What to Do in 2022?

By Trey La Charité, MD, FACP, SFHM, CCS, CCDS 

If your organization is anything like mine, you have just received the annual request for your individual and/or your program’s performance goals for 2022. Ugh. Although I have received this request for the last 15 years, it still elicits the same visceral consternation as the first time I saw it. While the clinician side of us will always be perplexed by what we view as a superfluous endeavor, we must respond if we wish to continue our physician advisor agendas. Yes, like it or not, it’s another new year. Now what? 

To begin with, I certainly recommend you take a few moments to bask in the glow of the things you accomplished in 2021. However, while you are allowed a fist bump or two, don’t let that warm and fuzzy feeling lead to complacency. The time to delineate your objectives for the current year is now. And rest assured, if you don’t have a clear direction as to where you want to focus your efforts, your C-suite already has a list of what they think you and your people can do for them. 

So what challenges are you going to try to tackle this year? Are you going to undertake an ED provider medical necessity education program because every elderly patient with a UTI does not need an acute care bed? Are you going to join the contracting team because you are tired of a particular payor giving your organization and their beneficiaries the ‘denial of services rendered’ run-around? Do you want to get involved in denials management because you are fed-up with the post-discharge payor and recovery auditor thievery you consistently witness? Are you going to aggressively push for more FTEs in your case management, utilization review, or clinical documentation integrity programs because you know there is so much more that could be accomplished with just a few more bodies? The list is simply endless. 

Knowing that there is no shortfall of things to do, it is easy to suddenly feel overwhelmed. As both a clinician and an administrator, you have a unique and broad perspective regarding hospital operations and management. However, there are more things that need your input than your mental and physical bandwidth will allow you to undertake. Therefore, when setting goals, be reasonable and realistic. Remember that you are only human. Your list should be focused and doable. If you do not achieve what you said you could do, next year’s list of goals may be constructed without your input. 

Once you have your list, my advice is to pick one thing on that list, go at it hard, and get it done. There is plenty of time to move to the next thing once that initial priority is hammered out. My experience is that trying to tackle the entire list at one time divides your limited resources. As a result, nothing receives the due diligence it deserves increasing the chances for failure. Be proscriptive and pragmatic. In the hospital setting, you will never run out of issues that need your scrutiny. Trust me. However, you simply cannot handle them all at the same time. 

Lastly, never forget that being an effective physician advisor in one realm often leads to requests to take on more responsibility in other areas. Be very wary of mission creep. If you allow yourself to be spread too thinly, nothing gets done well. Learning when to say ‘no’ can be just as important as knowing when to say ‘yes’. Not to mention that you probably have a family who would also like to see you on occasion this year. No pressure, right? 

Now…Go Forth and Conquer!