If you are thinking about starting, restarting, or refreshing your value analysis program there is no better way to do so than to develop or refine your Strategic Value Analysis Plan (SVAP). Specifically, a SVAP is a planning process to define your VA program’s strategy or direction, goals and objectives, organizational architecture, and operational tactics for any given year. It’s the best way we know of to up your value analysis game without resorting to desperate measures.
Three Secret Techniques to Improve Your Strategic Value Analysis Plan
Having facilitated hundreds of Strategic Value Analysis Plans over the last 24 years, “We know a thing or two because we’ve seen a thing or two,” as the actor says in the Farmers Insurance TV commercials. To help you improve your SVAP we recommend the following steps:
- Perform a SWOT analysis to determine your value analysis program’s current strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Then, address each issue that surfaces from your SWOT analysis in your SVAP, like what your savings and quality goals will be for any given year and how you are going to up your engagement with your physicians to create real change at your healthcare organization.
- Involve your senior management team in the development of your SVAP to ensure their buy-in and support for your plan. We have found that this can be facilitated very efficiently by holding a half-day workshop with your value analysis steering committee (consisting of members of your senior management team, e.g., CFO, COO, and VPs) to review where you are now (SWOT analysis) and where you want your value analysis program to be over the next one to five years.
- Measure and monitor the implementation of your SVAP tasks and outcomes monthly, quarterly, and annually to ensure its execution, since there are hundreds of SVAP plans developed each year whose planned outcomes never happen. Therefore, develop, buy, or rent a tool to measure and monitor the implementation of your SVAP so you realize the benefits of this powerful planning process.
One key to value analysis is to repeat your SVAP on an annual basis. This ensures that you revisit your accomplishments, successes, and failures and then revise and update your SVAP so that you are never without a strategy, goals and objectives, appropriate organizational architecture, and operational tactics to overcome any challenge that may be thrown your way each year.
“Nothing is More Terrible as Activity Without Insight.” (Thomas Carlyle)
About this time in reading my dialog, you might be asking yourself, “Why do I need to spend time on an annual SVAP to up my value analysis game when no one is asking me to do so?” The best answer I can give you is to quote the Scottish Philosopher, Thomas Carlyle, who said, “Nothing is more terrible as activity without insight.”
Too often that’s what we see with healthcare organizations’ value analysis programs; a lot of activity (numerous meetings, memo, e-mails, and reports) but little or no concrete accomplishments documented during any given year to speak of. Don’t let this happen (a lot of activity with very little accomplishments) with your value analysis program if you want to keep demonstrating the value of value analysis at your healthcare organization. Instead, commit to performing an annual SVAP and you will never again have a year without your senior management’s appreciation of the value of value analysis. By the way, your job might depend on it.