ViewPoints Blog

The changing requirements of the New Healthcare extend far beyond operations and planning. Hospitals large and small are being forced to reexamine their security postures in response to new regulations (like the HITECH Act) and increased scrutiny around data breaches. Long gone are the days when breaches could be dealt with discreetly " nowadays, they are national events that can linger in the public's mind for months, or even years.

Today, health providers cannot afford to have their access to mission-critical data trapped behind outdated information management protocols. To see inter-relationships, often between different functions such as market, clinical, operational and financial, data is critical in order to discover and understand underlying causes and implications of problems or opportunities.

Recently I spent an afternoon with a cross-functional executive team at a community hospital. They were reviewing metrics and benchmarks from a wide variety of areas to begin tackling much needed performance improvement.

How many times have you been to the Emergency Department and had to sit in the waiting room for what seemed like forever? It's a common challenge for hospitals everywhere; here's how one rural hospital in the Northeast addressed the situation.

Supply chain management has been part of the healthcare lexicon for many years now. The traditional materials management activities have broadened beyond just contracting, warehousing and distribution, and have resulted in tighter pricing, lower per unit costs, improved standardization, and better awareness of each individual's role in the organization of managing supply costs. So far, so good, right?

As I return to my busy schedule after the holiday season, I am reminded of the classic holiday song lyrics, “There's no place like home for the holidays." Home for me is a small rural town in northern Maine and is truly a winter wonderland this time of year - mountain vistas, evergreens, the frozen expanse of Moosehead Lake, and of course snow; lots and lots of snow. During our holiday visits, we make it a special point to visit my wife's grandmother, who has spent the last few months in our local community hospital recovering from surgery.

This time of year, no doubt, you've made a few resolutions, such as “Be more organized" or “Do a better job of planning ahead". How about applying those resolutions to the way you manage your revenue? It takes just a few hours early in the year and you'll prepare your organization to bring in the additional revenue you need to continue serving your community.