Get Doctors Involved in Care Decisions Through Online Collaboration

Improving your hospital's health outcomes is a top priority, and increasing the use of electronic voting options in health systems allows physicians more time to make the right calls.

According to the American College of Healthcare Executives, the essential duties of a hospital board are to: “delegate the design, implementation, and measurement of the quality of care to administration and staff”, along with having the responsibility of “ensuring available, quality care is provided to patients.”

And while hospital boards and governing bodies function under mostly altruistic goals and values, modern health care patients have no desire to play politics when it comes to negotiating the quality of their care experience.

Patients are changing healthcare 

Today’s patients are more likely to shop around and research before choosing health networks and providers and thanks to our some volatile healthcare market, the competition for patient enrollments and improved care outcomes is heating up.

The ACHE suggests that hospital managers and oversight boards need to put their best foot forward and dedicate efforts to building systems and processes that not only assess their hospital or network’s quality indicators, but that can also easily translate into a workable action plan for lay-people (non-medical members) for quality assurance.

One option that progressive, patient-focused hospitals can do: appoint more doctors and health professionals to vote on your board.

Why electing physicians and nurses to your board is key

Health care reform is an ongoing conversation that can change the primary objectives of any health system overnight, but when it comes to bridging the gap between patient care and hospital management - physicians and nurses are a board’s best friend.

Not only can having elected health care providers on your board help internal employee-executive relationships, but integrating them into hospital operations help ensure you’re on track to meet your patient and financial benchmarks.

Also, since modern health care regulations require health systems and care networks to assess the needs and health status of the populations their hospitals serve, having professionals in the room that can speak to local or trending health crises can help improve health literacy and patient outcomes overtime.

Two ways to get your physicians involved in key decisions

Advisory Councils & Policy Making

Most health networks have various advisory councils to act as a checks and balances system for medical and hospital staff, however these councils rarely collaborate with board members, as some hospitals can have several subcommittees for different specialities.

Regardless, electing an advisory council to the Board that can provide strategic insight and recommendations for achieving meaningful patient outcomes is a great opportunity to rely on your medical staff and create a culture of accountability for patient care.

Online Voting

Doctors and nurses are notoriously busy people, and often times, board election bylaws require the full participation of all voting delegates to conduct any new business.

Bringing your physicians and nursing staff into the fold of your board operations will ultimately help your network build more meaningful patient relationships, improve transparency and communication between hospital executives and staff, and impact the over care experience that your network can offer.

This doesn’t mean physician representation will slow down your board, as eBallot offers online voting solutions for hospital board elections.

If you’re interested in using electronic voting software to run your next ballot, vote, or referendum, request a quote today.

Whenever you’re ready to upload your integrated physician-board member voter list or if it’s time to decide on next year’s facilities budget, eBallot can get your team up and running with our self-managed or fully custom ballots in minutes.

Interested in learning more about the eBallot platform? Take a tour here or contact our Customer Experience team to get started on your competition’s ballots!