Healthcare Strategic Growth Blog

2020 has been a year full of learning, growing, and overcoming for all of us. We hope Stratasan's Strategic Growth blog series has been a bright spot in your week, delivering insight and inspiring creativity. We uncovered innovative solutions to the healthcare revenue crisis, learned how to identify service line opportunities, discovered how new diagnosis and procedure codes are created, and much more.

As we close out the year, we thought it'd be helpful to share our five most popular blog posts of 2020. These posts received the most views and seemed to provide useful growth guidance to you, our readers. If you’re staying home for the holidays or enjoying some downtime before the new year begins, check out these posts that you may have missed or revisit your favorites for fresh insight.

Where and Why We’re Experiencing Data Interruptions 

By Mike McDonald, Lee Ann Lambdin, and Hank Neuhoff

Our team is currently encountering delays in data reporting. The reasons for these delays are mixed, but they all seem to tie back in some way to COVID-19. In this post, we’ll discuss a few of the hold-ups we’ve encountered and what we’re learning about why states are struggling to deliver 2020 data on time. 

How Our Purpose, Niche, and Story Are Designed to Help You Succeed

By Jason Moore

We recently held our annual Town Hall, which is a time set aside for reflection and preparation for the new year. Following the pattern of most everything else in 2020, this year’s Town Hall looked different from the past. It was virtual and shorter in length in an effort to be mindful of the taxing nature of multi-hour video meetings. 

One consistency from the past was that much of the time was spent reflecting on our purpose, niche, and the ongoing evolution of our company story. This trifecta encompasses what makes our company unique, our “special sauce,” if you will. 

Drive Growth and Provide Quality Care

By Morgan Atkins

While vital to growth, service line development can be risky and typically requires a significant time and financial investment. In order to minimize risk and expand your service offerings more effectively, hospitals need reliable, data-based intelligence to guide their efforts.

In this post, we consider four ways to identify pockets of unmet demand and consider how to add new facilities in these areas. We’ll highlight some common mistakes providers often make and discuss how to get a more detailed understanding of your patient population so you can focus on the right service line growth opportunities.

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.

Unprecedented Times Call for Unprecedented CHNA Processes

By Lee Ann Lambdin

Every three years, non-profit hospitals, and many for-profit hospitals, take part in a months-long process called a Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA). A CHNA is designed to identify the community’s greatest health needs before they develop an action plan to address them. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, many hospital officials have been forced to alter their approach this year, attempting the intimidating prospect of a virtual CHNA. They’ve switched to virtual sessions or telephone interactions to gather and share information. Granted, it‘s not ideal to complete an entire CHNA remotely, but it is possible. Stratasan has had the opportunity to perform three fully remote CHNAs in 2020. In this post, we’ll discuss how to conduct a successful virtual CHNA.

Tips for Supporting and Encouraging Providers and Members

By Megan Reeves

Hospitals are looking to their state associations for help now possibly more than ever. They need reassurance as they navigate uncertainty about the future and the impact of COVID-19. They’re anxious to respond to changing legislation. They’re concerned with whether or not they’re equipped to sustain their current staff and grow in the future.

In this post, we’re highlighting the many ways we’ve seen hospital associations step up and support their hospitals in meaningful ways. We wanted to shed light on the work being done and offer inspiration to associations looking for fresh ways to provide value.

Tracking Care Patterns by Cancer Site

By Morgan Atkins and April Adams

Earlier this year, members of the Stratasan team conducted a study to determine if treatment care patterns differ for oncology patients by cancer site. The hypothesis was that the most common treatment path for cancer patients is to first seek surgical treatment, then medical, then radiological. Patients were grouped by their order of transition from surgical, medical, and radiological procedures. 

Below you will find the results of this study.

Respect meetings. Your time is valuable.

We all would appreciate more effective, productive meetings that lead to happier, more productive teams. Especially in a world where "Zoom fatigue" is a legitimate concern, managing how often and why meetings are booked is critical.

These days, people are meeting online for everything from work, to happy hours with friends, to therapy sessions or even working out. A Wundamail Work from Home 2020 Report found that 42% of remote workers found the continuous stream of virtual distractions on various apps "deeply distracting" and felt most productive when working for a long period of uninterrupted time. The overwhelm of unnecessary and poorly planned meetings can drain your team and breed cynicism.

6 Tips to Maximize Your Time

By Lee Ann Lambdin

Virtual conferences are one of the many realities of COVID life. Businesses like ours are finding out how to navigate this new normal one virtual event at a time, collecting new ideas like souvenirs and learning from our mistakes as we go. 

As we approach the fall and a season of back-to-back events, we’ve compiled a list of strategies for how to get the most out of each one we attend. Some of our tactics aren’t much different from how we’d approach an in-person event, while others are altogether new and intended to address the unique opportunities presented by online interactions. In the post below, you’ll find our top six tips for maximizing a virtual conference experience.