“The secret to success is to look at each day as a new opportunity to be your very best. Set high goals, be honest, strive to have a “say yes” culture, and surround yourself with others who share your passion for doing their best. It is very possible to achieve any goal you set your mind to accomplish. It is a question of trade-offs by deciphering what steps you will take to get there and achieve it.”
Leadership in the healthcare industry is not only important for organizational success but it also impacts patient care and outcomes. An effective leader in the healthcare sector must understand the importance of time management skills, know how to prioritize tasks and be willing to adapt to new situations. One example of such leadership is Tamika Williams, Director Contact Center Operations, at Stamford Health whose strategic goal and vision is to further enhance patient satisfaction at an all-time high and ensure consistent access to care in every way possible to achieve a lasting positive impact.
An Inspiring Journey
Tamika Williams aspired to become a physician while pursuing her degree but ended up choosing a different field of study because of a lack of finances that was needed to achieve that career goal. Instead, she pursued business and graduated from Francis Marion University in South Carolina. She started her journey in the telecommunication industry in consumer experience and decided to change her field of career in 2016 to help others. This led her to pursue a career as a Patient Access Leader.
She has dual bachelor’s degrees in Marketing and Spanish and dual master’s degrees in Information Systems and Healthcare Management. She derives great satisfaction from engaging with people, fostering communication, enhancing the patient experience, and establishing meaningful connections that drive her forward. Her personal measure of growth is acquiring new skills and knowledge that are transferable to any career. She maintains a steadfast belief in the importance of reaching out and learning about peripheral areas related to her current role.
The Non-Profit Healthcare System
Stamford Health is an independent, non-profit health system consisting of a 305-bed acute care hospital, a growing ambulatory network including four multispecialty centers, and a medical group with more than 240 physicians and advanced practice providers in 40 offices throughout Fairfield County, Connecticut. With more than 3,900 employees, Stamford Health is the largest employer in the City of Stamford, has an operating budget of close to $1 billion, and contributes more than $1 billion a year to the local economy.
Through effective collaboration with human resources, the Contact Center leadership team developed a highly strategic recruitment strategy for Centralized Contact Center employees. This began with offering future hybrid remote work opportunities and a clear, concise job posting that accurately reflected the role. To follow was a structured interview with a standard set of behavioral-based questions for all candidates. This made the process more effective and ensured consistency in candidates’ evaluations. This yielded candidates more suited to fill the role and become successful. Ultimately, investing in human capital is beneficial as it lends itself to improving employee retention, increasing productivity, and improving the quality of care provided to the communities the organization serves.
Overcoming Challenges
Workforce shortages, availability of skilled workers, and attracting new/top talent remain an ongoing challenge in the world of patient access in the healthcare world. These challenges increase the burden on existing staff and impact patient care, satisfaction, and loyalty. Innovation in the industry pushed Tamika Williams to think and do things differently. Therefore, securing and maintaining top talent within the healthcare industry requires a lot of thought and a proactive approach.
The No Surprises Act, which became effective in 2022, addresses many viable issues but its primary objective was to avoid surprise billing for patients. Initially, it was a challenge as there was so much confusion because of the varied layers of the new regulation and knowing exactly how to ensure one was compliant with the law. To overcome this challenge within the Contact Center Tamika Williams oversees, she worked as a team to educate appropriately, defined/formulated goals, and created a structured plan by soliciting various input from others, tweaked the plan as needed until it saw consistent positive progress, and stayed on course by consistently performing checks & balances.
Innovation and Advancements in Technology
Unique challenges and innovation prospects marked the current state of healthcare. There continues to be rapid advances in technology in the way organizations do business, unforeseen regulatory changes, and the ongoing shift of patients as consumers’ expectations are reshaping the healthcare industry. Healthcare organizations must constantly evaluate strategies to enhance the patient care journey to remain profitable and sustain operations. Therefore, fostering a culture of continuous learning and improvement, prioritizing research & development, ongoing investment in technology/data analytics, as well as instilling cross-collaboration with teams across different departments are the components necessary to drive innovation in the healthcare sector.
Healthcare has become such a huge part of our everyday life and plays different but major roles in the ever-changing economy, but patients will theoretically be the ultimate consumers. Many service organizations are using technology to boost productivity and compete better. They are also expanding outpatient services in new markets to make it easier for patients to get care. At the same time, they are working to control healthcare costs and make it more affordable for everyone.
As time progresses, artificial intelligence, medical IT software, robotics, streamlined patient care models, telemedicine and more will reshape the healthcare sector for the future. Therefore, as people and the environment continue to evolve, healthcare sectors will keep up with the changing demands and trends to remain competitive and relative.
Effective Collaboration and Communication
The ability to communicate and collaborate effectively, efficiently, and proactively are the most critical components in any business, especially in the healthcare sector. To facilitate efficient communication and collaboration among diverse teams, Tamika focuses on being clear and concise, actively listening for understanding, embracing diversity and inclusion to build effective relationships, making use of technology, and most importantly, encouraging 360-degree feedback which proved to be a great deal of help.
In a published article that Tamika Williams authored, she highlighted the importance of patient access as the consumer experience connection. A patient’s pathway holds an extreme weight in shaping one’s perception of the quality of care received at any healthcare facility. Therefore, the primary focus must remain on structuring access from the patient’s point of view. Experience is everything and the most influential in the healthcare industry. A study conducted by Accenture in 2022 captured that patients with positive experiences are more likely to recommend a healthcare organization to friends and family and return for future care. This, in turn, creates brand loyalty and improves financial outcomes for healthcare organizations.
Tamika Williams foresees an increasing number of uninsured patients. Although there have been many efforts for the affordability of healthcare coverage, many will continue to be uninsured due to the high cost of insurance. According to Tolbert, Drake & Damico (2023), “64% of uninsured non-elderly adults said they were uninsured because the cost of coverage was too high”. With rising inflation, many people are barely making ends meet. As a result, all the advancements mentioned could impact improvements in access to care and the financial well-being of healthcare organizations and health outcomes in the future.
Leadership and Advice for Fellow Leaders
Tamika Williams quotes Kouzes and Posner (2011), “The mastery of the art of leadership comes with the mastery of the self, and so developing leadership is a process of developing the self”.
She says, “It is so amazing what you can discover about yourself when you take the time to sit down and reflect on your leadership style and think of creative ways to reinvent yourself. Throughout the process of self-examining oneself to understand ‘you’ better, leaders would find the necessary awareness needed to remain grounded and consistent, which in turn will make not only a significant impact but lasting one in any business sector.”
