Can Risk Management Improve Health and Human Services Delivery?
At its heart, effective human service delivery is about effective decision-making. While business process and user experience certainly matter, if we really want to improve client outcomes, we need to improve our decision-making. While health and human services (HHS) agencies and human services professionals usually look to practice, policy and decision-support tools to help, we can also strengthen our decision-making by applying the lens of risk mitigation.
Risk, in the world of project management, is the intersection of the likelihood of an adverse event happening and the impact that adverse event would have if it occurred. Some risks may be likely but have little adverse impact. Other risks may be relatively unlikely but have catastrophic consequences if they materialize. To mitigate risk, well-run projects look for risks continuously and develop plans to reduce the likelihood of an adverse event, the impact of the adverse event, or both.
So, what does this mean for human services? HHS professionals and leaders face scores of important decisions every day. Some of those decisions are at the macro level (Which programs should we implement to address a problem? How should we best allocate our limited resources among programs and services?) and some are at the micro level (What is the next action we should take with this client? Who is the best service provider for this client?). Regardless of whether looking at the program or client level, every decision embeds risk: What are the potential consequences of making a bad decision? What is the likelihood of an adverse event with this program or client? What would be the impact of that adverse event?
If we view every decision point as a potential risk, then every decision point should also have a risk mitigation approach associated with it. Developing that risk mitigation includes these five steps:
· Identifying discrete decision points in the case management life cycle. Should we serve this client or not? What are the best services to provide for this client? Who is the best service provider for this client? Is our service plan working? Each step in the case management lifecycle includes critical decision points; it is important to identify them explicitly.
· Explicitly recognizing the potential risks at each decision point and estimating the likelihood and impact. What happens if we make the wrong decision about a child welfare hotline call? What is the likelihood of us making the wrong decision? What might the impact be if we make the wrong decision? This need not be an exhaustive list but should address the major risks.
· Scoring each risk to determine its relative priority. Of course, not all risks are equal, and no human services agency has the resources to mitigate every risk. To prioritize risks, you can score them on both their likelihood and their impact. A low likelihood, low impact risk is probably something you can live with. By contrast, a high probability, high impact risk demands immediate attention.
· Developing an explicit risk mitigation strategy for each high priority risk identified. Those strategies will vary by decision, program and other factors, but examples might be conducting a case review with a supervisor or establishing early check points to make sure things with a case are going as expected.
· Applying technology to reduce both the likelihood and impact of bad decisions. Technology can help empower and enable human services professionals and leaders to make better decisions at every level. For example:
Mobile solutions can provide human services professionals with access to information and advice in the field and in the moment
Interoperability — gaining real-time access to client data across multiple programs and systems — can provide agencies and workers with a clearer view of client circumstances and engagement, helping human services professionals make better decisions
Advanced analytics can mine the vast amounts of data collected to identify patterns and uncover insights about programs and clients that can strengthen decision-making
Artificial intelligence can go even further, providing human services professionals with insight and guidance to help make better decisions
At IBM, we are working to help health and human services agencies strengthen service delivery and improve client outcomes, giving human services professionals the insight and information they need, when and where they need it. For more information about how we are helping other clients and how we can help you, please click here: https://www.ibm.com/industries/government/government-social-programs and read other insightful blog posts from our health and human services experts.
