Finance and IT experts shared trends, ideas and tactics at virtual event as Strata released new report on the state of the U.S. healthcare system

CHICAGO, October 13, 2022 – Over 2,400 attendees from more than 400 healthcare systems and 2,000 hospitals across the nation came together for LIFT22: The Strata Users Summit, which was held virtually on October 10-12. At this year’s event, healthcare leaders attended three days of sessions to discuss best practices surrounding Strata’s #1 in KLAS, cloud-based StrataJazz^® platform, as well as its EPSi on-premise solution, and to give a comprehensive look at industry trends.

“Hospitals and healthcare systems across the country are still tackling challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic, while also facing an ongoing labor shortage crisis,” said John Martino, Chief Executive Officer of Strata. “It’s important to talk about what these health systems are facing and how we can support them in all facets of their business. Our virtual conference brings together healthcare professionals across our customer network to share best practices and discuss strategies for the future.”

StrataSphere^® Industry Report Released

During LIFT22, Strata released its latest industry report – Signals, Trends and KPIs: The Changing Face of Healthcare Finance. This research provides an overview of the current financial and operational health of hospitals and health systems. The report leverages data from StrataSphere, a healthcare provider research and comparative analytics collaborative representing a cohort of over 180 health systems with 1,100 hospitals from Strata’s customer base. Key findings from this research include the following:

• Margin on patient operations is near zero for more than half of health systems: This is a function of expenses increasing due to rising labor costs while revenue remains largely flat. While 2022 YTD median operating margin is 4.6%, there is a large degree of spread, with nearly one third of the health systems analyzed operating in the red. This represents a significant decline in performance when compared to 7% in the baseline year of 2019 and 7.9% in 2021. Additionally, 2022 YTD operating margin on patient revenue is down 58% compared to 2019 pre-COVID operating margins and down 68% compared to 2021.
• Labor, supply and drug costs are up while patient acuity remains largely unchanged: For acute care hospitals, the 2022 YTD median inpatient total cost per encounter is up 29.4% compared to 2019 and up 7.2% compared to 2021. For these hospitals, the median cost of direct patient care per encounter is up 54.3% compared to 2019. Additionally, the median supply expense per encounter has increased 17% since 2019 and the median drug expense has increased 33% for the same period.
• The convergence of COVID-19, regulations and staffing constraints has shifted volumes with sustained and likely permanent impact: In 2022, monthly inpatient volumes are down 5-14% compared to 2019. Outpatient volumes increased when compared to 2019, however if COVID-19 testing and vaccinations are removed, outpatient volumes didn’t start to exceed 2019 levels until March 2021 – fifteen months later. Lastly, emergency department (ED) visits have not exceeded 2019 pre-COVID volumes. In 2022, monthly ED volumes are down 3-19% compared to 2019. Further, ED acuity has increased minimally as measured by the distribution of CPT codes.
• Key high-margin procedures and service lines continue to shift to the outpatient and alternative settings: This shift was initially driven by the high volume of COVID-19 patients in the early pandemic, leading to capacity constraints in the inpatient setting. Now, inpatient staffing constraints and regulatory shifts are sustaining it. As an example, in 2021, 298 procedures were removed from the “inpatient only” rule and then reinstated as inpatient only in 2022. This exemplifies the ongoing disruption of volumes and site of care issues.
• Shifting sites of care have had a profound impact on cost structures, margins and competition: For example, orthopedics volume is down compared to 2019. Inpatient volume for the Osteoarthritis CARE Family (where most total knee replacement patients are attributed) is down 80% in 2022 YTD compared to 2019.

“The StrataSphere data shows the U.S. healthcare industry is comprised of ‘haves and have nots,’ with far too many on the ‘have not’ side. While some systems are doing well, often due to non-core patient care, a full 1/3 of the industry is losing money with no signs of improvement. This could become catastrophic for many communities,” said Steve Lefar, Chief Strategy Officer at Strata. “Inpatient volumes have not yet returned to pre-COVID levels. Cases are moving away from profitable procedures, and outpatient volumes have only made slight gains since 2019. Health systems, regulators and industry analysts must rethink how they model a variety of future state scenarios. We hope a data set like StrataSphere can help them as they strategize for a profoundly altered future.”

LIFT22 Offers 20+ CPE-Accredited Educational Sessions

A forum for healthcare leaders to share success stories and best practices related to financial planning, analytics and performance, this year’s LIFT22 conference was 100% virtual and 100% free. Attendees had the opportunity to select from over 20 CPE-accredited sessions for a deeper dive into specific topics. These sessions, led by members of Strata’s customer network, educated attendees about best practices, new design and product efficiencies. Sessions included:

• Innovations in RealTime Workforce Management: Executives from Texas Health Resources discussed the impact that Strata has made on the organization in driving accountability, financial stewardship and labor efficiency as they look to optimize their staffing practices in the face of a national labor shortage.
• Learn How Your Peers Are Using Dynamic Planning: Intermountain Healthcare shared their perspective and experience shifting towards a more agile dynamic planning approach, integrating key insights from their decision support tool to drive future strategy.
• How East Tennessee Children’s Hospital is Leveraging Data Advanced Analytics Dashboards in StrataJazz: East Tennessee Children’s Hospital presented highlights related to their journey to create a new governance structure and stand up analytics and dashboards within the hospital.
• Revenue Analytics – Panel Discussion: A panel of healthcare experts from Strata and Edward Elmhurst Health educated audiences about implementing revenue analytics tools to drive organizational advancement.

