Q: What are the core reporting metrics for senior management?
“We begin by telling our clients, ‘What is important to you may not be applicable to them.’”
Q: How often should we provide reports to senior management?
“We provide a monthly overview of volume, revenue, expenses and new clients and [then] a more in-depth quarterly report. “Reports tend to be boring; make them short and sweet and readable at a glance. Go for one’s subliminal Memory.” “Have constituents share their thoughts. Pull out quotes and the person/affiliation who gave the quote. Management tends to see that.”
Q: How can we really get to the senior, senior management team?
“You don’t necessarily have to. Just appeal to those that drive the existence of your program.”
Q: How do we articulate the value of our program to our health system?
“Use actual numbers, graphs, charts, and pictures.” “Quantity: how many lives do you touch at companies you work with?” “Play to your communication strengths and use the modality that works best for you.”
Q: In what realistic ways can we involve senior management in our program?
“It depends on the persona of senior management. Some you want to involve, others not so much.” “We stress hands-on involvement, overt or written, such as a message from our C.E.O. on your webpage. Ask them to meet periodically with key employers. Such involvement will make them less likely to look the other way when you need them.”
Q: How do we know what senior management really wants?
“Ask them what they want but go well beyond that. Why are they committed to your program in the first place? Exactly what do we need to do to succeed?” “Who is senior management really? Who has the influence to support the program over time? It may be multiple people or just one.”
Q: We provide many free services to our health system. How do we get credit?
“Track staff time (associated with these services); what would it cost if purchased from an outside vendor?” “We work hard to quantify ancillaries ––lab, radiology, P.T., imaging and measure the in-kind service to our system. We generally get an expense credit for this.”
