Preparing for the changes in healthcare: Part 2 Operational Improvement

Both healthcare providers and payers are under a lot of pressure due to rising costs as well as governmental requirements and regulations. To better serve their customers and to stay ahead of the challenges, health care enterprises must improve their operational as well as financial performances. Many organizations will have their own in-house consultants or management team, but not all. Any health care organization will benefit from seeking healthcare management consulting to improve their strategies and achieve their goals.

Congress passed health “insurance reform” on Sunday night and the President will sign into law shortly, we as both consumers of healthcare as well as those who work in healthcare will see changes as costs go up and government increases its regulatory role. It is also likely that reimbursement will decrease. It will be interesting to see how it all unfolds over the next few years but preparing for the future is now even more important. Not only is the financial aspects critical but making sure your healthcare organization is running at peak efficiency is critical.

Improving Operational Performance
The operational aspect of a health care organization must also be strengthened through the help of healthcare management consulting. With a strong backbone, organizations can implement the right programs and services. The organization can set new goals in order to increase effectiveness, efficiency and productivity.

With these elements in the right place, the programs can better serve the customers and provide higher quality care. With a new focus, the organization will meet government regulations and have enhanced ways of communicating with physicians and other health care professionals.

Technology Changes Business Travel

I read with interest a recent article about airlines loss of business travelers over the past few years.  Last year business travel was down 60%. They expect business travel to be up this year.  The article went on to say that the industry does not expect to get back any more than half the  business it lost because of technology advances.  We recently assisted a managed care company to become URAC accredited in 3 areas over a  short period of time.  This would have in the past involved lots of travel and on-site meetings.  We did all of it with just one face to face meeting (excluding  a mock survey and the actual URAC survey).   All the rest of the preparation was done via web conferencing.  This reduced the cost by at least half.  Not only was it very cost-effective but the technology lead to superior results, possible because of the way you can focus participants using web-based technology.  If your organization needs high quality cost-effective health care consulting services please contact us for a free consultation.