HealthLeadersMedia.com - Roundtables

Capital Finance: Industry Consolidation

Mon, 13 May 2013 10:00:00 GMT

Healthcare organizations' concerns about capital access and long-term viability are driving a boom in mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and other affiliations. Increasingly, these agreements result in nontraditional partners: nonprofits with for-profits, academic medical centers with investor-owned firms, faith-based systems with secular systems, and affiliations across the continuum of care. Ownership and governance structures also vary in terms of control. Today's healthcare leaders must base their M&A search on a host of factors, including capital access, local market needs, financial support, and growth opportunities—and the risk of being left out. Time and effort must also be invested in priorities after the merger or acquisition is completed. Careful planning around managing the business as well as direct and indirect relationships post-consolidation need to be near the top of every leader's to-do list. [Sponsored by Bank of America Merrill Lynch]

Preparing for Population Health Management

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 10:00:00 GMT

Healthcare leaders are preparing for the shift away from volume-based reimbursement by experimenting with different structures for population health. Organizations must learn how to collaborate with new partners, including erstwhile competitors. Population health management also requires internal bridge building; executive and physician leaders must work together to create networks. Primary care physicians could be in short supply, while specialists are likely to see their payment, work mode, and degree of control turned upside down. Good data and analysis of the patient population is absolutely necessary, but not sufficient. The most important determinants of success or failure will be so-called soft factors: trust, culture, and leadership. [Sponsored by MedSynergies.]

Roundtable: Capital Finance—Changing Structures

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 10:00:00 GMT

Click below for a video preview of this exclusive Roundtable discussion.

The economics of value-based healthcare are driving individual hospitals to seek system affiliation and health systems to partner with other health systems. At the same time, healthcare executives face funding demands for capital needs, including burgeoning IT investments.

Access to capital is a critical need for the great majority of organizations, but the equations are changing; access is now predicated on expectations of margin, not just volume alone. Healthcare financial leaders must understand the fine points of different sources for funding, including banks, bonds, private equity, and philanthropic donations. They must join capital considerations with strategic planning to ready their organizations for the new era of healthcare.

Click below to download this FREE report featuring senior executives from Banner Health, Trinity Regional Health System, West Virginia United Health System, and Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Innovation Through Analytics

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 10:00:00 GMT

Analytics has come a long way since the first scorecards landed in healthcare enterprises. Today, intelligent use of analytics may be the difference between profit or loss, growth or lost market share as healthcare moves from fee-for-service to accountable care. Analytics helps health leaders decide how to rearrange their businesses, processes, and work flows, and spark creative thinking about new opportunities or areas needing improvement.Part of the challenge is managing expectations in an era where big data is opening insights in all sorts of businesses, many of which can flow into healthcare. Savvy healthcare leaders have to evaluate the cost of implementing agile analytics systems and staff, weighing that cost carefully against real or projected benefits. [Sponsored by Deloitte.]

Innovation in Hospital Governance: Joint Ventures, Partnerships, and Affiliations

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 10:00:00 GMT

As healthcare grows more interconnected, standalone community or government-owned hospitals are facing a crisis. Many need partnerships or clinical affiliations with allied healthcare providers and tertiary hospitals that can provide care, and in some cases capital, that they cannot. They may make an unattractive merger partner for larger hospitals and health systems that may also have capital constraints. Even if the local hospital is an attractive merger partner, many boards do not want to give up the local control over available services and the jobs the local hospital provides to local residents. There are other ways to reach the goals of better, more coordinated, and value-added care, and in many cases, preserve the hospital long-term. [Sponsored by LHP Hospital Group, LLC]

mHealth: Improving the Continuity of Care

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 10:00:00 GMT

Healthcare providers can improve outcomes and control costs by exploiting mobile technology, including patients' own phones, to deliver more care beyond the walls of hospitals and clinics. The virtualization of care enabled by mHealth technology can improve care of chronic conditions, redesign or streamline work flows, extend the reach of caregivers and facilities, and improve how information is shared across distance and time. Continuity of care requires mobile technology to boost patient engagement in an era when value-based care is replacing fee-for-service business models. [Sponsored by Verizon Wireless]