2022 LEAP Award Winners Announced at LIFT22

Strata was proud to present the 2022 LEAP (Lead, Excel, Achieve, and Progress) Award, which recognizes healthcare organizations with outstanding performance in the areas of finance and strategy, to Texas Health Resources and Carilion Clinic.

Texas Health Resources was recognized for their work using the EPSi tool to take action on data with crucial dashboards and custom analytics for understanding performance, volumes and efficiency. With labor continuing to make up nearly 50 percent of a health system’s operating expense, this organization engaged their frontline leaders with live data for better staffing decisions using a new workforce management process and tool.

Carilion Clinic was recognized as a top StrataJazz user for their work creating a culture of cost discipline that led to the identification of over $9 million in cost savings. By engaging C-suite executive sponsors to help drive the adoption of cost improvement, the team has implemented initiatives across service lines to drive meaningful and sustained cost savings across their enterprise.

About Strata Decision Technology

Strata Decision Technology provides a cloud-based platform for software and service solutions to help healthcare providers better analyze, plan and perform in support of caring for their community and reducing the cost of care. Our customer base includes over 2,000 hospitals and over 400 healthcare delivery systems. Founded in 1996, our mission is to Help Heal Healthcare^TM. For more information, please go to www.stratadecision.com. 

Data from over 300 hospitals reveals contract labor as a percentage of total labor expense is approaching 6%

CHICAGO – June 28, 2022 – Strata Decision Technology (Strata), a pioneer and leader in the development of cloud-based financial planning, analytics and performance tools for healthcare, today revealed key insights from its June 2022 Financial Forecast Guidance Report. The guide, developed by analyzing data from over 300 hospitals, revealed that cost inflation for labor and drugs has approached 7% and 10% respectively, whereas supply costs have risen by 3%. 

Labor costs have been a major concern for U.S. hospitals as they continue to face staffing shortages exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, many hospitals have expanded the utilization of more expensive contract labor as an alternative to hiring full-time staff. According to Strata’s Financial Forecast, the median for contract labor as a percentage of total labor expense is approaching 6% as of February 2022. The largest increases in contract labor have occurred in hospitals with over 500 beds, in critical access and short-term acute care hospitals and in hospitals located in the South, Northeast and West regions. Meanwhile, overtime as a percentage of paid hours remains consistent with 2021 year-end levels. 

Although outpatient visits are only slightly lower than 2019 volumes when COVID-19 testing and vaccinations are excluded, hospitals and health systems have seen a large decrease in inpatient admissions. The Financial Forecast shows that after excluding patients with COVID-19, inpatient admissions and emergency department visits are well below 2019 levels. Annualized 2022 year-to-date data suggests this trend will likely continue.  

This is partially driven by the fact that several procedures that were historically performed in an inpatient setting are being performed on an outpatient basis. For example, 74% of primary knee replacements were performed as inpatient procedures in 2019 compared to just 28% in 2021. This trend continued through the first quarter of 2022.  

“Keeping close track of costs across service lines and identifying areas where prices are rising is crucial for hospitals’ financial health,” said Steve Lefar, Chief Strategy Officer at Strata. “The goal of our Financial Forecast is to offer information to our customers – and the healthcare community at-large – about the areas where spending may fluctuate so they can make informed decisions about their financial planning. We are uniquely poised to offer this insight because of the data we have from our network of hospitals and health systems that use Strata’s solutions. Access to this kind of detailed information enables hospitals to focus on what’s really important – offering the best patient care possible.” 

Strata’s Financial Forecast Guidance report was developed by analyzing data from Strata’s StrataSphere^® customer base of more than 1,100 hospitals. The full report can be viewed here. 

About Strata Decision Technology 

Strata Decision Technology provides a cloud-based platform for software and service solutions to help healthcare providers better analyze, plan and perform in support of caring for their community and reducing the cost of care. Our customer base includes over 2,000 hospitals and over 400 healthcare delivery systems. Founded in 1996, our mission is to Help Heal Healthcare^TM. For more information, please go to www.stratadecision.com. 

Contacts 
Jenn Riggle 
[email protected] 

Formal, ongoing processes are a commonality among successful programs

CHICAGO – June 7, 2022 – Strata Decision Technology (Strata), a pioneer and leader in the development of cloud-based financial planning, analytics and performance tools for healthcare, today announced the results of a poll conducted with the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) of 185 healthcare finance, accounting and revenue cycle executives. The survey revealed that although nearly 89% of healthcare organizations have some type of cost reduction program in place, only six percent of hospitals characterize their program as extremely effective.  

There is an ongoing need for cost reduction among hospitals and health systems, especially as the industry begins to recover from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, many organizations struggle to implement a successful program because they lack a roadmap. The first step to successful cost reduction is to identify a priority area for savings and to choose a mathematically defendable savings target. For example, the HFMA poll found that only 8% of respondents set a margin improvement target of over $100 million with 50% setting a target of less than $10 million. 

Establishing a governance structure and securing the right resources is important when it comes to defining who will do the work and how. The different tasks that must be assigned include identifying opportunities for cost reduction, prioritizing projects and tracking results. 

