The following stories about hospital and health system strategy have attracted a healthy number of readers since the start of the year.
1. 3 Reasons a Health System Gets "Stuck"
Health systems may lose sight of their strategic visions. Or, even if they do have a clear strategic vision, the executive team may be reluctant to move far enough or fast enough.
2. 3 Tips to Keep Emotion Out of Strategic Planning
Sound leadership should not rely on gut feelings for major decisions.
3. 4 Strategic Imperatives for Hospitals and Health Systems
Booz & Company partners Minoo Javanmardian and Joyjit Saha Choudhury, outline four strategic imperatives for providers in light of consumerization and the evolution of risk in healthcare.
4. 5 Points on Health System Strategy Today Versus That of 2003
Health systems used to grow by getting bigger. Now? They grow by getting better.
5. 6 Trends in an Era of Consumer-Driven Healthcare
More and more hospitals and physicians are taking note and tweaking the way they provide care to appease better informed patients.
6. 8 Healthcare Trends to Watch in 2014
Chronic care will become a focal point, More and more providers will employ health coaches, Employee incentives for healthy behaviors will become more popular — along with five other trends.
7. 10 Thoughts From the C-Suite on Healthcare Reform, Hospital Strategy
More hospital and health system leaders reported declining operating margins this year compared to last, but more executives also said their organizations will engage in non-hospital growth strategies.
8. 10 Steps to Build a Business Case for Payment Reform
Healthcare's traditional fee-for-service payment system can create "large and often insurmountable barriers" to changes in patient care, such as avoiding unnecessary tests or providing treatment at earlier and lower-cost stages of disease.
9. 16 Potential Key Performance Indicators for Hospitals
A list of typical hospital business process key performance indicators in two categories: inpatient flow and revenue cycle.
10. Do You Know Your Strategic Planning Terminology?
There still seems to be much confusion in healthcare — and other industries — as to the difference between goals, objectives, strategies and tactics. Confusion in understanding these terms often leads to a muddled strategic planning process.
11. Is Academic Medicine As We Know It DOA?
Academic medical centers. Educators of America's future physicians. Providers of the most complex care, for the most complex patients. Home to ground-breaking medical research. And, in a lot of trouble.
12. Navigating the Care Continuum: The Next Frontier for Providers
While the political winds are likely to change, the realities of an aging population, cutting-edge treatment expectations, unsustainable delivery costs, fragmented care and a sluggish economy are indisputable. The need to provide care to more people for less money may be deferred by political expediency, but it can no longer be completely ignored.
13. The Purpose of Strategic Planning
Where many organizations go wrong with strategic planning is at the very outset. They wander off blindly without spending time to discuss the primary focus of their strategic planning process.
14. Top 10 Strategic Questions for Hospitals and Health Systems
The American Hospital Association has outlined 10 of the top strategic questions hospitals and health systems should address to determine their plan for care transformation.
15. Why Culture Trumps Strategy
"I've read a lot of research on organizational culture, and while it's certainly important, it's hard to believe an organization can prosper without a clear strategy to propel it towards an envisioned end point. But, if others (who certainly know more than I about running an organization) are to be believed, market dynamics today change so quickly, that it's more important to have a culture than can quickly adjust toward a new vision than a culture that continues rigidly toward one that may be outdated."