Wright Consulting

Expert says HIT mergers must be transparent

January 31, 2012 | Diana Manos, Senior Editor

 Healthcare IT News

 NASHVILLE, TN – When it comes to mergers and acquisitions of healthcare IT technology, companies need to be transparent to preserve patient and physician relationships, according to healthcare technology integration expert Amelia Wright.

Wright warns executives not to jeopardize patient and physician relationships by disrupting their stable production environment for the sake of completing an integration.

Wright is president of Wright Consulting Inc., a Nashville-based information technology management firm specializing in healthcare services. She is scheduled to speak at an upcoming Investment and M&A Opportunities Healthcare conference to be held in Nashville on February 1 and 2, 2012.

“During the merger, it’s extremely difficult for any organization to stay focused on the basics, but the last thing you need is disruption to normal business operations, incurring fallout from physicians and patients,” she said. “The momentum of the integration needs to continue, but not at the risk of a stable healthcare environment. You want the changes to be transparent to avoid compromising valuable relationships.”

“The integration issues can be daunting for small and medium-sized companies upon the close of the transaction. Hopefully, the greatest risks have been correctly quantified through the due diligence effort,” Wright said, who was honored as an elite member of the Top 100 Premier CIOs by Computerworld.

Wright listed the top information technology integration issues as:

• Infrastructure inadequacies — skills, environment
• Mission critical business applications — interfaces, migration
• Single points of failure identification — technical, clinical, business
• Customer advocacy — problem, change, project management

Solving the integration issues while simultaneously maintaining smooth daily operations is an extremely risky undertaking, she said. To vastly improve the odds for success, executives will choose to help their team by providing extremely well qualified consultants.

“Having an expert level external advocate who can provide solutions, resolve conflict, and diffuse tensions will help the team maintain the stamina and motivation required to effectively execute integration activities,” said Wright.

“Opting for a generic consultant who has a narrow range of functional and project experience is not the answer, she added. “Finding the expert-level partner who has successfully performed healthcare integrations will reduce ramp-up time, insure strong project communications between business, technical and clinical areas and provide superior risk management skills.”

“Executives who select their consultants wisely will benefit from going through the integration process – once. Rebuilding relationships, reworking projects is costly – choosing the right partner, the first time, will be money well spent,” she said.

“The ideal consultant can help business and technology leaders accurately prioritize integration projects, deploy proper resources, and measure their progress. By correctly performing these tasks, the organization can maintain stable business operations and keep the integration transparent to their valued patients and physicians,” said Wright.

Follow Diana Manos on Twitter @DManos_IT_News.

 http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/expert-says-hit-mergers-must-be-transparent

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OK – The Deal’s Done – Now What?
Get Some Expert Help!

Small and Medium sized companies are inevitably faced with a variety of complex integration issues upon closure of their merger and acquisition transaction. Hopefully, the largest business and technology risks have been identified through a quality due diligence effort.

Top Technology Integration Issues

• Infrastructure inadequacies – skills and environment
• Mission critical business applications  -  interfacing/migration/”sunsetting”
• Single points of Failure Identification
• Customer Advocacy – problem/project resolution/accountability

Rarely, do these companies have the expertise on staff that can rapidly prepare and execute proper mitigation plans to deliver a smooth transition with the forecasted return on investment. The delivery of a 180 day plan is surely to be required by the investors – synergies need to be implemented to realize the projected ROI. Risk and Change management requirements of the transaction are often underestimated and the existing management team is typically struggling to recover from the exhaustive pre-transaction activity!! With facing new challenges, the company may need to augment the management team on a temporary basis with some expert heavy-lifting from an experienced consultant.
Most CEOs hate the idea of Consultants but the wise ones realize that, correctly chosen, the Consultant can provide the needed expertise to “jumpstart” the transition and then should seamlessly - exit. The ideal choice would be a consultant who has been a valuable part of the transaction team during the due diligence effort – or has done similar, quality engagement work. Obviously this would minimize the ramp-up time and shorten the duration of the engagement.
The organization needs to obtain the exemplary technology management consultant who will collaborate with the management team to develop and execute the tactical, short term plans. The project management expertise of the consultant should be able to provide the necessary guidance to the team to accurately prioritize the outstanding business and technology projects while improving the accountability of in-flight projects. It’s pivotal for business and technology leaders to align their needs to achieve operating efficiencies and implement expected synergies.
Long term planning (post 180 day) may also be achieved but the consummate Consultant should incorporate a leadership transformation component in the plan – the consultant’s exit strategy! Delivering quality education, instilling best practices and mentoring leaders are tasks that the consultant should plan and perform throughout their engagement – or they are doing a disservice to their client.

