The critical task of risk management is present across many industries, and the healthcare industry is no different. Hospital and healthcare facility professionals face a variety of threats daily that can impact an organization’s performance and affect patient care. Effective management, consisting of healthcare leaders, practitioners and other staff members, must work together to combat possible risks.
Professionals interested in pursuing a rewarding career in health care or health care management, such as graduates of Concordia University Chicago’s online MBA in Health Care Management program, must be aware of risk management, top risk concerns in health care and how health care management can help.
What is Risk Management?
Risk management in the healthcare industry previously focused on patient safety and decreasing medical errors that could hurt an organization’s reputation and finances. However, risk management in health care has become more complex as the risks have expanded to other areas such as technology use, cybersecurity concerns, medical science advancements and more.
Healthcare risk management is “a complex set of clinical and administrative systems, processes, procedures, and reporting structures designed to detect, monitor, assess, mitigate, and prevent risks to patients.”
Leaders who move from a reactive state to a preventative state to mitigate health care risks will have better results. To do this successfully, you must be aware of the top risk concerns in health care.
Top Risk Concerns in Health Care
When you think of all the healthcare organizations, their differing sizes, specialties and the amount of healthcare professionals working in these facilities, it’s easy to get overwhelmed in terms of risk management. However, there are top concerns in healthcare that are common no matter the organization or facility. These are broken down into four categories: clinical, financial and operational, compliance, and technology.
1. Clinical Risks
Patient safety is always top of mind for healthcare organizations. Clinical risks include failure to act in accordance with industry guidelines for patient safety including environment of care, infection control and safe handling and movement of patients. Health care professionals in charge of risk management do their best to decrease patient harm and provide the best care possible.
2. Financial and Operational Risks
According to Investopedia, the goal for analyzing current financial risk management strategies is to “avoid losses and expenses that could impact an organization’s bottom line, which is the same in any financially prioritized organization.” This includes but is not limited to, decreasing malpractice claims, reducing the number of patient falls and improving communication with insurance companies to reduce overall costs.
3. Compliance Risks
Healthcare organizations face a large range of compliance challenges, and professionals are witnessing more volume and rapid changes. According to the Healthcare Financial Management Association, these five compliance risk issues are top of mind: False Claims Act, No Surprises Act, Telehealth flexibilities, changes to HIPPA’s core privacy regulations and new Evaluation and Management (E&E) codes.
4. Technology Risks
United States healthcare organizations face an uphill battle in the face of mounting cyber threats. The sensitive information of patients’ medical records is highly desirable and needs to be protected at all costs.
Health care managers who understand these four risks and how to decrease or prevent them can help.
How Health Care Management Mitigates Risks
Health care managers are equipped with the knowledge and skills to employ strategies for mitigating risks in the workplace. They include:
- Promoting transparency
- Fostering a reporting culture
- Ensuring clear communication
- Advocating for employee education
- Gaining support from senior leadership
- Prioritizing risk management above all else
When management uses these strategies, healthcare organizations are bound to improve their costs and efficiency, as well as improve the overall patient experience.
Advance Your Career In Health Care Management
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the employment of medical and health services managers is growing rapidly due to people leaving the profession or retiring. The projected growth is 28% through 2032, much faster than the average.
If you’re interested in learning how to lead and manage risk in the healthcare industry, then pursuing an MBA in Health Care Management from Concordia-Chicago can help. Our fully online program prepares future healthcare leaders to evaluate and mitigate risks to not only patients but practitioners and facilities.
Learn more about Concordia-Chicago’s online MBA with a Health Care Management specialization program.
