Step-by-Step Process for Evaluating a Care Team Redesign Partner

The following process provides a structured approach to evaluating potential care team redesign partners.

Step 1: Map Your Current Operating Model

Before engaging a partner, document how work currently flows through your care team. Identify which tasks are performed by physicians, advanced practice providers, nurses, and support staff. Note where documentation burden concentrates, where handoffs create delays, and where clinicians perform tasks that do not require their clinical expertise. This baseline becomes the foundation for evaluating whether a partner’s diagnostic approach is thorough enough to address your specific operating conditions.

Step 2: Define Your Redesign Objectives

Establish clear objectives for the redesign engagement. Common objectives for emergency departments and urgent care networks include reducing the number of patients who leave without being seen, decreasing documentation turnaround time, improving clinician satisfaction scores, increasing patient throughput, and standardizing care team structures across multiple sites. Define a baseline, target, and measurement method for each objective.

Step 3: Assess Partner Diagnostic Depth

During the evaluation process, ask potential partners to describe their diagnostic methodology. A qualified partner will assess workforce composition, role definitions, workflow patterns, technology utilization, education and training gaps, and performance metrics. A partner that proposes a solution before completing a diagnostic assessment is offering a predetermined answer to a problem they have not yet examined.

Step 4: Evaluate Execution Capabilities

Ask how the partner will recruit, train, and deploy team members, implement technology, and review performance. Confirm who will adjust the model when results fall short. Ask for evidence of scale: how many sites the partner supports, how many providers they serve, and what operational results they have produced in comparable settings.

Step 5: Confirm Accountability Structure

Establish how the partner will be held accountable for outcomes after deployment. Define the metrics that will be tracked, the frequency of performance reviews, and the process for adjusting the model when results do not meet objectives. Ongoing accountability gives both teams a process for identifying problems and making corrections.

Use these steps to compare proposals and clarify implementation responsibilities. Contact HealthChannels to discuss your requirements and implementation needs.