Dec 07

Lucro Company Update and 2017 Year in Review

Bruce Brandes Decision Making Innovation Purchasing Decisions Sales healthcare innovation RFPs AMA Vendor Selection Vendor Partners Process Improvement Lucro vendor community healthcare IT vendors Thought Leaders Sales Process Healthcare Leaders About Lucro Company Update Healthcare Vendors General Availability Press Release HIMSS Hospitals Partnerships Health 2.0 Health:Further Customers System-ness

As you likely experience every day, uncertainty and cost pressures in healthcare have created unprecedented challenges and opportunity for the industry.

How do healthcare executives, across a group of hospitals and physician practices, really understand the problems they face, get trusted input to find the right solutions, and ensure broad buy-in and support for accelerated implementation?

In a recent blog post, visionary healthcare innovator (and Lucro advisor), Molly Coye poses this industry challenge and describes Lucro as “a new operating system to achieve “system-ness” in healthcare.”

Nov 21

Why Healthcare Organizations Take So Long to Make Buying Decisions and How We Can Fix It (Part 4 of 4 - Process) (HIStalk)

Bruce Brandes HISTalk Decision Making Innovation Purchasing Decisions Sales healthcare innovation RFPs Vendor Selection Vendor Partners Process Improvement RFP healthcare IT vendors Sales Process Change Management Healthcare Leaders Hospitals Healthcare Vendors

(as seen in HIStalk Reader's Write on November 15, 2017)

We have previously discussed the impact of organizational misalignment and lack of trust on slowing the buying cycle in healthcare. Once you decide which projects are worth tackling and you streamline getting the scoop from your trusted network, now you must challenge and simplify the deeply-rooted, legacy workflow to make a decision.

Let’s illustrate two examples of antiquated steps in most every vendor selection process in healthcare and discuss potential solutions.

Nov 02

Why Healthcare Organizations Take So Long to Make Buying Decisions and How We Can Fix It (Part 3 of 4 - Trust) (HIStalk)

Bruce Brandes HISTalk Decision Making Innovation Purchasing Decisions Sales healthcare innovation physicians Vendor Selection Vendor Partners Sales Process Hospitals Healthcare Leaders Healthcare Vendors

(as seen in HIStalk Reader's Write on November 1, 2017)

In Part 2 of this series, we discussed the importance of first clearly defining and aligning regarding the problem a buyer seeks to solve before evaluating products. The next key element is to invite trusted colleagues to contribute insights and experience in the context of that problem and possible solutions.

Below we will share more about the type of buying decisions most impacted by a lack of trust and explore how healthcare buyers can gain more confidence in the choices they must make.

Sep 28

Why Healthcare Organizations Take So Long to Make Buying Decisions and How We Can Fix It (Part 2 of 4 - Misalignment) (HIStalk)

Bruce Brandes HISTalk Decision Making Innovation Purchasing Decisions Sales healthcare innovation IT solutions Vendor Selection Process Improvement Sales Process Hospitals Healthcare Leaders Healthcare Vendors

(as seen in HIStalk Reader's Write on September 27, 2017)

The Focus on Buying a Product is Wrong

As any industry observer knows, health systems continue to consolidate in an attempt to ensure their viability given unprecedented financial and operational pressures. Many organizations struggle to fully leverage their scale post-merger. Most often the difficulty is to align focus, priorities, internal knowledge. and industry experience across the expanded team as they integrate.

Misalignment is usually the main contributor to the length of the sales and purchasing process. Too often people fall in love with a PRODUCT without first clearly defining the PROBLEM they seek to solve. This challenge is exacerbated by complex purchasing decisions that require collaboration across multiple stakeholders to make the right choices.

Sep 05

Why Healthcare Organizations Take So Long to Make Buying Decisions and How We Can Fix It (Part 1 of 4) (HIStalk)

Bruce Brandes HISTalk Decision Making Innovation Purchasing Decisions Sales healthcare innovation IT solutions Vendor Selection Customers Sales Process Hospitals Healthcare Leaders Healthcare Vendors

(as seen in HIStalk Reader's Write on August 30, 2017)

The (Current) Healthcare Sales Cycle

Over my 28-year career selling to health systems, the most common “competitor” to which my companies would lose a deal has always been the same: Do Nothing. For decision-makers across the country, there are many reasons that deferring buying decisions was historically a wise choice.

