Healthcare Strategic Growth Blog

Increase Productivity and Achieve More as a Team

By Morgan Atkins

For teams looking to create more innovative products and services, it’s key to establish an environment that unites the best thinking from every team. Rather than assigning innovation to one department, open the door for anyone to contribute, especially those with direct access to your customers. Then, for these new ideas to come to life, your organization must also embrace strategies that facilitate cross-department collaboration. 

Here are a few key reasons why cross-department project work is so important:

• Cross-department collaboration fosters a culture of continuous improvement, where employees take ownership of problems and work together to bring about solutions. (KaiNexus) This mentality lessens the opportunity for finger-pointing as everyone is responsible for resolving issues.  
• New ideas are more likely to be embraced when there are key shareholders throughout the company involved in the decision-making process.
• Every team interacts with your customers and product offerings in a unique way, so every perspective is valuable. Feedback from various angles allows for all areas of your company to make ongoing improvements and course corrections.

Utilization and Value in the Wake of an FSER Boom

By Morgan Atkins

Over the last several years, freestanding emergency rooms (FSERs) have seen a boom in popularity. FSERs provide 24/7 emergency care and are physically separate from a hospital campus. The allure of these offsite emergency departments stems from their potential to increase access to healthcare resources. However, FSERs are falling under scrutiny for the lack of price transparency and their tendency to operate in more affluent, populated areas.

Florida's state health regulatory entity, the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA), provides publicly available data on emergency room visits for the state of Florida. The AHCA data provides a field to differentiate which emergency visits occurred at a hospital-based ER and those at a FSER. Stratasan has analyzed the impact and utilization of FSERs to determine if they are providing a benefit to the communities they serve. Check out our infographic to find out what we learned.

How Leaders Can Look Within for Answers

By Morgan Atkins

With healthcare reimbursement constantly changing, health systems and hospitals are searching for new revenue streams to diversify their income. Financial cuts, new regulations, and payer contract negotiations have pushed healthcare institutions to find new, creative ways to keep revenue flowing while still maintaining high quality care.

“Exploring diversified, innovative revenue streams” was listed as third most important issue of strategic importance in a recent survey of 146 C-suite executive. A Becker’s Hospital Review article covering this survey shared that “C-suite executives at both health systems and community hospitals are shifting their focus to nontraditional sources of growth rather than relying solely on conventional determinants of market share.”

Tell a More Powerful Data Story with the Right Use of Color

By Morgan Atkins 

TED speakers David Grady and Jason Fried share in this infographic that organizations hold more than 3 billion meetings each year and executives spend 40–50 percent of their working hours—or twenty-three hours per week—in meetings. As a healthcare marketer or strategic planner, you can likely relate to these statistics, as you spend much of your time preparing for, leading, or following up on meetings. 

The presentations you create for your meetings can have a major impact on how successful your meetings will be. When your meetings include the delivery of data-based insights, it is especially important for your presentations to include well-designed, colorful visualizations.

Expertly Navigate the Complexity of New Site Placements 

By Morgan Atkins

A complex process that requires financial scrutiny and thorough planning, new site placements are an opportunity to extend service offerings, create new jobs for the community, and improve your hospital’s bottom line. But the fiscal commitment tied to expansion can give many leaders pause. Is it possible to be sure that your new placement is in the right location and that it will effectively meet the needs of the community? How can you be certain it will succeed? In this post, we’ll give you the tools you need to answer these questions and expand your health system with confidence.

Uncover the Fundamental Truths Your APCD Should Deliver

By Morgan Atkins and Daniel Dreaden

Not all APCD (all-payer claims data) is created equally. Depending on the data aggregator and clearinghouse used, the APCD offered by any given analytics company can vary significantly.

When choosing a partner to provide your APCD, it can be difficult to discern what’s most important. Many incentives offered may sound nice to have, but could also be distractions to keep you from noticing more critical features that are lacking. As you consider your options, keep these three questions in mind:

• Does this APCD provide patient cohort tracking?
• Will you be able to access submit and remit data?
• Is there transparency into what is being modeled and how?

Let's discuss in more detail each of these questions and why it’s critical to have these clearly answered before signing on with an APCD provider.

By Morgan Atkins

Within healthcare organizations, teams are now a fundamental unit of organization. One study, published in The Harvard Business Review, found that ‘‘the time spent by managers and employees in collaborative activities has ballooned by 50 percent or more’’ over the last two decades and that more than three-quarters of an employee’s day is spent communicating with colleagues at many companies.

With the emphasis on teamwork, it’s important for the practices of these teams to be thoughtfully considered. Particularly, the common and important team effort of brainstorming new ideas together. “Studies show that people working in teams tend to achieve better results and report higher job satisfaction.” The New York Times Magazine reports. Knowing that, we wanted to discuss how brainstorming can be an effective team experience.

Practical Tips for Maintaining a Growth Mindset in your Organization

By Morgan Atkins

Stratasan understands how paramount change is to progress. We strive to be trailblazers in the healthcare space, developing innovative tools and services that address our clients' growth goals. The best way we can effectively lead our clients and provide value is by innovative thinking that challenges the status quo. Our goal is to empower our customers with the strategies that will equip them to more effectively face a challenging and ever-evolving healthcare industry.

At the heart of innovation is the ability to reframe your perspective. Henry Ford once said "If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses." Often, the question itself limits what you think the possibilities are. If you have an open mind about the possibilities, you maximize your chances of building effective and unexpected solutions.

By Morgan Atkins

No surprise for a conference with a primary focus on education, SHSMD Connections 2017 kicked off with a couple of day-long intensive sessions. These focused learning programs are designed specifically to develop key skills identified in SHSMD’s Bridging Worlds: The Future Role of the Healthcare Strategist.

By Morgan Atkins

The pressure to compete and expand market share is at an all-time high.

Providers in many markets are feeling the impact of reduced patient payments, competitor maneuvers, and new market entrants. When trying to determine the best expansion opportunities, hospitals and health systems often develop growth plans based upon instinct, local knowledge, or raw market data.