Market position is a moving target, and COVID-19 made that target even more unpredictable. The patients who walked through the doors at hospitals, doctor’s offices and surgery centers pre-pandemic are different from the ones coming through them now. “The rising acuity of patients coming back is just much more complex, much more fragile,” notes a recent Sg2 forecast of service line trends. “Fluctuating volumes and inconsistent surges have made planning really difficult.” In this environment, hospital leaders must ask three key questions, which are listed below, with answers related to four service lines: cardiovascular, neurology, cancer and orthopedics. 1. What does the market look like today? Hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers in New York state have a tremendous advantage when it comes to understanding their market position. They have access to the Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System , a core data set that allows facilities to compare their clinical, discharge an...

Strategic growth requires knowledge of how key healthcare industry drivers impact your market. Understanding factors such as population demographics, economics and competitors in the marketplace enables you to make sound decisions about how and where to provide care. With so many global pressures on healthcare, it’s important to remember a crucial industry principle: healthcare is local. Better data ensures your local lens is as clear as possible. Assess your data capabilities How you assess your strategic planning data mirrors how you should assess your market: start from the inside out, maximize the resources you have, and identify and fill the gaps. A few key questions include: Which data sets already deliver strong service line insights? How can we leverage this data to identify more savings, growth and care redesign opportunities? What data is needed to make expansion decisions related to patients, services, settings and provider partners? For New York hospitals and ambulatory sur...

The last three years have forced health systems to realign services; first, to address the demands of COVID-19 and later to meet pent-up demand for care, all while addressing community health needs, competitive positioning and right-sizing of services. With the pandemic as a catalyst, today's healthcare market is increasingly influenced by new business models aimed at delivering superior healthcare experiences. Healthcare is seeing a rapid shift to consumer-centric care models — fundamentally changing how healthcare systems compete for market share and revenue.  Is your health system constantly asking: Are there service lines that we should add or remove? Are there physician groups that we should align with? Are there hospitals with which we should align? Should we add a new facility or program based on the shift of procedures to outpatient? Strategic planning is vital for revenue growth. But what do you need to know to get there? To truly understand and move your market position, ...

New trends and change agents are increasingly challenging health systems’ volume and revenue growth. To compete and stay relevant, they must take a more balanced approach to their near-, mid-and long-term growth. DataGen and Sg2 recently joined forces to host  Optimizing strategic planning for revenue growth: DataGen and Sg2 resources. This webinar featured customers' experiences using Sg2's suite of analytical tools and how, when partnered with DataGen's customized customer service and training, these tools helped their organization optimize its strategic planning for enhanced revenue growth.  We broke down five common questions asked during the session. 1.       What disruptors are you keeping an eye on?  We are keeping an eye on four major disruptors: Retail clinics, big tech/digital, VC-backed medical groups and payers as providers.  2.       What downstream effects have these disruptors had on inpatient...