by Mark Dubow, Director
and Rudd Kierstead, Director
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Health systems and their employed physicians have priorities that may conflict or align. The key is to agree on shared opportunities and pursue them.
As health system physician enterprises have grown, addressing their challenges are central to health system success. Engaging physicians and supporting health system goals requires a cohesive approach. Contact the Experts: Mark Dubow, Director, mdubow@veralon.com Rudd Kierstead, Principal, rkierstead@veralon.com
Many independent physicians are financially challenged as the COVID-19 impact continues. Some may find employment or other alignment opportunities attractive now, even if they have not shown interest in the past. Health systems that work to develop relationships with these physicians now will be at an advantage.
Even before the pandemic, the median loss per physician employed by a hospital or health system totaled more than $278,000. Now, as hospitals face their biggest financial crisis ever, hospital leaders must consider: “Is there a better structure for our physician enterprise?” The pain points that hospitals and physicians experience under an employed physician enterprise […]
by Rudd Kierstead, Principal
Among the many unexpected effects of COVID-19 is the loss of the “normal” patient population coming through physician offices to address their health concerns and seeking procedures. This lost volume has heightened the urgency to effectively address “leakage.” Research indicates that acquiring a new customer is anywhere from 5 to 25 times more expensive than […]
Prior to the pandemic, we learned something quite surprising. In a Veralon survey, only 42% of respondents viewed the financial losses on employed physician enterprises as “unacceptable” or a “major priority.” Perhaps “surprising” is too tame a description. We were “shocked.” At the time of our survey, the level of losses typically varied between $150,000-$200,000 […]
It is the opportune time to build relationships with independent physicians. As always, one answer does not fit all so leadership needs to assess each individual physician and the appropriate models with care and attention. After more than two months into the COVID-19 pandemic, the situation for many independent practices remains shaky. Practices are struggling […]
Every organization has sacred cows. The financial challenge from COVID-19 calls for large scale improvements. This has emboldened our clients to address sacred cows, making tough changes that were unthinkable a few months ago. The time to act is now! Sacred cows to consider include: Underperforming Assets: Every organization has some assets that perform significantly […]
by Rudd Kierstead, Principal
You want to reduce physician subsidies in your employed physician enterprise, and you have numerous initiatives to increase physician engagement under way. What matters, however, is not the number of physician engagement efforts, but how thoroughly they engage physicians in operations at the ground level. Veralon recently surveyed leadership at 30 physician enterprises with 11,000 […]