During a moderated session at Corazon’s national conference in May 2024, I was honored to host three respected panelists, Rajiv Narula, MD, Doreen Bearden, and Sunita Vadakath, to provide their expert insights into the challenges service lines face in today’s healthcare ecosystem.
We asked approximately 150 healthcare leaders what service line challenges keep them up at night and the top 3 answers included:
- Staffing and Retention
- Growth Strategies
- Finances
Knowing most hospitals across the county likely have these same concerns, our expert panelists provided relatable situations, thought-provoking ideas, and creative solutions to help our audience address these issues. Below are a few key highlights from the session.
Staffing & Retention
In the complex landscape of challenges facing the U.S. healthcare industry, none is more pressing than the acute shortage of skilled personnel. According to an American Hospital Association fact sheet, there will be an estimated shortage of up to 3.2 million healthcare workers by 2026. With demands for the aging population, greater disease prevalence, and access to more affordable healthcare, the staffing shortages will only worsen unless organizations intervene.
Corazon’s expert panelists focused on creative solutions to attract staff such as competitive compensation, flexible schedules, educational loan support, and incentive bonuses. In addition, retention was more of a focus given that a 1% change in nurse turnover will cost (or save) a hospital approximately $325,000. Retention strategies highlighted by the panelists focused on employee well-being programs, professional career development, and specific education and training programs (e.g., EPIC training).
Growth Strategies
Because healthcare systems have financially struggled over the past years, most have focused on cutting costs, reducing overhead, and reducing unnecessary or discretionary spending. And while every organization wants to grow, almost 50% of healthcare executives regard growth as their top challenge1. However, a focus on growth strategies is imperative to achieve short and long-term financial success. In a recent survey, the three areas where healthcare executives expect to allocate significant financial resources to grow are: (1) partnerships, (2) DeNovo expansion (e.g., ambulatory), and (3) service line expansion.
Corazon’s expert panelists spoke of the importance of partnerships. There are several avenues to embracing partnerships, but an example that was highlighted was with another system to provide joint programs with the goal to increase access to care (e.g., joint marketing, joint resource sharing, joint recruitment, etc.). Another partnership avenue that was discussed was related to a telehealth vendor and the joint goal of increasing access to care for stroke patients.
Finances
According to Becker’s Hospital Review, hospital margins improved in 2023, but face long-term financial difficulties due to ongoing staffing problems, rising inflation, and revenue cuts from Medicare. Although the median hospital operating margin rose to 2% in November 20232, hospitals must think of more creative ways to accomplish the same strategic goals without spending as much.
The expert panelists provided examples of how advanced data analytics has helped demonstrate the return on investment of business decisions. Not only is the initial business plan completed, but automated analytics plays a key role in the ongoing justification of the decision during the post-implementation phase (e.g., monthly reports/dashboards).
Written by Kristin Truesdell
1 – Becker’s Hospital Review. Healthcare finance trends for 2024: Progress but major challenges ahead. February 15, 2024
2 – Becker’s Hospital Review. Hospital margins to end year on a high — but challenges remain. December 26, 2023