Creating a culture of accountability is also crucial for hospitals’ cost reduction efforts. There are so many functions within a health system, from clinical care delivery to environmental services to food services, that each play a role in determining where changes can be made. In the past, labor reduction may have been the default method of cost reduction. Now, due to labor shortages and a variety of other factors, healthcare organizations are increasingly pursuing alternatives. Effective cost reduction programs necessitate involving executive leadership and clinicians in cost reduction conversations to bring new ideas to the table, helping identify alternative areas for savings and taking the burden off finance teams.  

Collaboration, formality and governance do not need to make the process complicated, however – once established, these guidelines lay the groundwork so that organizations can easily make the right adjustments to achieve their desired results. Luckily, the majority (72%) of respondents say their overall culture of accountability around cost reduction programs is acceptable, good or excellent. 

“Where we see things fall apart is where organizations don’t set clear expectations,” said Alina Henderson, senior director, advisory services at Strata Decision Technology. “Closing the loop is critical to sustaining the process and successful cost reduction programs give leaders access to critical data they need to make informed decisions. However, it’s not just about access. You need to equip people with the data itself but also think about what is going to help them make that data useful.” 

As its core, creating and sustaining a successful cost reduction program is primarily about identifying and overcoming organization-specific barriers. Cost reduction is a daunting task to undertake, but it’s achievable with a well-defined, consistent process. In the same way that finance and decision support are required organizational functions, cost reduction should similarly be seen as an essential capability for all health systems. 

“Together, healthcare leaders can create the burning platform that the entire organization can rally around in terms of cost reduction,” said John Baker, senior director, continuous improvement at Strata Decision Technology. “They can incorporate the target savings amount into a narrative that resonates with the entire workforce. It’s the new way of doing financial stewardship. It’s a sustainable, long-term way to manage financial health.” 

The full survey report can be viewed here.  

About Strata Decision Technology 

Strata Decision Technology provides a cloud-based platform for software and service solutions to help healthcare providers better analyze, plan and perform in support of caring for their community and reducing the cost of care. Our customer base includes over 2,000 hospitals and over 400 healthcare delivery systems. Founded in 1996, our mission is to Help Heal Healthcare^TM. For more information, please go to www.stratadecision.com. 

Contacts 
Alex Foley 
[email protected] 

100% of Customers Stated Strata is Part of their Long-Term Plans

CHICAGO – February 09, 2022 – Strata Decision Technology (Strata), a pioneer and leader in the development of cloud-based financial planning, analytics and performance tools for healthcare, today announced that the company earned top honors as the KLAS Category Leader for Business Decision Support in the 2022 Best in KLAS: Software and Services report. With a customer satisfaction score of 92.2 out of 100, Strata earned the top ranking for decision support solutions in healthcare information technology for the 16^th consecutive year. 

“Each year, thousands of healthcare professionals across the globe take the time to share their voice with KLAS,” said Adam Gale, CEO of KLAS. “They know that sharing their perspective helps vendors to improve and helps their peers make better decisions. These conversations are a constant reminder to me of how necessary accurate, honest, and impartial reporting is in the healthcare industry. The Best in KLAS report and the awards it contains set the standard of excellence for software and services firms. Vendors who win the title of Best in KLAS should celebrate and remember that providers now accept only the best from their products and services. The Best in KLAS award serves as a signal to provider and payer organizations that they should expect excellence from the winning vendors.”

The annual Best in KLAS ratings are based on feedback from tens of thousands of interviews with healthcare providers conducted throughout the year evaluating their level of satisfaction with over 1,000 healthcare information technology applications. This year, 100% of Strata customers said the company is part of their long-term plans.

“We’re so fortunate at Strata to have the opportunity to support over half of U.S healthcare – 2,000 hospitals and 400 health systems – during such a challenging and critical time. The COVID-19 pandemic created the biggest financial crisis in the history of healthcare and I’m incredibly proud of how our team stepped up for and delivered on what’s most important – serving our customers,” stated Dan Michelson, Chief Executive Officer of Strata. “Healthcare providers will continue to face significant challenges. The fact that 100% of our customers view us as a critical long-term partner is reflective of our innovation, our commitment to service and the trust we have built in this market. As hospitals and health systems continue their recovery, they know that Strata is here to help.”

Strata is a cloud-based platform that helps healthcare providers better plan, analyze and perform, driving margin to fuel their clinical mission. With a customer base representing over half of U.S. healthcare, Strata helps hospitals and health systems separate the signal from the noise, providing unique insight to enable data-driven decisions that improve both clinical and financial performance. 

Customer Commentary  

In determining its rankings, KLAS collects quantitative and qualitative feedback from healthcare providers regarding the applications that they use. The following are a few of the comments from Strata customers, reported by KLAS:

• Market Position and Prominence: “I would recommend Strata in general. They are a very good company. They are the Epic of the hospital decision support space. Strata is at the top of the heap.” – VP, July 2021
• Customer Engagement: “We work with wonderful teams at Strata Decision Technology. Our engagement with them has been smooth. We know who the members of our engagement and consulting teams are. They support us very well. The vendor’s people are clear about what we need to do. I could call all of their consultants with a question and all of them would give me the same answer. They are amazing.” – Director, March 2021
• Executive Support and Involvement: “Strata Decision Technology has very good support. That is one of the things I appreciate about them. They do quarterly updates and give us the ability to go in and comment on areas where we would like to see improvements. We get notified if they accept our idea and are going to put it into a quarterly update at some point. One of the vendor’s executives is in contact with one of our executives on a pretty regular basis.” – Director, September 2021 

The full 2022 Best in KLAS: Software and Services report is available at www.klasresearch.com.