Information Technology Groups need to understand the meaning and benefits of true Customer Advocacy.  Learning who all of your Customers are, what are their Challenges and their Motivations can promote a positive Information Technology perspective and help every group involved - Get Projects and Problems accomplished and resolved more efficiently.  And in this economic downturn its all about Operational Efficiencies.

HELP YOUR ORGANIZATION IMPROVE THEIR PROJECT COMPLETION AND PROBLEM RESOLUTION EFFECIENCIES

 “How Do YOU Spell  - CUSTOMER?”  

• Customer Identification
• Defining True Customer Advocacy for your organization
•  Adoption processes
• Implementation & Sustainability

Seminar Objectives:

1. Define what Customer Advocacy means from an Information Technology perspective
2. Develop Top action items of a Change plan
3. Develop Milestones for the Implementation project phase
4. Identify Barriers and Potential Issues of Implementation and Continuity - ways to Avoid and Mitigate 

   Contact SWEET BITCH for further seminar details - Use ‘Contact Tab’ above

Copyright  ©  2011  Amelia W. Wright

Most Corporate Executives avoid the Technology Conversation - WHY?   Because Information Technology has gone out of its way to make their  profession sound overly complex with acronyms, mumbo-jumbo jargon -  I mean really “Cloud Computing?”, leaving Executives  feeling alienated, frustrated and really just turned off.  

As managers from all functional areas we need to try to find a way to Communicate CONSTRUCTIVELY - improve our project performance and enjoy ourselves while doing it.

“So, Can We Talk, CONSTRUCTIVELY?”

Seminar Objectives:

Top 5 Things to Do to Build Better Communications between Business and Technology

1. Recognize that business areas should be working collaboratively to insure corporate goals are met.
2. Identify naysayers, and “one man” teams - determine ways to remove barriers.
3. Develop a mutally understood vocabulary - dispel acronyms and other  mysterious lingo.
4. Determine how and when to Communicate ‘face to face’- analyze the pros and cons of other modes of communications.
5. Define measurement and accountability mechanisms to keep the conversation CONSTRUCTIVE.

Copyright © 2011  Amelia W. Wright

Contact the Sweet Bitch to help your organization Build Better Communications & Get Something Done.  

Does Project Management Accountability at your Organization need a Boost?  Is it Non-existent?  Is it Time to “Call a Pig’s Ass Pork?”

Change Agents often struggle to discern what amount of CHANGE can they be successful inserting into their corporate structure. 

•  What are the downsides?
•  What are the benefits? 
•  Is it worth risking my career?
•  Can I be successful taking on additional responsibility?  

If you want to get more involved to help your organization improve - then reach out and see if I can provide the nessary guidance and expertise you may need to get started and get the project team formed and motivated for success.

 “Calling a Pig’s Ass Pork: Somebody, Needs To”

·        Assessing the Pig

·        Truth has its Consequences – Positive and Negative

·        Action – execution and risk mitigation

Seminar Objectives:

Defining the status of Project Management in your organization

Identify benefits and pitfalls of promoting Project Management improvements

Determine what amount of CHANGE you can succeed in making

Developing a high level milestone plan of action for the CHANGE

Contact Sweet Bitch via the Contact Tab at the top of the page 

Copyright ©  2011  Amelia W Wright