Best of kin: How we relate determines how well we can run

Blended families are increasingly becoming the norm rather than the exception. While a beautiful expression of love, the family blend can be complex.

The same is true for integrated health systems.  Most are a blend of hospitals, doctors, and ambulatory sites that come to the “family” with their own cultures, operating models, and organizational DNA.  Assimilating those lines under a common brand often blurs some of the sharpest differences in legacy operating models. But is assimilation enough?  

For integrated health systems, the evidence suggests not. Most integrated health systems are still plagued by the reality of business lines working "alone, together" in one of two configurations.   

In the first, the health system appropriately views customers through the lens of the master brand, yet still channels them through a thicket of disjointed, often sub-branded operating systems disconnected from the family brand. This is frequently experienced as a station-to-station journey with repeat registration, disconnected scheduling, and disparate billing systems.

In the second, integrated networks leverage shared systems to take the seams out of patient navigation. They operate with centralized scheduling, registration, and billing platforms.  Yet, internal, clinical lines persist in competing with one another for business and resources.

In both cases, the perceptual promise of a system whole that exceeds the sum of the integrated parts is exposed as little more than increased overhead and added complexity that adds no new value to the customer.  In both cases, the root cause is not suboptimal operating performance within the lines but rather parochialism across the lines. 

In short, the aggregated pieces and parts may all share the same surname, but from a customer point of view, act like anything but best of kin.