While at the CHIME Fall CIO Forum, I had the great opportunity to sit down with Sheri Stoltenberg, CEO of Stoltenberg Consulting and Shane Pilcher, VP of Stoltenberg Consulting. I say it was a great opportunity, because I had the chance to sit down with both of them at HIMSS as well and both times were a fantastically interesting opportunity. Considering they have over 50 years of experience in healthcare, they can offer some really deep perspectives on the industry.
Over time, I’m sure I’ll do many posts pulling out some of the topics we discussed. Many of them revolved around the idea of healthcare data analytics. Although, the conversation was unlike any other healthcare analytics discussion I’ve had (and I’ve had many). Instead, for this post I want to consider a realization I had during our conversation. Here’s the question that came to my mind:
Are Most EHR Consulting Companies Really Staffing Companies?
This came to mind when Sheri Stoltenberg was talking about their goal to provide more value to the organizations they work with beyond just extra hands on deck. When I think about the institutions I’ve talked to, they often treat EHR consulting companies more like a temp agency than they do a consulting company. Granted, it’s a temp agency with highly skilled workers, but in many respects it’s more about staffing than it is consulting.
Don’t get me wrong. There’s nothing wrong with a staffing company. In fact, the services these EHR consulting companies provide when it comes to staffing can be incredibly valuable to an organization who needs some temporary people with specific skills. That’s much better than having to hire and then fire a whole bunch of staff in your organization.
I just wonder how many organizations really hire an EHR consultant to consult their organization about how that organization should prepare for the future? I don’t think a consultant is required to help an organization better understand their readiness for the future, but it’s one method. My fear is that many organizations are so overwhelmed by the operations of their organization that they don’t take the time to strategically look to the future. Maybe there’s a space for a consultant who’s constantly considering the future to add value to an organization overwhelmed by operations and regulations.
