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CHICAGO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Strata Decision Technology (Strata), a pioneer and leader in the development of cloud-based financial planning, analytics and performance tools for healthcare, today announced that it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire EPSi from Allscripts (NASDAQ: MDRX) for $365 million. EPSi is a leading provider of financial decision support and planning tools for hospitals and health systems.

“By bringing these two outstanding companies together, we believe that we can build one of the most important companies in helping to solve the biggest problem in healthcare – the cost of it,” said Dan Michelson, Chief Executive Officer of Strata. “Our focus will be to accelerate innovation to provide broader and deeper solutions to help our customers, deliver the highest service levels in the industry, and create the very best place to work in healthcare.”

Hospitals and healthcare delivery systems were already under significant financial pressure with margins rapidly declining over the last few years. COVID-19 has caused a significant increase in the cost of care coupled with major declines in both patient and procedure volume, creating what is seen as the biggest financial crisis in the history of healthcare. The combination of Strata and EPSi will bring healthcare providers a set of innovative solutions and services to help them better plan, analyze and perform in support of providing care in the communities that they serve.

“Strata is a world-class company that will provide both an ideal and permanent home for EPSi,” said Rick Poulton, Allscripts President and Chief Financial Officer. “This agreement is a triple win for EPSi customers and Allscripts shareholders as it allows us to efficiently recirculate capital, increase our focus on our core businesses, and bring our EPSi customers the benefit of continued investment under new and very strong ownership.”

The transaction is expected to close later this year, subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions. Allscripts has owned the EPSi business since it acquired Eclipsys, Inc. in 2010. Upon closing of the transaction, the EPSi customer base and associates will transition to Strata. The two companies will operate independently until the deal closes.

RBC Capital Markets, LLC served as Allscripts’ exclusive financial advisor in connection with the sale of EPSi and Zeigler served as financial advisor to EPSi management.

About Strata Decision Technology

Strata Decision Technology provides an innovative cloud-based financial analytics and performance platform that is used by healthcare providers for financial planning, decision support and continuous improvement. Founded in 1996, the Company’s customer base includes over 220 healthcare delivery systems. The Company’s StrataJazz® application is a single integrated software-as-a-service platform that includes modules for capital planning, continuous improvement, contract modeling, cost accounting, cost management, decision support, financial forecasting, management reporting, operational budgeting and performance improvement and strategic planning. The Company’s headquarters are in Chicago, IL. For more information, please visit www.stratadecision.com.

About Allscripts

Allscripts (NASDAQ: MDRX) is a leader in healthcare information technology solutions that advance clinical, financial and operational results. Our innovative solutions connect people, places and data across an Open, Connected Community of Health™. Connectivity empowers caregivers to make better decisions and deliver better care for healthier populations. To learn more, visit www.allscripts.com, Twitter, YouTube and It Takes A Community: The Allscripts Blog.

Contacts

Strata:
Lesley Weisnbacher
312.827.3379
[email protected]

Investors:
Stephen Shulstein
312-386-6735
[email protected]

Media:
Concetta Rasiarmos
312-447-2466
[email protected]

CHICAGO, July 13, 2020 — Strata Decision Technology (Strata), a pioneer and leader in the development of cloud-based financial planning, analytics and performance tools for healthcare, has been selected by Modern Healthcare as one of the 2020 Best Places to Work in Healthcare.

The award program identifies and recognizes a small group of outstanding employers from across the hundreds of thousands of companies in the healthcare industry nationwide. Modern Healthcare partners with the Best Companies Group on the assessment process, which includes an extensive employee survey.

“It has been an especially trying year for the world, and healthcare in particular as COVID-19 ravages our communities and your workplaces,” said Aurora Aguilar, Modern Healthcare’s editor. “But the organizations recognized on this year’s list rose to the top and continued to be a source of strength for their teammates. They have seen their colleagues fall ill to the virus and struggled with the economic impact of the pandemic. The loyalty and trust between employers and their workers is being put to the test now more than ever. We congratulate Strata for continuing to serve their workforce and communities during such an unprecedented time.”

“We are honored to be recognized by Modern Healthcare as one of the best employers in the healthcare industry during such an urgent and critical moment for our industry,” said Dan Michelson, Chief Executive Officer of Strata. “Our mission to ‘help heal healthcare’ has never been more important to our customers and our country. We have a team that wakes up every day with a passion for making a meaningful difference for the 220 healthcare delivery systems and 1,000 hospitals that we serve. We feel very fortunate to be able to work on something we care about with people that we care about.”

Strata’s cloud-based solution, StrataJazz®, is a single, modular platform that brings healthcare providers a “financial flywheel” to better plan, analyze and perform, driving margin to fuel their clinical mission. Strata customers also recognized as one of the top employers in healthcare include Advocate Aurora Health, Catholic Health Services of Long Island, Cleveland Clinic, and Orlando Health.

