What does the path to financial stability look like? We have identified five imperatives organizations must address, along with tactics leading healthcare organizations have deployed to respond to the ongoing financial, operational, and emotional challenges of the pandemic.
A handful of organizations across the country already have figured out what it takes to unlock the transformative value of APPs and are forging a path that others can follow, based on six key elements.
Health system leaders must pull the right levers to build back the balance sheet. Resizing the enterprise to new volumes, restructuring costs, realigning operations, and establishing the right infrastructure to support and monitor change will be required to return margin.
COVID-19 brought the “perfect storm” of financial disruption – loss of elective procedures, reduced patient volumes, and increased costs to manage dual systems of care for both COVID and non-COVID patients. Amid the fallout, hospitals face an immediate need to reduce costs.
The COVID-19 pandemic has put many healthcare provider organizations in an unprecedented, compromised financial position that will take a great deal of time to recover from. Here’s guidance for revenue cycle leaders to maximize their yield.
Non-traditional entities are capturing the value void through innovative models, partnering with funding entities to receive compensation for addressing needs. What activities and strategies should health systems consider?
KLAS CATEGORY LEADER
“Any financial improvement usually means making tough decisions, so the process is a rough ride. There was never a time when we had to do a complete course correction, though. Chartis Group was willing to go above and beyond to keep our business and help us. It is easy for a vendor to just do their job and not care about other things, but Chartis Group really cared about our success.”
-VP/Other Executive, December 2020
KLAS CATEGORY LEADER
“Chartis Group develops deep and close working relationships with the client teams in a way that very few consulting firms do effectively. That goes a long way in their ability to make an impact. Chartis Group embeds themselves, and they treat projects as processes of discovery. They learn everything they can about an organization and what makes it tick. They very much treat their clients as their own. They assimilate themselves into their client environment in a way that is pretty unique.”
-VP/Other Executive, December 2020
KLAS CATEGORY LEADER
"The engagement we had with the vendor was excellent, and they did a really great job. The vendor consultants were top notch. They lived up to our expectations. That was extremely helpful in the space of clinical informatics. The vendor brings in high-quality physicians who have done the work before. They understand the work, and they add a lot to the conversation. The quality of the vendor's consultants is very high, and they understand the challenges we face in healthcare today. The vendor is very up-to-date and forward thinking, and that is helpful as well."
-VP/Other Executive, November 2020
The surge in Medicare Advantage enrollment has masked a concerning trend: For-profit health plans are far outpacing non-profits in capturing market share. With a renewed strategy, non-profits can narrow this gap.
Maximizing cash flow at this critical time is a priority. A targeted effort focused on cash acceleration and conservation can help organizations get through this time of severe financial strain.
The rapid spread of COVID-19 in rural communities and the pre-existing rural hospital closure crisis have left 453 hospitals vulnerable to closure, on top of the 135 hospitals that have closed since 2010.
In the moment of pandemic crisis, it is unwise to implement fundamental changes to physician compensation models. However, some considerations and short-term actions are warranted and necessary. Health systems, medical groups and faculty practices should consider four essential steps.
Intelligent automation (IA), artificial intelligence (AI), robotic process automation (RPA) and machine learning (ML) are all hot buzzwords in today’s healthcare industry, and while slower to adopt, the healthcare sector is gradually embracing this technology.
Over the past 20 years, the percentage of the nation’s hospitals over 200 beds that are part of health systems has risen from 5 to 77. From 2006 to 2016 alone, the number of independent hospitals over 200 beds declined nearly 40 percent from 502 to 308.
