Five touchstones to refresh your practice culture: FAQs and insights

Bonus content from Ready, Set, Refresh! Five Touchstones of a Culturally Successful Practice 

Frequently asked questions (and Mandi Diamond’s honest answers from the field) 

If your practice feels like it’s running on autopilot, you’re not alone. Many healthcare teams find themselves going through the motions, checking boxes instead of reconnecting with their true purpose. 

The good news? There are practical ways to reset and refresh your culture. 

Mandi Diamond, senior practice transformation advisor at DataGen, answers all the questions asked during the VBC Exhibit Hall webinar, Ready, Set, Refresh! Five Touchstones of a Culturally Successful Practice.  

Whether you’re part of a primary or specialty care practice, serve as an office manager, administrator, COO or work on the front lines as a clinician, ancillary provider or clerical team member, in this webinar you’ll find tangible takeaways you can start applying immediately. 

Below are some of the most thoughtful questions raised during and after the webinar, along with practical answers you can take back to your team. Key themes include: 

1. Perception vs. reality: Identify how your team perceives its culture versus how it operates. 

2. Five key touchstones: The foundational pillars of a successful practice culture, such as communication, teamwork, adaptability, leadership and shared purpose. 

3. Application of outcomes: We close the loop by discussing how to translate these cultural insights into measurable outcomes. 

4. How practice culture translates to National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) recognition and sustainment. 
   
   

1. Why should my practice “stop and refresh” now? 

Because “good enough” isn’t good enough anymore. Healthcare delivery, patient expectations and even staff dynamics are changing faster than ever. Taking time to refresh your practice culture helps ensure that your values and workflows align with your mission (before burnout, turnover or miscommunication set in). 

Key insight 

Start planning routine maintenance for your practice’s “engine.” Without reflection, things may still run, but not nearly as efficiently or with as much purpose. Pausing to reflect and renew is essential, as it: 

• enables you to assess gaps in areas like communication, leadership alignment, workflows and team engagement; 

• empowers you to reaffirm your mission and reconnect with your “why;” and 

• encourages small cleanups that prevent “drift” over time, benefiting your culture, systems and morale. 

2. How can I overcome staff resistance to change? 

When team members push back, it’s often not about the change itself, but about unseen barriers. This can include personal stressors, unclear expectations or workflow disruptions. Sit down 1:1 and ask what’s really behind their resistance. Every concern is valid if it impacts how someone shows up at work. 

Key insight 

Start with conversation, not correction. A few practical tips: 

• Start with one-on-one conversations to uncover barriers: This includes personal, procedural or emotional. 

• Listen for the “what’s in it for me”: Process it and respond honestly. 

• Collaborate on solutions: Even small wins create momentum. 

• Recognize their effort: Appreciation goes further than any memo. 

• Check in regularly: Use this to adjust and iterate. 

This human-centered approach fosters buy-in, reduces friction and supports sustained change. When staff feel heard, they’re far more likely to engage with change rather than resist it. 

3. How do I get my team more involved in quality improvement (QI) activities? 

If you want engagement, make sure your team’s voices shape the process. Ask them what’s working, what’s not and what they’d change if they could. When staff feel like co-creators rather than task-doers, they become advocates for improvement. 

Key insight 

Quality improvement isn’t a solo act. It’s a team sport, involving: 

• inviting team members to share what’s working (or what’s not) and act on their input; 

• creating accountability loops that allow team members to lead mini-projects or manage their own metrics; and    

• celebrating wins and reinforcing that continuous quality is a collective responsibility. 

Encouraging open discussion also builds accountability, buy-in and leadership potential, which are three traits that drive lasting cultural success. 

4. What’s the best roadmap for managing big changes, such as a new EMR or ownership transition? 

Big transitions require structure and communication. The most successful practices build a roadmap that includes: 

• developing charters and criteria plans that define scope, goals, roles and success metrics; 

• creating a multi-tiered communication plan, using email, huddles, visuals, FAQs and town halls; 

• building escalation pathways so problems don’t stall progress; 

• conducting frequent check-ins, reiterating purpose and reinforcing buy-in; and 

• adjusting course when feedback or obstacles arise, keeping flexible but anchored. 

Key insight 

Change can feel chaotic, but with consistent messaging and clear goals, it becomes a shared mission instead of a stressful event.  

5. What’s the biggest barrier when a practice is struggling to grow? 

It almost always comes down to one of four things: 

1. silos and lack of cross-team partnership; 

2. poor or inconsistent communication; 

3. leadership that doesn’t articulate goals or fails to reinforce them; and 

4. little recognition of progress, so motivation wanes. 

Key insight 

Flourishing practices are ones where everyone knows the why, feels part of the how and celebrates the what together. 

6. How do prospective clients find your team for guidance and tools? 

Visibility comes through multi-channel presence and credibility. Here’s how to achieve that for your practice: 

• cultivate referrals through past clients and professional partnerships; 

• participate in conferences, webinars and speaking events; 

• use case studies, testimonials and clear service descriptions to build trust; and 

• maintain thought leadership content (blogs, webinars, whitepapers). 

Key insight 

Consistent content + authority + network = inbound prospects. 

7. How can I assess whether a new hire will fit our culture? 

Ask questions that go beyond the résumé. During interviews, explore what candidates value in teamwork, leadership and communication. A few examples: 

• “What does your ideal team environment look like?” 

• “What motivates you to work in a health-providing organization?” 

• “What do you expect from leadership, communication, colleagues?” 

• “Where do you want to be in five years, and how do you envision contributing to mission?” 

• “Describe how a team ‘should’ operate: What’s your ‘why’ for working in healthcare?” 

Key insight 

You’re not just hiring for skills. You’re hiring for a shared purpose, and that’s what sustains a culture over time. Their responses can reveal alignment (or misalignment) with your values, norms and ways of working. 

8. What is Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) recognition and how does it connect to cultural success? 

PCMH recognition is more than a checklist. It’s a framework that puts patients at the center of coordinated, team-based care. When practices pursue or maintain PCMH recognition, they’re committing to a culture of communication, collaboration and accountability. 

Key insight 

Check out our informational blogs and resources on trending PCMH topics: 

• learn about the 2026 PCMH requirements and how they vary from 2025; 

• download our step-by-step guide to achieving and maintaining PCMH recognition; and 

• how to prepare for a PCMH audit. 

9. At the beginning of the presentation, you stated you provide PCMH consultative services. Can you elaborate on what that looks like for a practice? 

PCMH is a care-delivery model emphasizing holistic, coordinated, patient-centered care with strong quality metrics. Diamond’s consultative work, conducted through DataGen’s medical practice consulting services, includes: 

• assessing practice readiness; 

• aligning workflows with NCQA PCMH 2026 standards; 

• facilitating culture and team alignment; and 

• monitoring metrics and coaching for recognition. 

You’re ready to pause, reflect and refresh

Refreshing your practice culture isn’t a one-time project. It’s an ongoing commitment. Whether you’re refining workflows, building team buy-in or aligning around PCMH principles, every small adjustment brings you closer to a healthier, more resilient organization. 

If your team is already pursuing or maintaining NCQA PCMH recognition, now is the perfect time to revisit your approach under the 2025 PCMH standards. Strengthening communication, leadership alignment and patient engagement not only supports PCMH certification but also reinforces a lasting culture of quality and accountability. 

To take this refresh further, explore DataGen’s PCMH consulting services, which provide tailored guidance on readiness assessments, workflow alignment and cultural transformation. Download the sneak peek of Diamond’s exclusive PCMH playbook for DataGen clients to continue your journey toward a sustainable, patient-centered practice model.