Modern Healthcare will publish a special supplement featuring a ranked list of all the winners along with the October 12th issue of the magazine.

About Strata Decision Technology

Strata Decision Technology provides an innovative cloud-based financial analytics and performance platform that is used by healthcare providers for financial planning, decision support and continuous improvement.  Founded in 1996, the Company’s customer base includes 1,000 hospitals and many of the largest and most influential healthcare delivery systems in the U.S. The Company’s StrataJazz® application is a single integrated software-as-a-service platform that includes modules for capital planning, continuous improvement, contract modeling, cost accounting, cost management, decision support, financial forecasting, management reporting, operational budgeting and performance improvement and strategic planning.  The Company’s headquarters are in Chicago, IL. For more information, please visit www.stratadecision.com.

Media Contact:

Todd Stein
510-417-0612
[email protected]

Strata Decision Technology Launches National Hospital Patient and Procedure Volume Tracker, Providing Unprecedented Visibility into the Pandemic’s Impact on 225 Clinical Service Lines

CHICAGO, May 11, 2020 — A new analysis of over 2 million patient visits and encounters from 228 hospitals in 40 states by Strata Decision Technology (Strata) is the first to provide a detailed view of the level of reduction in patients accessing healthcare and the associated impact on the health of patients and our nation’s hospitals. The study, which coincides with the launch by Strata of the National Patient and Procedure Volume Tracker™ reveals just how significant the wave of delayed care is that has built up during the COVID-19 pandemic – and how many of those patients may be unable to pay when they do seek care due to a loss of insurance coverage.

Strata analyzed 2 million patient visits and procedures from 51 healthcare delivery systems in 40 states, with varying rates of COVID-19 cases in their 228 hospitals. Analysts then compared patient encounters during a two-week period in March and April 2020 to the comparable period last year. The analysis reveals that across all service lines and in every region of the country there was an average decrease in the number of unique patients who sought care in a hospital setting of 54.5%. The sharp drop in encounters is linked to the cancelation of elective surgeries during his time period, along with resource constraints and ongoing concerns for the safety of patients and staff.

Millions of patients who put off care or had it delayed during the pandemic can soon be expected to flood hospitals and physician offices seeking care. Clinical service lines that saw the sharp drops in patient encounters included those with life-threatening illnesses such as a 57% decrease in cardiology, and a 55% decrease in breast health with a 37% decline in cancer care overall. Many facilities will likely be hard-pressed to handle the resulting surge in patients while simultaneously maintaining capacity for COVID-19 patients.

Major Declines in Top 10 Inpatient Procedures 

Inpatient procedures and surgeries account for the majority of revenue for hospitals. The top 10 procedures account for over 50% of the total payments made to hospitals.

In this category there were significant declines in the number of hip (-79%) and knee (-99%) replacement surgeries as well as in spinal fusions (-81%) and repair of fractures (-38%). Coronary stents (-44%) and diagnostic catherization (-65%) also saw significant declines. Overall diagnostic volume declined by 60%.  Both normal delivery (1%) and C-section (2%) saw increases. Mechanical ventilation increased by 24% due to treatment of COVID-19 patients.

Reduction in the Number of People Accessing Care

Among the findings are significant recent reductions in patient encounters (both inpatient and outpatient) for so-called elective care that is crucial to maintaining the health of millions of Americans. Drops in patient volume are shown below for several of the 225 Clinical Care Family™ definitions determined using the Sg2 Care Grouper™.

Access to clinical care for patients with life-threatening conditions declined significantly including congestive heart failure (-55%), heart attacks (-57%) and stroke (-56%).  Access by patients for chronic conditions also fell for patients with hypertension (-37%) and diabetes (-67%). The high volume patient visits and procedures that dropped the most were for cataracts (-97%), sleep apnea (-91%) and osteoarthrosis (-88%) and glaucoma (-88%). Additionally, health screenings that are designed to provide early detection but are often seen as less urgent were down significantly in volume, increasing the risk of undiagnosed disease.  Preventive wellness visits, gynecologic wellness and screenings, and GI benign neoplasms and polyps—which includes colonoscopies with removal of polyps—all saw volumes drop by over 75% in the cohort group.

“Hospitals across the country are eager to open their doors to elective procedures so they can serve their community, care for their patients, and survive economically but how they get there is literally a hundred-billion-dollar question,” said Dan Michelson, CEO of Strata Decision Technology. “Many facilities will likely be hard-pressed to handle the surge while simultaneously maintaining capacity for COVID-19 patients. Having visibility into patient volumes across all of their service lines is key to understanding how to safely engage patients while balancing the clinical, operational and financial complexity and pressures imposed by COVID-19. The data is clear, however, that the initial relief package given to hospitals and healthcare providers will not be enough. More funding will be needed to ensure that they can keep their doors open to provide essential care for the communities they serve while still preparing and caring for COVID 19 patients.”