To learn more about or set up a demonstration of Strata solutions, click here.

About KLAS

KLAS has been providing accurate, honest, and impartial insights for the healthcare IT (HIT) industry since 1996. The KLAS mission is to improve the world’s healthcare by amplifying the voice of providers and payers. The scope of our research is constantly expanding to best fit market needs as technology becomes increasingly sophisticated. KLAS finds the hard-to-get HIT data by building strong relationships with our payer and provider friends in the industry. Learn more at www.klasresearch.com.

About Strata Decision Technology

Strata Decision Technology provides a cloud-based platform for software and service solutions to help healthcare providers better analyze, plan, and perform in support of caring for their community and reducing the cost of care. Our customer base includes over 2,000 hospitals and over 400 healthcare delivery systems. Founded in 1996, our mission is to Help Heal Healthcare^TM. For more information, please go to www.stratadecision.com.

Contacts
Alex Foley

[email protected]

CHICAGO, November 5, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) – Strata Decision Technology (Strata), a pioneer and leader in the development of cloud-based financial planning, analytics and performance tools for healthcare, has been awarded a Top Workplaces honor by the Chicago Tribune for the third year in a row. Strata was ranked one of the top three mid-sized tech companies in Chicago.

Over 4,700 companies were invited to participate in an employee survey commissioned by the Chicago Tribune in partnership with Energage, a third-party research company. The survey was anonymous and focused on the 15 drivers of the most engaged cultures including everything from work-life balance to confidence in company leadership. Employees responded to a set of statements about their feelings toward their workplace, using a seven-point scale.

“During this very challenging time, Top Workplaces has proven to be a beacon of light for organizations, as well as a sign of resiliency and strong business performance,” said Eric Rubino, Energage CEO. “When you give your employees a voice, you come together to navigate challenges and shape your path forward. Top Workplaces draw on real-time insights into what works best for their organization, so they can make informed decisions that have a positive impact on their people and their business.”

For the past decade, Energage, formerly Workplace Dynamics, has been ranking workplaces in the Chicago area and the nation through employee surveys. The Top Workplaces award spotlights private, public, nonprofit and government organizations that earn the highest ratings. The companies that completed the survey were divided into three categories: small (fewer than 250 employees), midsize (250-999) and large (1,000 or more).

To learn more about what it’s like to work at Strata and what employees value most about the experience, visit the company’s careers page.

About Strata Decision Technology

Strata Decision Technology provides an innovative set of software and service solutions to help healthcare providers better analyze, plan, and perform in support of caring for their community and reducing the cost of care. Our customer base includes over 2,000 hospitals and over 400 healthcare delivery systems. Founded in 1996, our mission is to Help Heal Healthcare^TM. For more information, please go to www.stratadecision.com.

CHICAGO, September 24, 2021 — At a time when hospitals and health systems are under more pressure than ever, over 1,800 attendees from over 275 organizations attended LIFT21, the Strata Virtual Users Conference. During this three-day event, attendees heard from national healthcare centers of excellence leveraging the StrataJazz^® cloud solution and EPSi on-prem platform from Strata to drive their financial planning, analytics and performance.

These sessions were led by thought leaders from Cone Health (North Carolina), Edward-Elmhurst Health (Illinois), Intermountain Healthcare (Utah), John Muir Health (California), Keck Medicine of USC (California), MD Anderson Cancer Center (Texas), Northwestern Medical Center (Vermont), Northwestern Medicine (Illinois), Ochsner Health (Louisiana), Saint Luke’s Health System of Kansas City (Missouri), Texas Children’s Hospital (Texas) and Texas Health Resources (Texas).

“COVID-19 continues to have a significant impact on hospitals and health systems in every community across our country. While our customers have never been under more pressure, it was incredibly encouraging to see the overwhelming response to our conference and hear stories from so many health systems that are leveraging Strata solutions to deliver even better care,” stated Dan Michelson, Chief Executive Officer of Strata. “We are honored to support the heroes on the front lines and behind the scenes of this pandemic who have been stewarding their communities and our country through this incredibly challenging time.”

The acquisition of EPSi by Strata in 2020 created a single company that now serves over 50 percent of U.S. healthcare including over 2,000 hospitals. LIFT21 created an opportunity for StrataJazz and EPSi users to come together, share best practices and learn from each other in over 40 thought leadership sessions. The combination of Strata and EPSi has created a clear market standard that CFO’s and their organizations can rely on to help them better analyze, plan and perform financially in support of their clinical mission.

