Physician Integration & Alignment

Physician Relationship Management and Models for Partnership

One of Navvis & Company’s most important activities in helping healthcare organizations is relationship management. We take our clients through a complete, disciplined and documented process to ensure all issues get on the table for discussion. We take the time to understand every aspect of the relationship between the hospital and physicians and serve as a liaison between the two parties. By providing a safe environment for discussion and dialogue, we create a consensus-building dimension that helps bypass behavioral baggage and move constructively towards a declaration of interdependence.

Part of this process includes assessing the compatibility of different groups' values and expectations, their terms and conditions, group goals, and the identification of the core issues and motivations influencing each party. Determining the wants and needs of each group is a critical step in building trust before moving forward.

For a hospital to thrive, they need to partner with physicians. Because of our team’s experience on both sides of the table, we understand physicians and recognize their issues. To build lasting and functional relationships and find a unity of purpose Navvis & Company believes the hospital must impact three critical issues for physicians:

  • Income
  • Lifestyle
  • Professional Satisfaction

Models for Success

Based on service line and medical staff planning, Navvis & Company works with management to consider and adopt various innovative partnership models.  During the planning process, we strategically construct opportunities for consideration. Next we identify the pros and cons of the various models, their financial and legal implications, and why we think one is or is not appropriate for each client or situation.

The models are not always about "doing deals” but partnering strategically in ways that may not always require shared economic structures. This “form following function” model is used in a sound, strategic manner.

Today in healthcare, trends come and go. As ideas become “popular,” they may blind an organization to what other options or alternatives are available. Navvis & Company's innovative ideas are sometimes counterintuitive to current trends.

For example, joint ventures with physicians are popular, but often may not be the best solution to a problem. “Doing deals” does not address a systematic problem between a hospital and physician group. Building a well-laid foundation of trust and relationship management must come first. Because in the end, it doesn’t matter how good a deal is, it will fall apart if a foundation of trust is not there.

Navvis & Company consultants have the courage and experience to go beyond conventional thinking to develop a customized solution for your organization.

Directing Medical Groups

Part of strategy implementation may include directing the formation and operation of medical groups in a wide range of sizes and specialties. We can help with practice acquisitions, mergers, physician recruitment and retention, compensation methodology development and refinement, and regulatory compliance. We also work with clients to build governance structure and related committees.

Medical Staff Planning

Navvis & Company works with clients to develop specific physician strategies to support service line delivery. A database compiled from primary and secondary research creates a medical staff and physician community analysis. Research includes physician name, specialty and geographic information.

We define physician strategies utilizing our proprietary “5Rs™” methodology: recruitment, retention, redirection, redeployment and retirement. Strategy development addresses both offensive and defensive targets within both the physician and medical communities.

High-Quality Physician Databases

Navvis & Company has developed proprietary methodologies for physician research and strategy development enabling clients to implement physician resource plans that are fully integrated with health system service line strategies. It starts with a high-quality, up-to-date physician database. Utilizing multiple public and private information sources, Navvis & Company has created a method to capture physician specific market intelligence quickly and comprehensively. The result is a highly accurate and reliable database that holds up to the closest scrutiny.


In building our database, we capture detailed information about physicians including:

  • Name, Age and Practice Location
  • Allegiance Profile
  • Special Referral Profile

But data is just data unless you know how to use it strategically. We position our data and make it actionable grouping physician by category using our 5Rs™ methodology. The 5Rs™ include:

  • Retirement — Top producing physicians are candidates for succession planning strategies if they are age 55 or older. Given a hospital’s dependence on their patient volumes, these individuals should be considered for practice transition planning. 
  • Retention — Top producing physicians are candidates for retention strategies based upon their historic commitment of activity to the hospital for inpatient and outpatient service volumes. 
  • Recruitment — When both strategic and community assessments indicate a need for physicians in a particular specialty, then this specialty is a good candidate for recruitment strategies to address physician shortages. 
  • Redirection — Physician candidates for redirection strategies are typically those who are aligned with competitor hospitals. 
  • Redeployment — Refocusing the geographic practice patterns of loyal physicians who could increase their practice volume to the mutual benefit of the physician and health system.

Together with our clients, we work to determine which of the 5Rs™ best categorizes each physician under consideration. The result is a Community Needs Report to support your medical staff recruiting efforts.

Integrating Service Line and Medical Staff Planning

One of Navvis & Company’s unique strengths is the integration of clinical service line planning and medical staff planning. By combining database reports with service line priorities we are able to create a Strategic Need Report, a report that demonstrates how many physicians and which specialties are needed to achieve your growth objectives. The Community Needs Report in tandem with the Strategic Need Report provides a framework for both medical staff and clinical service line planning.

To paint a clearer picture for clients, we run financial reports based on your desired position clarifying how much volume and market share are needed, for example, to achieve operational efficiency and economic viability. From here we identify the gaps between the current and the desired positions and open dialogue about how to close the gaps as identified.

Clinical Operations Expertise

Navvis & Company works with physicians and hospitals to help build meaningful relationships that ultimately improve operational efficiencies and clinical performance outcomes. We bring a full complement of services to our clients through our clinical operations expertise. Our team can speak all the languages of healthcare, from visionary thinking to detailed day-to-day operations.

As Navvis & Company builds relationships, we look at the bigger picture using our clinical operations experience and insights. For example, why would a physician want to partner with a hospital if the catheterization lab doesn’t even work well?

Navvis & Company fills the gaps. Beyond day-to-day relationships, we work between hospitals and doctors to look at operations, clinical care and quality. We take a comprehensive look at all service lines and address any inefficiency. That creates a better financial picture for hospitals and ultimately, a better experience for patients.

Bridging the Gap

Many physicians feel disenfranchised from decision-making at a hospital. Yet physicians often drive patient opinion. We listen carefully to physicians from an objective perspective. Through our clinical and operations expertise, we bridge the gap between the hospital and physicians to serve as an advocate. Operationally, if both hospitals and physicians put the patient in the center, it becomes much easier to make the right decision. Once strong relationships are built, future decisions also become easier.