In healthcare today, change is most definitely the norm. But finding a definitive approach to plan in this volatile environment can be a challenge. In this issue, we offer strategies and tips for reaching out to employers, physicians, and your other internal and external customers.

How Will the Looming Physician Shortage Change Your Strategy?
By Kriss Barlow, CHG Senior Consultant

We’ve all seen the numbers, and they paint a future with too few physicians to meet the ever-growing health care needs of our country. A recent update by the COGME projected a shortage of 96,000 doctors by 2020. Obviously, the implication for healthcare leaders is huge. Organizations are sure to recognize the impact on planned program expansions; access issues and backlogs for securing hospital services must be part of the equation. CFOs and business development teams are working hard to create never before considered models for employment to ensure tenure and more/different partnership models.  >> Read Full Article

CHG Survey: Share Your Insights on Physician Sales

Corporate Health Group invites you to participate in an important survey to
help us learn more about how national hospitals and healthcare systems are selling their services to primary care physicians and specialists. Co-sponsored by CHG and Strategic Marketing Report, this questionnaire
should take about 15 minutes to complete and can be accessed by clicking
here. All individual information from the survey will be kept in the strictest confidence. You also may request an executive summary of the results.

The survey should be completed by someone very familiar with the sales activities at your organization. If that's someone other than you, please forward this information to the appropriate person.

Deadline for completed surveys is October 14, 2005.

Thank you in advance for your valuable assistance!

Alternative Practice Models Take Hold in a Dynamic Marketplace
By Allison McCarthy, CHG Managing Consultant

Turmoil and change can inspire some honest soul-searching and lead to a transition into new possibilities. And so it is for physician entrepreneurs, who are adapting to today’s medical marketplace with some creative practice arrangements. >> Read Full Article

Rising to the Challenge of Change: 3 Lessons to Apply in Our Own Lives
By Catherine Baumgardner, CHG Associate

What makes the difference between an organization that endures and thrives—and one that just gets by? What makes an organization only get stronger in the face of change, while others weaken, wither and, sometimes, even fade away? What makes an organization be a place that people look to as an example of fairness, ethics, and commitment to others? >> Read Full Article

CHG Book Review
By Suzanne Dewey, CHG Associate

Making Innovation Work – How to Manage It, Measure It, and Profit from It
Epstein, Shelton and Davila
© 2005, Wharton School Publishing

More and more, successful organizations are pushing past routine standards and counting innovation as one of their most strategic tools. But how does innovation happen? In their new book, Making Innovation Work: How to Manage It, Measure It, and Profit from It, authors Mark Epstein, Robert Shelton and Tony Davila provide a treatise on how to manage, measure, and even execute, the process of innovation. >> Read Full Article