Strata Releases Report – Signals, Trends and KPIs: The Changing Face of Healthcare Finance

During LIFT21, Strata released its latest industry report – StrataSphere Research Report: Signals, Trends and KPIs: The Changing Face of Healthcare Finance. This research provides an overview of the impact of COVID-19 on the financial and operational health of hospitals and health systems. The report leverages data from StrataSphere, a healthcare provider research and comparative analytics collaborative representing a cohort of over 700 hospitals from Strata’s customer base of over 2,000 hospitals within over 400 health systems across the U.S

Key findings from this research include the following:

• 2021 net patient revenue margin is near zero: Median operating expense is 99.2 percent of net patient revenue (0.8 percent patient revenue margin) for 2021. It was 105.8 percent (-.5.8 percent margin) in 2020, and 96.9 percent (3.1 percent margin) in the baseline year of 2019.​
• Inpatient costs per case rose significantly since 2019: Inpatient cost per case has increased by 16 percent in 2021 and 11 percent in 2020 compared to the baseline year of 2019. Additionally, Case mix was up to 1.46 in 2021 and 1.43 in 2021 versus 1.37 in the 2019 baseline year. This is an 8.7 percent increase from 2019 to 2021.
• COVID-19 has shifted volumes with sustained impact: Throughout 2021, there are 5-7 percent lower inpatient volumes including COVID-19 patients. While June almost returned to 2019 levels, COVID-19 waves continue to crowd out other specialties.
• The shift of key inpatient procedures is accelerating​: There is an accelerating shift of key, traditional inpatient procedures to the outpatient setting. For example, Primary Knee Replacement outpatient volume is 74 percent higher than inpatient volumes in 2021.

New Product Innovations from Strata Highlighted During the Conference

During LIFT21, Strata shared the latest innovations and enhancements to StrataJazz and EPSi. Highlights included the following:

• StrataJazz Cloud Solution: Innovations highlighted included redesigns of both Strata’s Cost Model and Contract Analytics, enhanced Billing Summary Modeling, at-a-glance Staffing Variance Analysis, a new module for Real-Time Workforce Management, a new cost benchmarking tool called StrataSphere Compare, and Advanced Analytics for creating advanced visualizations and dashboards. 
• EPSi On Prem Solution: Highlights included net new features in Costing, Product Line Analytics, Budgeting, Data Studio and Reporting as well as advancements in technology, browser support and security. Additionally, as many EPSi users are moving to Strata’s cloud solution, several sessions shared best practices from the many organizations that have already made this transition. 
• Advisory Services: New services were highlighted for managing change as well as for implementing sustainable future state models. Strata Advisory Services deploys functional and operational experts who help hospitals and health systems transition to advanced planning, drive from data to action and facilitate collaborative improvement with operators and clinicians.

Best Practices in Decision Strategy Highlighted During Keynote Sessions

As the decisions made by hospitals and health systems have never been more challenging or more critical, the keynote sessions focused on decision strategy, specifically the decisions you make and what you make of those decisions. Strata is making the following keynote sessions available to all healthcare stakeholders:

• Annie Duke – The Decisions You Make: One of the first women to win the World Series of Poker and author of the best-selling book Thinking in Bets, Annie Duke is one the world’s leading experts in helping executives tackle what is perhaps the most critical part of their job – making good decisions. Access Annie Duke’s session here.
• Chris Nikic – What You Make of Your Decisions: Recently awarded the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance by EPSN, Chris Nikic was the first person with Down syndrome to complete the Ironman. Chris shared his story about “getting 1 percent better every day.” See Chris Nikic’s story here.

About Strata Decision Technology

Strata Decision Technology provides an innovative set of software and service solutions to help healthcare providers better analyze, plan, and perform in support of caring for their community and reducing the cost of care. Our customer base includes over 2,000 hospitals and over 400 healthcare delivery systems. Founded in 1996, our mission is to Help Heal Healthcare™. For more information, please go to https://www.stratadecision.com.

CHICAGO, February 2, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Strata Decision Technology (Strata), a pioneer and leader in the development of cloud-based financial planning, analytics and performance tools for healthcare, announced today that the company’s StrataJazz^® application earned top honors as the KLAS Category Leader for Business Decision Support in the 2021 Best in KLAS: Software and Services report. With a score of 90.1 out of 100, StrataJazz is one of the highest rated analytics solutions in all of healthcare information technology.

This is the 15^th consecutive year that Strata Decision Support solutions have earned the coveted No. 1 spot in KLAS’s end-of-year ranking of healthcare IT software and services vendors. The annual Best in KLAS ratings are based on feedback from tens of thousands of interviews conducted throughout the year with healthcare providers. In the report, 100 percent of Strata customers stated that Strata is “part of their long-term plans” – a score over 10 points higher than the average for business decision support solutions reviewed by KLAS. Close to 100 percent of Strata customers indicated that they “would buy again” with a score 9 points higher than the segment average.

According to Adam Gale, KLAS President, “Each year, thousands of healthcare professionals across the globe take the time to share their voice with KLAS. They know that sharing their perspective helps vendors to improve and helps their peers make better decisions. These conversations are a constant reminder to me of how necessary accurate, honest, and impartial reporting is in the healthcare industry. The Best in KLAS report and the awards it contains set the standard of excellence for software and services firms. Vendors who win the title of ‘Best in KLAS’ should celebrate and remember that providers now accept only the best from their products and services. The Best in KLAS award serves as a signal to provider and payer organizations that they should expect excellence from the winning vendors.”

Strata solutions are used by over 2,000 hospitals and 400 healthcare delivery systems across the U.S., helping healthcare providers better plan, analyze and perform, driving margin to fuel their clinical mission.

