In ZRG Perspectives: Healthcare, we look at how U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc. recruited a CFO in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. For our Long Read, Giovanni Lamarca shares insights on the consumer health and wellness industry's response to the pandemic. Kevin Jones clarifies the state of Health Care Real Estate, and John Staines and John McFarland list several ways in which diversity can be a competitive advantage.

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Diversity is Your Competitive Advantage

We live in a time where we want instantaneous gratification, everything at our fingertips, right now, right here! That includes building diverse teams, even when it has not always been a focus for your company. Many organizations of recent are touting the hiring of a Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DE&I) leader, a diverse executive or board member. This is a great first step, but not a long-term solution. Why? DE&I is not about achieving a number, and it is not a short-term fix.

Building a culture that is tolerant, respectful and embraces different ideas is the right DE&I strategy. Why? DE&I is the right lever to achieve your long-term business strategy. Your customers and consumers are diverse, so to understand their needs, to develop the right products and services, the right service delivery, the right innovation culture, you must start by having a team that mirrors your customers and consumers.

Here are some ideas that can help lay the groundwork for the continued building of your team, so that all your employees can thrive and be successful. To develop the right DE&I strategy, there are many levers that you can pull:

1. It starts with sponsorship from the top. Sponsorship, not to hire the token diverse executive, but to put in place the right components to support the hiring and development of diverse talent.
2. Build the right, grassroots support. The best way to do this is to develop Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), led by employees, not senior executives.
3. Develop an inclusive, supportive culture. Start by developing measures of success at all levels. Reinforce it through employee communications and reward mechanisms.
4. Work with HR to develop the right tools in your succession planning process and your talent development. Make sure your leadership competencies are not biased towards a certain group. Make sure, as you develop these tools and processes, that they are inclusive of different backgrounds and experiences.
5. Ensure your rewards systems are balanced and have no adverse impact.
6. Celebrate differences, and publicly acknowledge that differences lead to better understanding of your customers and their needs.
7. Ensure your innovation and product development processes embrace these differences.

Diversity can be a competitive advantage as most companies unsuccessfully focus on one or two key hires. We stand by ready to support you in this incredibly rewarding journey that will maximize your business outcomes.

- John Staines and John McFarland
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Real Estate in the Health Care Sector

Over the past few decades Health Systems have evolved from their traditional Inpatient bed tower and doc-in-the-box Medical Office Buildings (MOB) to now being highly sophisticated owners, users, and developers of Healthcare Real Estate (HCRE) driven by analytics, patient care, reimbursement, competition and moving target government policies. This movement has created a focused third-party HCRE sector offering a line-up of invaluable services & strategies surrounding capital markets, design, development, construction, advisory, and planning along with a full menu of dedicated real estate services. While this evolution has improved patient experience tremendously, Hospital Boards & C-Suites faced with growing financial pressures, as well as other demographic and political realities are quickly seeing the need for a Chief Real Estate Officer who sits in the C-Suite and walks the halls on a daily basis.

Although the role is hardly novel, the skillset/capability continues to evolve embedding itself in the organizational vision creating a sustainable Real Estate strategy and a unique environment to house compassionate and effective patient care. Do you have a dedicated in-house Real Estate Executive to help you navigate and understand the organization’s current capital realities coupled with the continued evolution of a more sophisticated healthcare consumer and the uncertainty of the ever-changing reimbursement policy? If not, let’s talk today!

-Kevin Jones

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Giovanni Lamarca, Managing Director in Consumer and Health Care practices, shares insights on Consumer Health & Wellness, Deeper into the Pandemic, writing:

" Prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Consumer Health and Wellness industry was focused mainly on improving the quality and possible length of people’s lives. We were seeing rapid developments across medicine, hygienic habits, food quality, and a broadening range of health and wellness products that were poised to increase life expectancy, which has indeed been rising across the globe. These trends had been accelerating since 2000 without any real sign of an organic slowdown when the SARS-CoV-2 virus arose, giving a sinister gloss to Ralph Waldo Emerson’s 1860 observation that “the first wealth is health.” We spoke with industry leaders to assess the current state of the sector ."

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In this case study, Chris Reading, President & CEO of U.S. Physical Therapy, reflects on his experience working with ZRG to recruit a Chief Financial Officer for US Physical Therapy, Inc.

Chris describes the careful approach Brian Kelley and Brian McGowan took to understand both the client and the needs of this specific assignment and offers further that the insights within the Zi Platform helped to fill in the gaps left by a traditional interviewing process - especially at a time when most interviews are conducted virtually.

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