planning and Leadership
Balanced Scorecard Facilitation
Rural hospitals can use the Balanced Scorecard to improve customer service, finance, patient satisfaction, and quality of care. The Balanced Scorecard helps rural health care organizations link operations to strategy to measure and monitor service goals. The Center provides on-site and online education to leadership teams on Balanced Scorecard principles, tool development, and successful implementation. Since 2005, The Center has worked with over 30 hospitals in Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota and Texas to provide Balanced Scorecard training and implementation.
Community Health Leadership Initiative
The Center’s Leadership Initiative trains health care and community leaders to understand the connections between a healthy population and a healthy local economy by engaging small rural hospitals and community stakeholders to promote improved medical outcomes and to understand the philosophy that good health is good business.
Leadership Training
The Center’s offers on-site consultation with leaders to assess strengths and identify areas of useful performance improvement activities. Also included is a follow-up session providing process consultation which helps to imbed performance improvement strategy into the culture of the organization.
"Lean" Training
Lean techniques were developed for manufacturing, but have become increasingly useful in health care operations. This is because health care, like the production of cars or houses, involves complex, multiple processes. Lean is a proven way to identify steps in any process that have value and those that do not. The Center provides on-site education about Lean principles and assists with Lean initiatives including workflow assessment via process walk, mapping and redesign.
Network Consulting Services
Rural health care service delivery and financing continues to evolve, and many rural health care providers and their communities are building networks to address access, quality improvement, and cost reduction. Leadership and direction are essential to the success of networking activities. The Center supports rural health networks by helping leaders to understand the changing environment, develop clear, feasible strategies that accomplish their mission and vision for the future and successfully implement adopted strategies. The Center offers consulting to new and existing networks in the areas of:
- Network development facilitation
- Network readiness assessment and profiling
- Network strategic planning
Strategic Planning Development
Developing a strategic plan that engages community stakeholders supports the "bottom-line" by building loyalty in your primary customers. Through The Center’s Strategic Planning Development service, rural health care organizations participate in fun and interactive planning sessions that motivate and inspire your facility to be the best it can be. Strategic planning services pair nicely with the balanced scorecard framework.