Healthcare Strategic Growth Blog

Key Learnings from our Conversations with Hospital Associations

By Megan Reeves 

Given our history serving the nation's top healthcare organizations, assisting them in processing data and using it to make growth decisions, we have unparalleled insight into the data needs of hospitals of all shapes and sizes. We know what matters to end-users of the data collection process and we’re able to apply our knowledge to the process as a whole to make it easier, more efficient, and with an output that is better for strategic decision making.  

In an effort to sharpen our understanding of state association needs and the state data aggregation process, we spent time connecting with associations across the nation. We wanted to learn more about the challenges they’re facing, and how we can better support their work. 

What we heard in these conversations reinforced our long-standing understanding that state data is complex, and aggregation is challenging, with requirements differing by state. 

The following are learnings we gleaned from these discussions, which covered a multitude of topics including partnerships, data types, release schedules, challenges facing members, and hopes for the future of hospital associations. We hope the insights gathered here highlight the hard work already being done, and some key opportunities for optimizing data in ways that would benefit both associations and their members.

Evaluating 2020 Data—Is it Useful or Not?

By Lee Ann Lambdin 

When 2020 budgets and strategic plans were set in the fall of 2019, no one could have imagined that by the following March, they’d be useless. Plans created for 2021 may be no better off, as they were established in the midst of a pandemic. How can strategic planners start again? What data and analytics should be used when 2020 trending is out of the question?

This is the first post of a series where we’ll discuss how strategic planners can regain focus, make sense of the data collected during COVID-19, and approach planning for the future. In this post, we’ll discuss how to approach 2020 data differently. In the next two posts, we’ll offer some actionable advice. 

Let’s dive in and talk about how to reconcile 2020 data and use it effectively in strategic planning.

Why This Relationship is Critical for the Success of Both Organizations

By Megan Reeves

Most hospital associations identify as the principal advocate for their respective state's hospitals and healthcare systems. While they exist to serve and support, their essential value is sometimes overlooked or taken for granted. In this post, we’ll cover some of the top reasons hospitals need their state associations and how this partnership can be crucial to growth. We’ll also touch on why hospitals are critical to the associations as well. It’s a symbiotic relationship, and its value increases the more each partner invests in the other.

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.

How to Foster a Data-Focused Culture

By Jennifer Keller

Gist Healthcare provides a weekly newsletter called the Weekly Gist.  A popular read in our office, we find it to be informative and useful for staying on top of the latest healthcare news.  In this newsletter, they distill the latest healthcare news, trends, and conversations with industry leaders into actionable guidance for CEOs and senior executives.

A recent excerpt from Gist caught our attention. The CMO of a regional health system shared that: “his personal efforts to champion greater performance transparency and tracking of key clinical metrics made a big difference in [his] system’s impressive results in elevating physician performance.” He went on to emphasize that “getting the doctors addicted to data” was a critical element of his system’s success.

Stratasan’s Physician Patterns to Offer Expanded Physician Referral Insights

By Dave Sellers and Jason Haley

As you may have heard, CMS Administrator Seema Verma announced that The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is making Medicare Advantage encounter data, which covers provider identifiers, diagnoses and date and type of service, available for the first time to researchers.

This new effort is part of the CMS and White House patient data collaboration, known as MyHealtheData. CMS also plans to encourage Medicare Advantage programs to use release platforms that meet the capabilities of CMS' Blue Button 2.0 feature, which allows patients to access their own claims data. A patient-centered system requires focus on "data, quality data, cost data, a patient's own data," Vema shared.

How does this update affect Stratasan customers, and particularly, those in Medicare-only states: Alabama, Arkansas, South Dakota, Idaho, and Hawaii?

A HealthRedesigned Podcast

By Jason Moore

The rapid progression of healthcare means it’s more important than ever for hospitals to understand how they should evolve. The need for the right data to make the best strategic decisions possible has become a critical component to growth.

Through our applications and our services, Stratasan makes it easier for hospitals and healthcare systems to turn their data into intelligence and make data-based decisions that’ll help them grow strategically and stay competitive.

I recently chatted with Jon Lay, Founder at Hanno, and discussed these ideas, which were recorded in this podcast conversation.

By Drake Jarman

Make it Happen in 60 Days or Less

Switching healthcare data analytics partners can be scary. But keeping the status quo could be a costly mistake. Staying associated with a sub-par partner can lead to lost revenue, marketshare, and diminishing physician relationships. In a healthcare ecosystem where change is the only constant, hospital leaders want:

• A partner who is nimble, creative, and who can scale to meet their evolving needs
• A robust tool that can equip them with intelligence to adapt and evolve amidst changing healthcare realities
• Data transparency for more insightful and effective growth planning

The Pros and Cons of 5 Software Solutions

By Jason Haley

Why the Right Referral Software is Necessary to Ensure Goals Are Being Met

By Jackie DeGroat and Sean Conway

Hospitals depend heavily on their referring physicians for patient volume and revenue, which is why developing and maintaining relationships with these physicians is so important. Physician Liaisons are the face, voice, eyes, and ears of this demanding effort. Physicians have a lot of options for referrals and this competition puts even more pressure on physician relations teams to effectively manage provider relationships.

Physician relations teams are responsible for strengthening relationships between physicians and their hospital or health system, with the goal of driving more referrals in-network. There are many components that make up a quality physician relations program, such as a strategic sales plan, effective encounters, and meaningful conversations. But to ensure program goals are being met, physician relations teams must track and measure their initiatives so they can successfully identify opportunities for improvement.