Analytics has come a long way since the first scorecards landed in healthcare enterprises. Today, intelligent use of analytics may be the difference between profit or loss, growth or lost market share as healthcare moves from fee-for-service to accountable care. Analytics helps health leaders decide how to rearrange their businesses, processes, and work flows, and spark creative thinking about new opportunities or areas needing improvement.Part of the challenge is managing expectations in an era where big data is opening insights in all sorts of businesses, many...
Healthcare providers can improve outcomes and control costs by exploiting mobile technology, including patients' own phones, to deliver more care beyond the walls of hospitals and clinics. The virtualization of care enabled by mHealth technology can improve care of chronic conditions, redesign or streamline work flows, extend the reach of caregivers and facilities, and improve how information is shared across distance and time. Continuity of care requires mobile technology to boost patient engagement in an era when value-based care is replacing fee-for-service...
As healthcare grows more interconnected, standalone community or government-owned hospitals are facing a crisis. Many need partnerships or clinical affiliations with allied healthcare providers and tertiary hospitals that can provide care, and in some cases capital, that they cannot. They may make an unattractive merger partner for larger hospitals and health systems that may also have capital constraints. Even if the local hospital is an attractive merger partner, many boards do not want to give up the local control over available services and the jobs the local...
Where will community hospitals fit in the future healthcare landscape? Mergers and acquisitions of hospitals continue at record levels, yet many community and rural hospitals wish to remain independent. To position themselves financially and operationally for the future, these hospitals must understand the competitive dynamics of their situation. They must control costs while still offering quality services, attract and retain physicians, find their niche among competitors near and far—and consider the right partner to work with short of a merger. HealthLeaders...
Healthcare operations leaders today must drive operational efficiency and cost management to achieve necessary clinical outcomes. New models of care coordination and accountability require new operational strategies that integrate hospitals’ business functions and medical mission. As reimbursements shift to pay-for-performance, hospitals and healthcare systems increasingly must work with a broad range of partners toward population health management, extending beyond the walls of their institutions. Physician alignment with this changing dynamic is essential, but...
As healthcare transitions to new incentives and requirements, the industry is experiencing a dramatic shift in key competencies. As hospitals' mission morphs from treating the sick and being paid on a fee-for-service basis to keeping patients healthy and being reimbursed on how well they manage that task, hospitals can either buy the talent they need or commit to developing it internally. Regardless, they must cultivate new competencies in areas such as risk management, case management, and medical informatics. Indeed, even senior leaders such as chief medical...
