Does anyone sincerely enjoy writing policies and procedures?

Maybe not, but a well-developed and thought-out policy will serve as the foundation of a successful operation for the following:

  • An end user/consumer
  • A department owner/executive management 
  • An organization/key stakeholders
  • Regulatory requirements/accreditation standards

Policy development is a tedious activity, and that's why many organizations outsource the activity to consultants. There is merit to an entire organization embracing the following essential steps to ensure a successful policy outcome for all involved stakeholders. As well, there is merit to having an understanding for the expectation of a hired consultant for the task. Through this 4-part series, we will review the following 6-steps in detail.

 

The key steps live in 3 policy phases for your action plan:

Phases Steps 
A. Pre-Policy Development Phase

1. Identify a policy owner and policy name 

2. Identify the internal resource references and affected departments
B. Policy Development Phase 

3. Identify the external related source(s) for the basis of the policy

4. Search, research, and investigate
C. Post Policy Development Phase 

5. Identify continued maintenance activities

6. Collaborate with policy committee and inter-departmental stakeholders

 

Why do you need a policy or need to update an existing policy?      

Here are some common scenarios that may require you to either create a policy from scratch or update an existing policy:

  • State/federal legislation(s)
  • CMS regulation(s) 
  • NCQA/URAC accreditation standard(s)
  • Systems/platforms process instruction(s)
  • Compliance requirement(s)/instruction(s)
Regardless of your situation or specific policy, there are essential successful action plans to implement during pre-policy, policy development, and post-policy phases which all lead to a high-quality outcome for the life cycle of a policy.

We will continue this 4-part series on Policy development and start to examine the specific 6 steps in detail next month and focus on the key component of “Ownership” of a policy via step 1 and 2. 

 

Partner with Impresiv Health 

Impresiv Health provides comprehensive consultative services in the area of policy development, implementation, and training to meet all your healthcare policy needs for software operations, legislation requirements, general operations, and/or regulatory/accreditation requisites. Impresiv has created and updated multiple policies for nationally recognized healthcare companies and welcomes the opportunity to work with you. 

Connect with us through our website or reach out directly to Chris A. Brown, Chief Growth Officer at cbrown@impresivhealth.com to start a conversation. We look forward to assisting your policy needs and providing you with the most efficient solutions. 

Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram for updates on consulting, technology, and staffing.

 

Resource(s)

* Healthcare industry is utilized for related policy example 
* The US has the most percentage of outsourced jobs in the world, with almost 68% of companies delegating their services.

Ultimate outsourcing statistics and reports in 2021 | Outsource Accelerator