“In a year when healthcare providers faced the worst financial crisis in the history of healthcare, we are incredibly proud that our solutions were able to help and that we were named the No. 1 in KLAS for the fifteenth consecutive year,” said Dan Michelson, Chief Executive Officer of Strata. “Now, more than ever, we feel very fortunate to be able to help our customers tackle the challenges facing them as they seek to improve financial and clinical outcomes, driving more value for their providers, their organization and the communities that they serve.”

Comments from Customers

In determining its rankings, KLAS collects both quantitative and qualitative feedback from healthcare providers on the technologies they use. The following are selected, anonymous commentaries by Strata customers, reported by KLAS:

• Return on Investment: “I feel like we are getting our money’s worth. The information that we can get out of the system for analytics goes so far beyond what anybody can get out of a financial accounting system, and the system has really driven a lot of discussion about things that our operational leaders would not have otherwise known were going on.” – Director, January 2021
• Service and Support: “Strata Decision Technology’s technical support is hands down the best I have ever worked with. Anytime we need to put in a ticket for a technical problem or work through an error, their approach is unparalleled. I have never worked with anybody whose follow-up service is as good as Strata Decision Technology’s.” – Manager, January 2021
• Functionality and Upgrades: “StrataJazz Decision Support is just heaven. It is wonderful because it is automated and streamlined. It does everything for us. When we would do costing in our previous system, we had to do everything manually. With StrataJazz Decision Support, once things are set up, it is very easy to go through everything. We just point and click. We have all our entities, which we couldn’t get in our previous system. StrataJazz Decision Support is everything the vendor promised and more. We love the system and are so happy.” – Analyst / Coordinator, January 2021
• Future Outlook: “Strata Decision Technology’s staff members are professional and knowledgeable. Our ideas are on the vendor’s radar. Strata Decision Technology is collaborative and listens to customers.” – Manager, January 2021

The full 2021 Best in KLAS: Software and Services report is available at www.klasresearch.com.

About KLAS

KLAS has been providing accurate, honest, and impartial insights for the healthcare IT (HIT) industry since 1996. The KLAS mission is to improve the world’s healthcare by amplifying the voice of providers and payers. The scope of our research is constantly expanding to best fit market needs as technology becomes increasingly sophisticated. KLAS finds the hard-to-get HIT data by building strong relationships with our payer and provider friends in the industry. Learn more at www.klasresearch.com.

About Strata Decision Technology

Strata Decision Technology provides an innovative set of software and service solutions to help healthcare providers better analyze, plan, and perform in support of caring for their community and reducing the cost of care. Our customer base includes over 2,000 hospitals and over 400 healthcare delivery systems. Founded in 1996, our mission is to Help Heal Healthcare^TM. For more information, please go to www.stratadecision.com.

Strata Decision Technology Receives #1 Ranking for Midsize Tech Companies in Annual Employee Survey on Most Engaged Cultures

CHICAGO, November 2, 2020 — Strata Decision Technology, a pioneer and leader in the development of cloud-based financial analytics, planning and performance tools for healthcare, has been awarded a Top Workplaces 2020 honor by the Chicago Tribune for a second year. Strata was the highest ranked midsize technology company on the list and third overall. Strata CEO Dan Michelson received a Special Award for the highest score based on employee responses to the statement “I have confidence in the leader of the company.”

Over 3,300 companies were invited to participate in an employee survey commissioned by the Chicago Tribune in partnership with Energage, a third-party research company. The survey was anonymous and focused on the 15 drivers of the most engaged cultures including everything from work-life balance to confidence in company leadership. Employees responded to a set of statements about their feelings toward their workplace, using a seven-point scale.

“Amid an incredibly challenging year, we are truly honored to be recognized by the Chicago Tribune as one of the top places to work,” stated Heidi Farrell, Vice President of People Operations at Strata. “Our focus is simple – to give our team the opportunity to work on something they care about with people they care about.”

For the past decade, Energage, formerly Workplace Dynamics, has been ranking workplaces in the Chicago area and the nation through employee surveys. The Top Workplaces award spotlights private, public, nonprofit and government organizations that earn the highest ratings. The companies that completed the survey were divided into three categories: small (fewer than 250 employees), midsize (250-999) and large (1,000 or more).

To learn more about what it’s like to work at Strata and what employees value most about the experience, visit the careers page.

About Strata Decision Technology

Strata Decision Technology provides an innovative set of software and service solutions to help healthcare providers better analyze, plan and perform in support of caring for their community and reducing the cost of care. Our customer base includes over 2,000 hospitals and over 400 healthcare delivery systems. Founded in 1996, our mission is to Help Heal Healthcare^TM. For more information, please go to www.stratadecision.com.

Customer Base of the New Strata Accounts for Approximately 50% of the Hospital and Health System Spend in U.S. Healthcare

CHICAGO, October 15, 2020 — Strata Decision Technology (Strata) today announced that it has finalized the acquisition of the EPSi business from Allscripts (NASDAQ: MDRX), creating the gold standard in healthcare for financial analytics, planning and performance solutions. With a combined network of over 400 health systems and 2,000 hospitals and the highest customer satisfaction ratings in the industry for over a decade, the new Strata brings a unique set of software and service solutions to help healthcare providers better analyze, plan and perform in support of caring for their community and reducing the cost of care.

Spending on U.S. healthcare is expected to pass $4 trillion¹ in 2020 with approximately 50% of that spend, or $2 trillion, coming through healthcare providers.² Hospitals are under significant pressure, with average operating margins of 2% and over 30% operating at a loss. The coronavirus pandemic has driven significant increases in the cost of care coupled with major declines in patient and procedure volume, creating the biggest financial crisis in the history of U.S. healthcare.  

