Strategic Planning
Across the U.S., hospital costs are rising while revenue and patient volume are falling. Rural not-for-profit hospitals, in particular, face a challenging financial future, one in which some facilities might close or at least "go hungry."
Ten years ago, executives at MaineGeneral Health, a rural healthcare system consisting of several acute care hospitals, physician practices, outpatient facilities and homecare services in central Maine, knew they had a decision to make regarding two of their facilities: they could upgrade their buildings or start from scratch.
Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, there’s been an industry focus on accountable care organizations. This movement towards ACOs has major market implications for providers that are considering joining the Medicare Shared Savings Program for the January 2015 start date.
Six months after merging to become the second-largest not-for-profit U.S. healthcare system, CHE Trinity Health is beginning to enjoy the strategic benefits promised by the union. The key factor driving the strategic rationale of the merger was the shared culture of both enterprises.
The march toward accountable care is reshaping the market for home care and hospice providers.
All the talk about moving healthcare reimbursement from volume to value sounds great, in theory. But how this shift takes place in practice is more complex than simply ending one form of payment and starting a new one.
When 14 New Jersey hospitals took part in an initiative to improve overall efficiency in their operating rooms and emergency departments, they didn't expect to boost revenues and cut costs. But that's what happened.
A group of federally-qualified health centers in the Minneapolis area has broken the mold by creating the first safety-net ACO.
As providers move slowly toward value-based models, board structure and governance practices are aligning to the new business paradigm. But they still have a long way to go, particularly in the areas of diversity and governance processes.
If we have learned anything from the HealthCare.gov debacle, it's that managers need to choose their IT advisors wisely.