By Megan McLendon | Head of Client Success
You’ve made it through pitches, proposals, pro formas and what seems like YEARS of negotiation to get to this point. Reviews have been completed by finance, legal and all “C-levels” within your organization to ensure every i is dotted and t crossed. The ink is still damp on the final agreement when you hear the words you’ve been waiting for…”Can we discuss the plan for implementation?”.
Okay, maybe you have not been waiting with bated breath to hear those exact words, but the implementation process is often the nearing finish line to a well-run race (or perhaps a marathon).
How can you ensure your implementation goes smoothly and results in a successful program for patients and your organization alike?
Collaboration
Ensuring stakeholder representation throughout the implementation process is necessary for success. We’ve all been derailed mid-project when we realized that an essential group or individual was not involved in early discussions and now, they hold the key to completion.
Why should you have marketing at the proverbial table when this is clearly a clinical operations decision? Won’t having cross-departmental involvement simply crowd the room and confuse the discussion? The truth is the varied perspectives ensure you are taking all aspects into account and that all interests are represented.
Start with a larger steering group and pare down as you move through the process or create smaller groups for more focused discussion and share as a team during weekly updates.
Communication
“Weekly updates!? You mean in addition to my normal responsibilities - I now have to attend extra meetings regarding some new program I didn’t even choose!?” Well, yes and no.
Ongoing stakeholder communication is vital to the implementation process; however, this can be achieved in many ways. Perhaps a core work group meets weekly to discuss task completion, barriers and immediate next steps, but a larger steering group only requires monthly updates to ensure budget alignment.
Determine a communication plan that works to meet your goals but be flexible in your methods as this may be one of many priorities within the organization. There are also a plethora of project management resources available to track project status without blocking a single calendar.
Celebration
Finally, celebrate! This doesn’t just mean to celebrate when a project is completed or a program or platform is fully implemented, but to celebrate along the way. Did you reach a program enrollment milestone earlier than expected, or determine a new workflow that resulted in increased efficiencies?
Implementations can be time and resource intensive and occasionally the finish line seems further away than you had originally thought. However, you are undoubtedly experiencing many smaller “wins” along the way that are worth celebrating.
Are you considering implementing a remote care program in your organization? Download our Remote Care 101 Toolkit today!