Strata Decision: Working Towards Continuous Cost Improvements
November 6, 2014
A new module for continuous cost improvement at health systems was unveiled at the October Strata Decision Summit. I was impressed by the user-friendliness of the software as well as the depth of the analytics capability. StrataJazz® Continuous Cost Improvement looks like it could be a helpful tool for health systems during this era of reform, where cost improvement is playing such a key role.
The larger StrataJazz® platform offers planning, budgeting, reporting and decision support. At Strata’s Summit, I was able to see a demo of the overall platform, including an application that integrates American Hospital Association’s Estimated Useful Lives of Depreciable Hospital Assets data. (I really love seeing AHA Data in action!)
Strata had some interesting keynotes at its conference, which was themed “Bending the Cost Curve.” One was presented by Dr. George Lombardi (pictured at left), an infectious disease specialist from New York who shared his story about receiving a life-altering phone call. The caller, to Dr. Lombardi’s almost-disbelief, was asking for his help to save a gravely ill – and very famous – patient. The patient turned out to be Mother Teresa, the universally acclaimed Nobel Peace laureate and champion of the world’s poor. You can watch a version of Dr. Lombardi’s compelling story about his journey to Calcutta, India and his fight to save Mother Teresa’s life on YouTube. It’s one example of just how impactful and critical one doctor’s or other healthcare worker’s choices and dedication can be.
That dedication in today’s healthcare environment must be balanced with a keen focus on cost improvement, while also resulting in better quality outcomes. Not an easy endeavor. In a recent H&HN Executive Dialogue, “Fiscal Fitness: How We Can Keep Pace with Health Reform,” Christopher Dadlez, President and CEO of Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center, says in the article, “We are nowhere near being done. There’s tremendous waste still in the system. It goes back to how we’ve traditionally run hospitals and we are spending a tremendous amount of time re-engineering. We’re trying to look at everything we do and make all of our processes more patient-oriented, efficient and manageable.”
For companies interested in helping health systems address this mammoth challenge, combining the new Financial Module in AHA DataViewer with data from the AHA Annual Survey can provide a broad view of hospital characteristics and operations, from either a single hospital perspective or for a group of hospitals. It spans nearly 200 data points including financial reports, revenues and expenses, and utilization. The Financial Module is updated quarterly and is sourced from the Healthcare Provider Cost Reporting Information System (HCRIS) managed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). It contains the latest rolling four years of data for Medicare-certified hospitals. Request a demo to take a peek!