COVID-19: Scaling Ambulatory Services to Maximize Volumes While Controlling Costs

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by Lynda Mischel, Principal
and Meredith Inniger, Manager

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The pandemic has placed significant constraints on capacity, making volume growth, or simply maintaining normally budgeted volume levels, a formidable challenge. Organizations must implement novel clinical and administrative workflows that allow for the most efficient use of provider and patient time, ensure patient and staff safety, and drive bottom line performance. Many have opened services […]

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Focus on Three Levers to Urgently Address Leakage

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by Lynda Mischel, Principal
and Rudd Kierstead, Principal

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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 […]

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Creating a Business Plan to Define the Value of Virtual Care

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by Lynda Mischel, Principal
and Caroline Polales, Senior Associate

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The pandemic provided an initial introduction to virtual care for many, and most patients and providers have responded positively, embracing its convenience. Health systems, hospitals, and other providers now need to take the time to develop a business plan that identifies opportunities to optimize virtual care platforms, drive revenue and adapt practices to effectively meet […]

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3 Critical Planning Steps for Rationalizing Service Lines

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by Lynda Mischel, Principal
and Kelvin Polanco, Associate

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COVID-19 has shocked the U.S healthcare system – forcing physician and administrative leaders to think critically about how their current service line models can be improved to better serve and treat their patient populations. Many service lines were designed to maximize patient throughput by offering multiple access points without much consideration for efficiency. As a […]

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Address “Sacred Cows” to Get Past COVID-19 Shock

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by Mark J. Dubow, Director
and John Harris, Director

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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 […]

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COVID-19: 5 Approaches to Creating Parallel Systems of Care During the Pandemic

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by Mark J. Dubow, Director
and John Harris, Director

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Though COVID-19 has absorbed the world’s attention, hospitals must also effectively treat all of those patients who needed care before COVID-19 appeared. Many of these patients are deferring or skipping necessary care, often against their physician’s advice, for fear of contracting COVID-19 at a healthcare provider. Providers need to allay patient fears and establish effective […]

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COVID-19: Is This The Peak, or Just A Peak?

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by John Harris, Director
Molly Johnson, Manager

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What COVID-19 volume should hospitals expect over the next 6 to 12 months? In the last two months, some hospitals experienced exponential COVID-19 census growth, while others stared at empty hallways as stay-at-home orders flattened the growth before it took off. Doubling of cases occurred as quickly as every 3-5 days before states exercised any […]

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COVID-19: Clinical Service Delivery Re-Opening Triggers/Checklist

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by Mark Dubow, Director
Lynda Mischel, Principal

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Across the nation, hospitals are planning for rapid resumption of elective and other non-emergent care. State regulatory approval to do so is the critical initial hurdle/”trigger”. If you are a COO, service line administrative/medical director, or ambulatory care center leader the chart below is Veralon’s guide in preparing for and assessing your readiness to proceed […]

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COVID-19: A Service Line Approach to Re-Engaging Patients During the Pandemic

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by Mark J. Dubow, Director
and Lynda Mischel, Principal

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The COVID-19 crisis is likely to include a series of recurring cycles over an extended period —a “pulsed recovery” that will result in a new normal in which clinical care operations have fundamentally changed. While Herculean efforts are focused on the immediate challenges, the deferred needs of the chronically ill (e.g., congestive heart failure, COPD, […]

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