Decision Time for Community Hospitals

Mon, 15 Oct 2012 10:00:00 GMT

Where will community hospitals fit in the future healthcare landscape? Mergers and acquisitions of hospitals continue at record levels, yet many community and rural hospitals wish to remain independent. To position themselves financially and operationally for the future, these hospitals must understand the competitive dynamics of their situation. They must control costs while still offering quality services, attract and retain physicians, find their niche among competitors near and far—and consider the right partner to work with short of a merger. HealthLeaders Media convened a panel of community hospital CEOs to discuss how they can navigate increasingly difficult straits and maintain the values of their organizations and communities. [Sponsored by CHC]

Operational Excellence for Clinical Quality

Thu, 13 Sep 2012 10:00:00 GMT

Healthcare operations leaders today must drive operational efficiency and cost management to achieve necessary clinical outcomes. New models of care coordination and accountability require new operational strategies that integrate hospitals’ business functions and medical mission. As reimbursements shift to pay-for-performance, hospitals and healthcare systems increasingly must work with a broad range of partners toward population health management, extending beyond the walls of their institutions. Physician alignment with this changing dynamic is essential, but getting incentives right can be difficult. HealthLeaders Media convened a panel of healthcare COOs to discuss how they and their systems can meet these demands and stay viable. [Sponsored by Deloitte]

High-Demand Competencies: Developing Your Own Leaders

Wed, 13 Jun 2012 10:00:00 GMT

As healthcare transitions to new incentives and requirements, the industry is experiencing a dramatic shift in key competencies. As hospitals' mission morphs from treating the sick and being paid on a fee-for-service basis to keeping patients healthy and being reimbursed on how well they manage that task, hospitals can either buy the talent they need or commit to developing it internally. Regardless, they must cultivate new competencies in areas such as risk management, case management, and medical informatics. Indeed, even senior leaders such as chief medical officers, chief nursing officers, chief financial officers, chief operating officers, and CEOs will have to broaden their capabilities and serve as a bridge between the clinical and financial. [Sponsored by BE Smith]

Capital Concerns

Tue, 12 Jun 2012 10:00:00 GMT

In a period of turmoil and transformation in the healthcare industry, access to capital has become a critical issue. Hospitals and healthcare systems face declining revenues and pressure on margins, while competition and the shift to pay-for-performance are driving executives to seek security for their organizations. The result is a boom in mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and new and unusual partnerships. Access to capital, or lack thereof, underlies these strategic concerns and has the potential to create haves and have-nots in the industry. HealthLeaders Media convened a panel of healthcare executives with deep expertise in capital issues and M&A to discuss how access to capital is driving healthcare business strategy today. [Sponsored by Deloitte]

How to Integrate Population Health Strategies to Build Market Share

Mon, 14 May 2012 10:00:00 GMT

Hospitals and health systems are transitioning from a reimbursement system based on volume to one based on quality of care and outcomes. While these changes are still developing, they are disruptive enough that senior leaders must make preparations for the transition now. That means making investments in population health management. Treating patients in an effort to keep them well takes much more information and data-processing capability than most hospitals and health systems currently possess, and the penalties for poor or uncoordinated care are such that investment in these capabilities is a must. But the choices and information technology solutions from which to choose are overwhelming. How does a senior leader determine what’s most important when long-term viability is at stake? [Sponsored by MedSynergies]

Strategic Operations

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 10:00:00 GMT

Hospital operations are hugely complex. Operational excellence and efficiency affects the patient experience, clinical quality and safety, and the organization’s bottom line. Many executives, along with the federal government, look to information technology for improving operations. Regulatory incentives and requirements for employing IT offer more integrated operations but also create challenges in implementation. The cost of healthcare IT adds to the imperative of operational efficiency. HealthLeaders Media convened a panel of healthcare executives who share high-level perspectives on operations and deep familiarity with system IT to discuss how to achieve sustained excellence in operations while maintaining margins. [Sponsored by TeleTracking]

Catalytic Leadership

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 04:02:00 GMT

The healthcare provider industry is ever shifting. Rarely, however, does it truly change. A combination of economic pressure to reduce costs and healthcare reform efforts have led to a new recognition that the underlying volume-based business model of healthcare may finally have cracked, and along with it the style of leadership it created. HealthLeaders Media convened a panel of health system leaders to share their insights on how they plan to guide their health systems to meet a new way of doing business based on coordination and value. [Sponsored by Deloitte]