Rarely was there a compelling reason to make a decision at all. In the past, the economics, competitive pressures, and the underlying business model did not change meaningfully enough to encourage risk-taking. Frequently, if you waited long enough, potential industry changes would often just go away.

Mar 03

Looking Back on HIMSS17, Looking Forward to Innovation

Purchasing Decisions Bruce Brandes Healthcare Vendors HIMSS Sales healthcare innovation Innovation

At 4:00 PM on Wednesday, February 22, a cheer went up from exhibitors at HIMSS17 upon hearing the announcement, “The Exhibit Hall is now closed.” Sales and marketing executives gathered their supplies and headed for the door, leaving teams of specialists to dismantle the mini-city that had sprung up in the almost mile-long convention hall.

Exhausted attendees, feet aching and shoulders slumped from carrying pounds of giveaways and literature, also made their way out of the hall. Many commented on the sensory overload of the exhibits, signage, noise and smells that had pummeled them for three days.

Feb 17

Getting Real About Innovation at #HIMSS17 - Q&A with CEO Bruce Brandes

Interview Bruce Brandes Healthcare Vendors HIMSS healthcare innovation healthcare IT vendors Healthcare Leaders Innovation conferences IT solutions

Who’s ready for HIMSS17 in t-minus two days!? In preparation for the show, we sat down with Bruce Brandes, Lucro CEO and co-founder, to hear his thoughts on emerging trends in hospital purchasing and ask what innovation progress he expects – and hopes – to see at the industry’s largest annual gathering.

Feb 10

Redefining the Sales Battle

Sales Purchasing Decisions Bruce Brandes Healthcare Vendors healthcare IT vendors RFPs Vendor Partners Process Improvement Sales Process

In ancient Roman times, gladiators entered the ring to engage in blood-soaked battle, often to the death. Fast forward to 2017, and while it may not be the Roman Coliseum, fearsome battles between vendors for health systems’ purchasing decisions, as well as battles around vendor choices within these health systems, still take place on a regular basis.

The difference in vendor and provider approaches to selling and purchasing, respectively, isn’t productive for either party, resulting in mutual frustration and inefficiency, as well as solutions rife with compromise. Vendors and providers that are open to changing how they approach purchasing conversations can save themselves the “sales battle”, work more efficiently and make better decisions to push toward innovation.

As you consider how this change can impact your organization, keep three benefits of a more collaborative vendor/provider relationship in mind:

Jan 06

Three Steps to Innovating Faster in 2017

Becker's Hospital Review Bruce Brandes healthcare innovation Innovation healthcare IT vendors Healthcare Leaders

(as seen Becker's Health IT & CIO Review on January 3, 2017)

The always-quotable Will Rogers once said, "Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there."

Hospital and healthcare system executives might want to frame that saying and put it where they can see it daily—especially when considering their buying cycles. Organizations that don't innovate with new technology will continue to simply chug down the track as their bullet train brethren speed past.

By adopting an approach that streamlines the purchasing discovery process and supports effective evaluation of vendor partners, healthcare organizations can accelerate the decision-making process and lower their risk.

It's Not You, It's Me

Cost is often a major factor when purchasing an innovative new solution for your organization. But regardless of the price, if it's not needed or isn't appropriately fitted to your initiative, then that new widget is nothing more than an exorbitantly expensive paperweight.

Generally, the problem doesn't lie with the vendor that created the solution, it's with the health system. It's like winning the rights to host a major event (cough, Olympic games, cough) but without the infrastructure, preparation or resources to make it a success.

Three Steps to Embrace—and Realize—Innovation

There are three critical steps healthcare organizations should take to ensure they can accelerate effective purchasing decisions:

Dec 19

Lucro - Year End Update & Invitation to Join Us!

Bruce Brandes Company Update

“When you first start off trying to solve a problem, the first solutions you come up with are very complex, and most people stop there. But if you keep going, and live with the problem and peel more layers of the onion off, you can sometimes arrive at some very elegant and simple solutions.” – Steve Jobs

Lucro was launched just over a year ago with a big idea and remarkable encouragement and engagement from many of healthcare’s most influential organizations and thought leaders. Over the past several months, our team has been heads down on execution and delivery – having listened, learned, adapted, and focused our efforts to deliver a simple but compelling solution to enable innovation in healthcare.