The new Strata is uniquely positioned to help healthcare providers manage through the crisis and bend the cost curve, with a combined customer base representing approximately 50% of the $2 trillion provider spend in the U.S. healthcare system. 

“The new Strata is the first company with the solutions and scale to help to solve the biggest problem in healthcare – the cost of it,” said Dan Michelson, Chief Executive Officer of Strata. “Hospitals and healthcare delivery systems have never been under more pressure and they are looking for a trusted partner to help. Bringing Strata and EPSi together creates one company with a customer base of over 400 healthcare delivery systems accounting for approximately 50% of provider spend in U.S. healthcare. There is now a clear market standard that CFO’s and their organizations can depend on to help them better analyze, plan and perform financially in support of their clinical mission. Every executive team at every health system is looking to understand and reduce the cost of care right now. We’re here to help.”

Strata and EPSi have been the recognized leaders in healthcare cost accounting for over a decade, with solutions rated No. 1 in KLAS for Business Decision Support 14 times. Advanced capabilities of the offerings include real-time and time-driven costing, providing the ability for healthcare providers to extract time-based data from existing systems in an automated fashion in order to better understand the actual cost of labor and supplies while leveraging real-time analytics and predictive variance alerts.

100% Commitment to EPSi

Strata is 100% committed to both the EPSi product and customer base. There are no plans to sunset the product, and investment in the product will continue. Customers may choose to transition to the other, more advanced technology and cloud solutions that Strata offers, but will not be forced into that transition. Additionally, EPSi customers will continue to work with their same team for implementation, support and optimization, and the Company will focus on continuing to find ways to enhance customer experience over time.

EPSi users will also have the opportunity to explore the other software and service solutions that Strata offers. Through the years, over 40 organizations have made the transition from EPSi to the cloud solutions from Strata. Today over 25 organizations use solutions from both EPSi and Strata together in the same healthcare delivery system. Strata will be working to accelerate innovation to help healthcare providers solve even more mission critical problems for their organizations.

A Complete Platform of Software and Service Solutions

Strata provides a complete platform of software and service solutions to help healthcare providers better analyze, plan and perform including:

• Analytics: decision support, advanced cost accounting, real-time costing, time-driven costing, benchmarking and comparative analytics, product line analysis, contract modeling and management, risk-based and capitated contracts, strategic pricing, data visualization, data science collaboration
• Planning: operating budgeting, dynamic planning, rolling forecasting, long range financial planning, strategic product budgeting, capital planning, capital tracking, equipment replacement
• Performance: productivity, management reporting, clinical variation, initiative tracking, performance management, cost reduction, margin improvement

Additionally, with a significant number of academic medical centers, children’s hospitals and cancer centers now using solutions from Strata, the Company is in a unique position to support research in several areas including the cost of care through its StrataSphere™ data science collaborative.

Michelson continued, “We’re not a product, we’re a solution. And we’re not a short-term vendor, we’re a long-term partner, which is exactly what is needed as the problems in healthcare are stunningly complex. To solve them, you need to dive deep and then go deeper. It requires a complete commitment and focus on healthcare with a long-term track record that shows you can and will deliver.  Since their founding, both Strata and EPSi have been exclusively focused on healthcare. For over 20 years, this is all we have done, and it will remain that way. Strata is and will be 100% dedicated to healthcare in everything we do, every single day. We’re here for the long-term and we’re here to make a difference.”

To learn more about the new Strata, visit us at www.stratadecision.com/thenewstrata.  

About Strata Decision Technology

Strata Decision Technology provides an innovative set of software and service solutions to help healthcare providers better analyze, plan and perform in support of caring for their community and reducing the cost of care. Our customer base includes over 2,000 hospitals and over 400 healthcare delivery systems. Founded in 1996, our mission is to Help Heal Healthcare^TM. For more information, please go to www.stratadecision.com.

About Allscripts

Allscripts (NASDAQ: MDRX) is a leader in healthcare information technology solutions that advance clinical, financial and operational results. Our innovative solutions connect people, places and data across an Open, Connected Community of Health™. Connectivity empowers caregivers and consumers to make better decisions, delivering better care for healthier populations. To learn more, visit www.allscripts.com, Twitter, YouTube and It Takes A Community: The Allscripts Blog.
 
Sources:

¹ Office of the Actuary in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services  – National Health Expenditures Projections 2019-2028 – Forecast Summary – https://www.cms.gov/files/document/nhe-projections-2019-2028-forecast-summary.pdf

² Office of the Actuary in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services  – Nation’s health dollar: where it came from, where it went (PDF) – https://www.cms.gov/files/document/nations-health-dollar-where-it-came-where-it-went.pdf

CHICAGO, September 23, 2020 — A comprehensive six-month study of patient and procedure volume at 275 hospitals by Strata Decision Technology (Strata) revealed the significant financial and operational impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the U.S. healthcare system. The National Patient and Procedure Volume Tracker™ from Strata reveals the clinical and financial implications of COVID-19 treatment, details volume and revenue trends from the past six-months and documents the impact of telehealth adoption.

