INTRODUCTION
Imagine you are the captain of a ship trying to transport precious cargo from one port to another. Any number of internal or external risks–such as a bad storm, mutiny, pirate attack or leak–could compromise your trip. You would be wise to avoid these risks.
Likewise, your hospital would be wise to avoid internal and external risks, which can negatively affect your reputation. That, in turn, could affect your ability to do business–for example, it may be difficult to attract patients and talent.
Here’s how to identify your hospital’s reputation risks and minimize them.
CREATE A CROSS-FUNCTIONAL GROUP
The purpose of a cross-functional group is to bring together people with different areas of expertise who are all working toward a common goal. In this case, you will want the leader or the second-in-command of each business function, such as finance, HR, legal and IT. The Chief Communications Officer (or equivalent role) should lead the group, and the group reports to the board of directors.
Note the cross-functional group will end up having additional responsibilities relating to reputation management, such as developing strategic plans. The initial meeting will likely be the longest–ideally, limited to a half-day–and then subsequent monthly meetings may be 1-2 hours.
IDENTIFY AND DISCUSS RISKS
In a meeting or series of meetings, your cross-functional group should discuss your hospital’s reputation risks and document the following information:
- Description: what is the reputation risk? Example: Cybersecurity breach
- Impact: How and why will the reputation risk impact your hospital? Example: Patients and the community will lose trust in our hospital if their sensitive information is stolen.
- Likelihood: How likely is this type of reputation risk? Example: FortiGuard Labs reports that in 2017, healthcare organizations each saw about 32,000 cyber attacks per day compared to about 14,000 per organization in other industries.
- Causes: What causes this type of reputation risk? Example: Lack of education among staff, primarily.
- Prevention: How can you reduce the likelihood of the reputation risk? Example: Ongoing training and testing of all staff, improving IT security measures.
- Mitigation: What is your hospital doing to reduce the current or future impact of the reputation risk? Example: Writing talking points, creating a patient alert system, developing a backup internal network.
Once you’ve identified your reputation risks, you will need to integrate them into your business planning so that you and your leadership team are aware of what factors could harm your plan and/or its outcomes. Finally, present the report and recommendations to the board of directors.
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