Cost Improvement Planning for Healthcare

The Rising Costs of Healthcare

Healthcare costs have skyrocketed in recent years. Not only for patients who often find themselves drowning in medical bills that are unavoidable based on their medical needs, but also for healthcare organizations. The field itself is only growing and is the one market that will without question be around to serve mankind for decades to come. A healthcare organization’s primary goal is to provide the highest quality healthcare for those in need. Because there is so much security in the healthcare world, hospitals, clinics, private practices, and other healthcare providers have to find a way to stay afloat in the coming years. Longevity is the key to success in the medical world, which is made possible through careful financial planning, high quality patient care, and a strict organizational structure.

If healthcare providers do not budget their funds properly, the goal that they strive to fulfill most, may not be possible at all. Maintaining a budget in a market as volatile as that of the medical market can be extremely difficult without the proper knowledge, information, and skills to do so. Because not everyone in the healthcare field is equipped with all that it takes, ensuring that the source of the information gathered in order to plan for a financial future is reliable, is imperative. This information often comes from outside vendors, payers, or leaders within the corporation. Because the healthcare industry tends to be mixed in with politics, ensuring that the advice administrators and physicians seek out is not mixed with personal opinion is difficult. Without an objective guide from which to receive sound advice, the decisions that healthcare organizations are making could be clouded by outside bias.

The Importance of Efficient Cost Management

Healthcare and hospital cost improvement is a growing concern in the healthcare field because when the cost of technology and equipment grows, the ability to keep healthcare standards high can be difficult. The amount of advancement seen in healthcare over its history is something unlike any other. These advancements are continuous and without bounds as technology improves every day.

Growth in the medical field is unparallel to competing markets because the work that these technological advancements does, saves and improves the lives of its users. Keeping medical costs low is difficult because of how expensive new products, equipment, treatments, and medicine is, especially when it is a novel concept. Although we need these improvements, healthcare organizations also need to find a way to change their budgeting and planning techniques and reduce hospital costs as the times change.

Questions Healthcare Organizations Should Be Asking

Hospital and healthcare cost improvement is a continuous process that should be carefully thought out by organizations seeking to increase efficiency and effectiveness within the institution.

First and foremost, how are we doing?

Although the question seems simple, it can be difficult to answer a question for organizations as large as most healthcare systems and hospitals. Taking the time to dive into what has been successful, and what has not been, is a good starting point when deciding what needs to be improved upon.

Where can we do better?

Even established organizations have areas where improvement is possible and necessary. Though it can be tough to find which areas need improvement most, determining where there is need for a change is important.

Can we be more effective? Can we do it faster and in a more timely manner?

These questions are crucial in understanding a healthcare system’s needs. Continuous cost improvement is only possible if an institution is prepared to take a look into the efficiency of the purchasing, budgeting, decision making of the organization at every level.

A Proven Cost Improvement Solution

Strata Decision Technology has created a comprehensive budgeting, planning, and decision making platform that allows healthcare professionals to better understand the market in which they are dealing. StrataJazz is our comprehensive, healthcare platform that incorporates all of the moving pieces to running a structurally and financially sound institution. With help from our experts, navigating medical markets has been made simple. Our system takes into account our customer’s purchasing, product, investment, and case by case history so that the hospital cost data that you receive is tailored to your organization’s specific needs. StrataJazz’s data driven capital analysis ensures that you will see healthcare cost improvements across the board.

StrataJazz integrates the latest short and long term market reports, with healthcare cost data that is unique to the organization’s financial goals. Relying on manual analysis for the financial future is not practical with the amount of change that is seen in the markets today. Through sophisticated modeling that incorporates fluctuating prices and invoice costs, more accurate cost driven data is produced. Performance indicators on physicians and administrators allows leaders to identify where and when savings are possible when care strays from the standard. StrataJazz is also equipped to take in and account for data that is not directly tied to the organizations, so that risk and outside strategies can be assessed, too.

By providing a budget process that takes into consideration the amount of risk in investments and purchases, StrataJazz eliminates the guessing in the healthcare provider’s financials. Reducing hospital costs are more possible than ever as the operating budgeting component to our platform interprets risk in the present, and its implications in the future. By including statistics that depict volume change, strategically planning for what is eminent has never been easier. Detailed plans of action are set in place to see through the research that has been conducted so that your company will see tangible results.

Increase Productivity

Another aspect that is crucial to healthcare cost improvement is the organization’s expenditures compared to productivity. StrataJazz tracks the number of hours worked on certain objectives including the time taken on these projects, overtime hours, and the contracts that bind these hours to more thoroughly identify where any one department may be able to be more efficient. Checking into unnecessary overtime and call backs also allows administrators to determine when these precautions are necessary based on patient volume. Drill down reports that are easy to find for all users of StrataJazz can help utilize labor productivity when volume is high at any given time.

StrataJazz enables hospitals and clinics to determine stress factors within reimbursements, payments, acquisitions, and purchasing in order to invest with more security than ever before. Our system looks into investment risks periodically so that our customers can be updated when a change occurs in the markets. Leaders can now compare their organization’s performance to those of their competitors without having to tirelessly research the information that they are looking for.

Unlike before, through use of StrataJazz, healthcare organizations can get insight from industry leaders who are working harder so that healthcare providers can focus on improving care for their patients. At Strata Decision, we know how many components administrators have to focus on to keep their organization up and running. Our system allows our professionals to use their knowledge of healthcare markets, cost accounting, reporting and capital analysis to help customers prepare for the road ahead. By making more informed decisions, healthcare providers can be proactive in the steps necessary to spend funds productively, and save whenever possible. With expert guidance, efficiency will be maximized at all levels of the organization, in the present and future.

Prepare for the Future

Through budgeting and planning for what is to come for your healthcare organization, you will undoubtedly see significant continuous cost improvements in your healthcare organization. Even as the price of certain necessities in hospitals and clinics rises, we guarantee that healthcare organizations implementing StrataJazz will see an improvement in their company’s spending. Without the uncertainty of knowing how and when to invest, and on which products, healthcare providers will make decisions that will impact their organization in a positive way. Save time, while saving money, as Strata Decison’s experts guide our customers with unbiased, outsider opinions to maximize spending. Through data driven analysis, customized with your goals in mind, there is no telling where expenses could be cut down. StrataJazz takes into account overtime, call backs and productivity compared to patient volume, to better predict staff needs in the future and increase collaboration amongst personnel and staff.

The cost improvements and hospital cost savings seen in hospitals and healthcare organizations because of StrataJazz, result in a higher quality care for patients. When funds are correctly budgeted, saved, and spent on areas needed most, the services provided by these organizations also improve in efficiency, functionality, and quality. StrataJazz is designed to be user friendly and to incorporate information that is necessary in both patient care and in the financial status of the organization.

Healthcare and hospital cost improvements are necessary and important when it comes to increasing hospital cost savings to best serve the community with the quality of care that they deserve. Let Strata Decision Technology improve the financial status of your healthcare organization, today.