Medical expertise is an essential aspect of healthcare, but over the years a myth seems to have built up that it's the only essential aspect. For this reason, healthcare companies and organizations don't always have the right people in the right positions. 

But that isn't necessarily the best way to run a business, especially when your business faces the turbulence that the healthcare industry is currently undergoing. When times get tough, businesses in any field look to optimize costs and streamline their best practices, including the supply chain, procurement, IT and other systems.

Doctors may order based on personal preference instead of watching costs. As a result, significant "soft spots" develop in the company's processes — and that's where bringing in a "plug and play" generalist with the right skill set makes a difference. Refined skills transfer from industry to industry, along with the extra richness of an outsider's perspective and experience. It's analogous to choosing the best athlete instead of the best quarterback.

And while the flexibility of executive outsourcing is a definite benefit, don't forget that your next permanent "star player" could emerge from outsourcing. Walt Atkinson spent about nine months working with a healthcare company in Alabama. This company needed someone with experience in IT strategies to help them to streamline the integration between their IT group and their supply chain systems. We already had another LGE Execs consultant, Chris Klassen, working on supply chain issues there, so the two of them resolved the challenge together. When Walt moved to another project, Chris stayed on with the healthcare company — and he's now vice-president of the supply chain group.

Will the healthcare industry bring in more problem-solvers from outside as time goes on? From my vantage point, it's just what the doctor ordered.