Reform Readiness

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 04:02:00 GMT

Healthcare reform has become such an overused term that healthcare leaders are almost numbed by it. It encompasses many changes—from the way healthcare is paid for to how it's accessed—that it calls into question almost everything leaders think they know about how to best run a hospital, health system, or physician group practice. The term also references a multiyear change, so leaders are doing the best they can to break down strategies necessary to survive and thrive under new rules into more easily digestible steps. In October, we held a roundtable with some of the industry's top strategists to discuss the latest HealthLeaders Media survey findings on reform readiness and to come up with insights into how to frame and enact strategies that will ensure survival. [Sponsored by Optum.]

Mergers & Acquisitions: Ingredients for a Successful Union

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 04:05:00 GMT

With a growing number of mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures among healthcare organizations, leaders must recognize the effect of these agreements beyond financial support and growth opportunity. HealthLeaders Media recently convened a panel of experts to discuss how to evaluate joint ventures and partnerships. The insights our panelists share include understanding partnership options, performing a thorough due diligence process, and dealing with the breadth of the cultural changes. Following are highlights from that conversation. [Sponsored by LHP Hospital Group, LLC.]

The Cost Containment Struggle

Sun, 13 Nov 2011 04:03:00 GMT

With reliable predictions that reimbursements will decline steadily in coming years, hospitals and health systems are working to eliminate waste and excess cost in order to position themselves to be competitive long term. In August 2011, HealthLeaders Media conducted a detailed survey among senior leaders at these institutions in an attempt to better understand their motivations, their pressure points, and, most important, their strategies for gaining control of their organization's cost structure. In September, we held a roundtable with several key executives to discuss the findings in an effort to identify strategies that yield the best results in this time of rapid change. [Sponsored by Optum.]

The New Rules of Revenue Cycle: Adapting in an Era of Change

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 04:02:00 GMT

The way Americans pay for healthcare services is changing—and so are their interactions with providers. Healthcare organizations will be taking on new or expanded roles as benefits educators and administrators, financial counselors, creditors, and collectors. HealthLeaders Media recently convened a panel of experts to discuss how healthcare reform, insurance industry trends, consumerism, changes to reimbursement, and emerging care models will affect revenue-cycle management. The solutions they propose range from better use of data and technology to building better relationships with patients—especially when it comes time for them to pay the bill. Following are highlights from that conversation. [Sponsored by Ontario Systems.]

A Methodical Approach to Deepening Your Leadership Team’s Bench Strength

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 04:02:00 GMT

Most hospitals and health systems think they have figured out succession planning. They might have an executive who's planning on retiring in a couple of years, and they've groomed someone internally to take over. But planning for what you know will happen overlooks the most probable threat to the continuity of a leadership team—the unplanned departures. HealthLeaders Media recently convened a panel of experts to discuss this important issue. Following are highlights. [Sponsored by BE Smith.]

Integrating Acquired Physician Practices: Independence vs. Autonomy

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 04:02:00 GMT

Hospital and health system management teams and physicians are struggling with the change management necessary to integrate formerly independent practices into their new homes as part of the hospital and health system hierarchy. Many such hospitals and health systems are working to change their management reporting structure to address physicians' demands for a level of autonomy, and balancing that desire with the health system's need to ensure quality and patient satisfaction goals. It's a difficult transition, and the future viability of the overall organization hangs in the balance. [Sponsored by MedSynergies.]

Preparing for Patient Demand Under Reform: Does Your ED Need an Overhaul?

Fri, 13 May 2011 04:02:00 GMT

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is bringing significant change to the healthcare industry, and with that change come increased stresses. Perhaps the law's earliest impact will be felt in the emergency department, as thousands of people who were formerly uninsured seek care there due to a general shortage of primary care physicians. With many EDs already running at capacity, how does a hospital leader create new systems and expand capacity to meet increasing patient demand, as well as the increasing demands of care coordination? Learn from some of the industry's leaders in this condensed version of a recent conversation moderated by HealthLeaders Media. [Sponsored by TeamHealth].