Is Your Healthcare Practice an HRO?
Doctor Genius, 2021
Healthcare practice advice that every medical office should follow is to strive to become a highreliability organization (HRO), which is a complex, high-risk organization that operates mostly without error despite the constant possibility of failing catastrophically. Given the inherent risk that exists in medicine, it is essential to adopt HRO for effective practice management for healthcare. To determine if your medical institution is an HRO, and to learn how to become one if it is not, it is important to understand the five principles that underlie the concept.
What are the principles of HRO?
The following principles serve as the bedrock of high-reliability organizations.
1. Being sensitive to the organization’s operations
2. Being resistant to simplifying
3. Being accepting of the potential to fail
4. Deferring to those with expertise
5. Exercising resilience
How can HRO be applied to strengthen medical practices?
Because of the fundamental complexity of medical organizations, numerous opportunities exist to apply HRO in healthcare.
Being sensitive to the organization’s operations
The first principle of HRO can be applied by ensuring that you have an in-depth understanding of how your practice operates and how its systems function. By taking steps to understand the inner workings of each department, both clinical to administrative, you will be better equipped to manage challenges that arise.
Being resistant to simplifying
The second principle requires the acceptance of the innate intricacies that characterize a medical institution. Even with policies and procedures firmly in place, the unexpected will happen, and coming to terms with this can help you better prepare to manage unforeseen challenges
Being accepting of the potential to fail The third principle recognizes that no practice is completely immune to failure. However, accepting the potential for it can enable you to turn failures into opportunities to improve processes and systems so that the same type of failure is not repeated.
Deferring to those with expertise
The fourth principle necessitates considering the fact that anyone who has firsthand experience in a department is most likely the one who can most effectively articulate the areas that need improvement. This principle encourages leadership to consult such personnel, even if it means deferring to them over more senior staff.
Exercising resilience
The fifth principle emphasizes the importance of training for the unexpected, even if the probability of an event happening is relatively low. Such preparation can help minimize the impact of an adverse system or process failure.
How can I learn more about becoming an HRO?
The medical field arguably serves as the cornerstone of all societies, and the ability to operate at the highest level despite the numerous challenges that arise daily is critical to maintain a healthy population. Therefore, it is imperative to learn how to implement the five principles of HRO as much as possible in your medical facility. Doctor Genius offers powerful tools to help your practice reach its full potential. To learn more about how we can assist you with practice management practice management, call us today at tel:877-477-2311, and we will be ready to help.