Business Solution:  Healthcare Consulting, Strategic Planning, Balanced Scorecard, Organizational Survival Model

Challenge:  The Hearing Center of Excellence (HCE) is a division of the Defense Health Agency (DHA) within their J-9 Directorate.  Members of the Army Medical Command (MEDCOM), Air Force Medical Service (AFMS), Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED), and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) form the HCE.  Congress mandated that each of these organizations unite in an effort to mitigate the hearing loss of active duty and prior service members. Each was operating under their own set of standards of care and best practices in their organizations’ prevention and monitoring of members’ hearing loss.  To successfully align these four entities to function as one team would require significant strategic planning facilitation, conflict resolution, mediation, and cooperation.   

Solution:  After a year of this merger being facilitated by a well-known large government contracting company with little to no progress made and at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars, the HCE contacted Pharos Group, Inc. HCE requested Pharos Group act as an independent advisor and technical expert to assist in leading the mission of aligning these enormous organizations and developing their strategic way forward in the fight against hearing loss. As Balanced Scorecard (BSC) Strategic Planning experts, Pharos Group facilitated, developed, aligned, automated, and implemented the BSC strategic planning model throughout the newly formed organization. Acting as the principal advisor to the Director and Deputy Direct of HCE, Pharos Group armed them with the ability to share their strategic planning story to Congress and numerous other Stakeholders. Pharos Group worked with each objective holder and the HCE Leadership to develop and automate a strategic performance dashboard of quantitative and qualitative metrics. We directed the identification of an assessment and capability measurement tool that led to the automation of the Balanced Scorecard. In doing this, we were able to develop near and long-term strategic processes and organizational performance assessment initiatives that led HCE on their desired path forward.  

Result:  Through the implementation of the BSC strategic planning model, and Pharos Group’s proprietary Organizational Survival Model (OSM), the HCE saw immediate results. DHA conducted a workforce management review that was designed to cut the workforce in the HCE. However, what DHA found was the HCE had reduced waste, fraud, and duplication of effort to the extent that DHA recognized HCE as the top Center of Excellence at reaching its goals and maximizing efficiency. Rather than cut the workforce, HCE was upsized 7 full-time employees and given a 15% budget increase.  Pharos Group’s involvement and implementation of the Organizational Survival Model successfully positioned the HCE to more efficiently and effectively fight the hearing loss of our nation’s servicemen and women in the years to come.