High-Performance Partnerships - National Academy of Public ...

RESOURCES
chapter seven
support. The partnership structure should be
well suited to maximize available resources and
deliver greater value per dollar expended.
A partnership also must provide reports to
funders and the community on its operational
and financial results. Information is not
always easy to obtain, but the partnership’s
fiduciary responsibilities require accurate and
timely record keeping and reporting.
The Strategies
1. Collectively decide on criteria and mechanisms
for allocating resources effectively.
The distribution equation inevitably returns to a
partnership’s business plan. Resources should be
allocated based upon performance. The process
should never be viewed as a zero-sum game
where the strongest competitor wins.
2. Establish performance measures to
assess resource utilization.
A partnership can benchmark its efficiency
against similar operations. If measures do not
exist, it can benchmark performance against
prior baseline data and its own operational
track record. Performance should be measured
by the level of the output and the cost of
achieving it. That is, a high-performance
partnership will look at effectiveness and efficiency
outcomes. If outcomes are not sufficient,
or efficiency is below expectations, the
partnership must be prepared to take corrective
action.
3. Understand the regulatory and
reporting requirements of each funder
and meet them.
With performance and fiduciary accountability
standards, a partnership should be well positioned
to report results. However, it should not
create these mechanisms in a vacuum. Various
regulations may come into play depending on
the funding source. The partnership must be
aware of them from day one and establish
appropriate accountability standards.
Unfortunately, the partnership may have
requirements from competing resource streams.
“Through interacting with partners, CMS realized that many organizations
interact with Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries. This revelation challenged
us to rethink our practice of producing myriad publications and to pursue
incorporating our information in other organizations’ publications and programs.
By doing so, we were able to more effectively provide information to
our target audience at the “teachable moment.” Besides optimizing timing,
this approach dramatically decreased production and distribution costs to
the government.”
Lindsey Cometa, Centers for Medicare
and Medicaid Services
98 Powering the Future: High-Performance Partnerships