Western Pennsylvania Healthcare News

Covering healthcare news in the Pittsburgh region and beyond.

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Leading a Healthcare Organization to Measurable Excellence

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Dear Friends and Colleagues:

The new Medicare regulations that were activated on October 1 are extremely worrisome. Conservative estimates suggest that almost every hospital and health system in the United States will lose a minimum of ten percent of their Medicare revenue based on current performance and external Medicare scoring. I can only name a handful of hospitals or health systems in the United States that are fully prepared for this change.

Last year I had the opportunity to attend a two-day program sponsored by ValueCapture and ThedaCare Center for Healthcare at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center; it was a career-altering event. For the first time it became clear to me what actions the C-Suite could take to dramatically improve performance and prepare for the newly implemented requirements under the Affordable Care Act.

This week while traveling in the Southeast, I recalled a courtesy brochure that appeared in my inbox about three weeks ago. Many of you have not seen it and therefore, it is provided here for you (click here). I contacted the leadership of ValueCapture and ThedaCare Center for Healthcare inquiring about any remaining openings and was assured of availability. Further, as a professional courtesy to me, they will honor the early enrollment price; lower than the standard fee if you act promptly. Please keep in mind that these sessions are intended for CEOs; however, I encourage anyone to review the brochure and forward it, along with this email, to the CEO of your organization. I highly endorse this program!

Trust me, this two-day session could save your hospital or health system, save your job and enrich your career. I strongly urge you to enroll in this program!

Jan R. Jennings, MHA, FACHE
President and CEO
American Healthcare Solutions
724.337.3011 x.0459
www.americanhs.com

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Averting a Crisis in Declining Revenue

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No hospital executive wants to find themselves at the helm of a sinking organization. However, too often a blasé attitude toward improvement leads to misguided attempts at solving the real problems healthcare institutions now face. With the tide of reform rising, there are no hospitals immune from the flood of changes that will surely result. It’s time for healthcare leaders to stop “bailing water” and start implementing creative ways to successfully “patch” existing financial leaks before the damage is beyond repair.

In the article “American Hospitals – Averting a Crisis in Declining Revenue,” our President and CEO, Jan Jennings, discusses some critical points that every hospital and IHDN executive should put into practice. The goal is to shed light on improvement opportunities that might have otherwise gone unnoticed by addressing the complexities of healthcare in more simplistic terms.

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Moving Towards Universal Healthcare?

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By Jan Jennings

Healthcare leaders have been predicting universal healthcare insurance for at least the past 25 years. It has been a long vigil and we will probably wait longer. Only in the last few months have the trends that will propel us into universal healthcare insurance become clear, at least to me.

1. The economic pressure of caring for the uninsured – Some of our best clients are now caring for up to 15% of their patients in a category known as “self pay.” This is a euphemism for uninsured or under-insured. These so-called “self pay” patients can equate to less than 1% of cash receipts to a hospital or health system. To provide an example, assume a hospital provides identical care to 100 patients. 15 of those patients pay less than 1% of the cost to care for the entire 100 patients. We see many hospitals and health systems installing the most elaborate management systems to squeeze every nickel out of hospital budgets in an effort to break even from hospital operations. These are hospitals that have historically shown 4 to 6% of revenue in excess of operating expenses. At the moment, this trend is highly variable from one community to another. To the extent that this trend increases and becomes a national norm, the hospital industry will be emboldened to scream for help in a manner never experienced in our history.

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Delegation or Abrogation?

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By Jan Jennings

A Key Determinant To Organization Success or Failure…

On St. Patrick’s Day, our firm celebrated its fifth anniversary. It has been an interesting journey. We have served hospitals and healthcare organizations from sea-to-shining- sea, large and small; hospitals extremely well-managed and hospitals still trying to find their way. After serving or visiting dozens of hospitals, and before studying the data, you quickly develop a sense for the hospitals that are winning and those that, well, are still wandering around.

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Why TPS/Lean is Struggling in Most American Hospitals

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By Jan Jennings

It is important to stress that many American hospitals are squeezing every nickel of inefficiency out of their budgets through the effective deployment of TPS/Lean.  I dare not name them for two reasons; first, I do not have their permission and, second, they generally do not want their phones ringing off the hook with requests for conference calls, observation visitations or both.

To set the table, here is a quote from David M. Cutler, “To reduce this waste, organizational innovation will be required. To date, however, such innovation has been very rare in health care. This paper argues that lack of information and poor incentives are the key barriers to new organizational models, and accordingly that public action to address these issues is needed. Recent reform legislation has made changes in each of these areas. Whether the legislation addresses these problems sufficiently is something that only time will tell.”  The paper title is “Where Are The Health Care Entrepreneurs? The Failure of Organizational Innovation in Health Care.”

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