To analyze the impact of COVID-19, data scientists from Strata aggregated data from a cohort of 275 hospitals in 58 healthcare delivery systems, a subset of the over 1,000 hospitals and 220 healthcare delivery systems across the country that use the company’s StrataJazz^® financial planning, analytics, and performance platform. Collectively, the hospitals in the COVID-19 cohort serve nearly 86 million Americans, account for $81 billion in annual operating expense, represent all census regions, and treated over 160,000 COVID-19 patients.

The updated National Patient and Procedure Volume Tracker reveals the following:

COVID-19 Analysis: Healthcare providers have quickly learned and heroically responded to COVID-19 as demonstrated by dramatically lower ventilator and mortality rates

• COVID-19 inpatient volumes did not surge nationwide as expected and did not replace the dramatic decline in total admissions
• Admission rates from the ED declined across all age cohorts, suggesting providers have developed more skill in identifying who has COVID-19 and corrected treatment
• Admitted COVID-19 patients in the top seven DRGs have a length of stay 20% higher than non-COVID patients for the same DRG, justifying an increase in reimbursement
• While ventilator use has declined dramatically, most COVID-19 patients who are on a ventilator stay on it for over 96 hours

Patient and Procedure Volume Analysis: The impact to inpatient and ER volumes has been significant and the new normal may force a wide-spread re-evaluation of financial models for hospitals

Inpatient volume has not fully recovered with inpatient procedures and surgeries still down significantly

• Volumes now approaching 2019 levels, but lost volumes have not recovered
• The “new normal” may be 90-95% of previous levels
• Inpatient procedures and surgeries continue to trail 2019 levels, down 18.6% cumulatively, having a negative financial impact
• Medical, not surgical service lines, have come back strongest as patients have focused on chronic, preventative, and screening care

Outpatient volume has recovered for some, but not for all

• Volumes fell significantly, but have now recovered, down 56% at the start, but down only 1.5% for the past 30 days
• Recovery is not evenly distributed, as some areas have come back strongly, while other care areas still lag
• Volume rebound demonstrates ongoing recovery outside the inpatient setting, including new channels such as telehealth

Emergency room visits are still down by 25% nationally

• Emergency Room (ER) care fell by 50% with people only going to the ER if essential
• Potentially serious care, that normally comes to the ER, is still being avoided or is down
• This decrease in ER visits also potentially reflects a return to the optimal role of the ER
• ER volume is still down by approximately 25% nationally vs. 2019

Telehealth Analysis: Telehealth shows staying power as a new channel and will need to be evaluated and integrated into care planning in a thoughtful way

• Telehealth filled a void during pandemic and was utilized for ~50% of telehealth-eligible office visits at peak as face-to-face visits dropped by 50%
• In-person visits have rebounded, driving telehealth down to 11% of eligible visits and reflecting the current hands-on nature of healthcare
• Contrary to the belief that technology is for the young, telehealth utilization was strong across age cohorts
• Some visits types like behavioral health sustained telehealth volume better than others, while phone check-ins, basic follow-ups and consultations show decline

“The work of our hospitals and healthcare providers in both battling COVID-19 and saving lives has truly been heroic,” stated Dan Michelson, Chief Executive Officer of Strata Decision Technology. “The data from the National Patient and Procedure Volume Tracker will help all stakeholders understand that there are clear, significant, and long-term implications for our healthcare delivery system. They will need to think different and consider new approaches as they plan their road to recovery.”

National Patient and Procedure Volume Tracker is Available for Free to All Stakeholders in Healthcare

The National Patient and Procedure Volume Tracker was launched in May 2020 to help all stakeholders in healthcare understand the impact of COVID-19 on the U.S. healthcare delivery system. The data behind the Tracker is from StrataSphere, Strata’s unique and comprehensive data-sharing platform that helps providers leverage the power of a network that represents approximately 25% of all provider spend in U.S. healthcare.

“This report should compel health systems to accelerate their move to value-based models of care, fast track digital health efforts, and evaluate how to reduce their cost of care delivery,” commented Steve Lefar, Executive Director of StrataSphere for Strata. “It is more important than ever to understand cost and revenue drivers today and in the future. The time is now for leaders to quickly evaluate and start making changes.”

StrataSphere currently includes over 100 participating health systems, representing more than

$150 billion in operating expense. Whereas existing comparative analytics and benchmarking solutions rely primarily on public datasets, StrataSphere provides accurate, actionable and timely comparisons of key metrics. StrataSphere utilizes machine learning to leverage trillions of data points from this network of providers already using StrataJazz for financial planning, analytics and

performance. For this reason, participation in StrataSphere requires no additional data submission or work effort.

The    National    Patient    and    Procedure    Volume    Tracker    is    free    and    available    at www.stratadecision.com/National-Patient-and-Procedure-Volume-Tracker/.

About Strata Decision Technology

Strata Decision Technology provides an innovative cloud-based financial analytics and performance platform that is used by healthcare providers for financial planning, decision support and continuous improvement. Founded in 1996, the Company’s customer base includes 1,000 hospitals and many of the largest and most influential healthcare delivery systems in the U.S. The Company’s StrataJazz^® application is a single integrated software-as-a-service platform that includes modules for capital planning, continuous improvement, contract modeling, cost accounting, cost management, decision support, financial forecasting, management reporting, operational budgeting and performance improvement and strategic planning. The Company’s headquarters are in Chicago, IL. For more information, please visit www.stratadecision.com.