Revenues Down by $60.1 Billion/Month; Uninsured Patients up by 114%
The massive drop in patient visits and procedures during the pandemic has led directly to unprecedented financial losses. Health systems in the study cohort lost an estimated $1.35 billion in revenue during the 2-week study period compared to the prior year.  Extrapolating the drop in volume from the cohort to a national view would be the equivalent revenue loss of $60.1 billion per month for hospitals nationwide.

Adding to the crisis, the Strata study found that the number of uninsured or self-pay patients has increased dramatically in the last 90 days, mirroring the rise in the national unemployment rate. In January, 7% of all inpatient and outpatient encounters in the study cohort were with patients who lacked health insurance. By April that figure had risen to 11%, and early results from May indicate 15% of all patients in the cohort are now uninsured, an increase of 114% in just 90 days.  Many of these can be expected to end up on Medicaid rolls, further straining state budgets.

National Patient and Procedure Volume Tracker Launched
To help healthcare stakeholders understand the impact of COVID-19 on the financial viability of our healthcare delivery system, Strata today launched the National Patient and Procedure Volume Tracker. The tracker reveals patient volume changes across 225 Clinical Care Families in the study cohort of 51 health systems. It will be updated weekly and available free of charge as a public service.  As a proxy for analyzing the impact of COVID-19 on patient and procedure volume, the data science team at Strata Decision Technology aggregated data from a cohort of 228 hospitals in 51 healthcare delivery systems, a subset of the over 1,000 hospitals and 220 healthcare delivery systems across the country that use the company’s StrataJazz® financial planning, analytics and performance platform. Service Line and Care Family™ definitions were determined using the Sg2 Care Grouper™. Patient volumes within the service lines and Care Families were determined by tracking unique medical record numbers against procedure codes.

Collectively, the hospitals in the cohort serve nearly 65 million Americans, account for $69 billion in annual operating expense and represent a broad national view across 40 states and all census regions with varying incidence rates of COVID-19 cases. U.S. hospitals overall account for approximately 33% or $1.3 trillion of the $4.0 trillion in projected national healthcare expenditures in 2020 (source: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid). These figures were used in tandem with the cohort data to estimate the monthly financial impact of the reduction in patient and procedure volume from COVID-19.

A detailed report on the Strata analysis is available at http://www.stratadecision.com/National-Patient-and-Procedure-Volume-Tracker.

Additional Resources
In addition to this research, Strata has developed a series of resources to help hospitals tackle the planning, analytics and performance challenges resulting from the COVID-19 outbreak.

  •  COVID-19 Cost Capture Recovery Model: Provides a complete process for understanding the cost and revenue impact of COVID-
    19. Visit here.
  • COVID-19 Assumption Tracker: A consolidated list of assumptions health systems to help build a financial forecast which takes into account the impacts of COVID-19.
  • COVID-19 Starter Set Dashboards: A specific set of COVID-19 specific data sets.
  • COVID-19 Resources Web Site: Additional resources to tackle the planning, analytics and performance challenges resulting from the COVID-19 outbreak. Visit here.

About Strata Decision Technology
Strata Decision Technology provides an innovative cloud-based financial analytics and performance platform that is used by healthcare providers for financial planning, decision support and continuous improvement.  Founded in 1996, the Company’s customer base includes 1,000 hospitals and many of the largest and most influential healthcare delivery systems in the U.S. The Company’s StrataJazz® application is a single integrated software-as-a-service platform that includes modules for capital planning, continuous improvement, contract modeling, cost accounting, cost management, decision support, financial forecasting, management reporting, operational budgeting and performance improvement and strategic planning.  The Company’s headquarters are in Chicago, IL. For more information, please visit www.stratadecision.com.

Media Contact:
Todd Stein
510-417-0612
[email protected]

CHICAGO, Jan. 31, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Strata Decision Technology (Strata), a pioneer and leader in the development of cloud-based financial planning, analytics and performance tools for healthcare, announced today that the company’s StrataJazz® application earned top honors as the KLAS Category Leader for Business Decision Support in the 2020 Best in KLAS: Software and Services report, with a score of 90.6 out of 100.

This is the sixth consecutive year that StrataJazz has earned the coveted No. 1 spot in KLAS’s end-of-year ranking of healthcare IT software and services vendors. The annual Best in KLAS ratings are based on feedback from healthcare providers in tens of thousands of interviews conducted throughout the year. Top findings from this year’s report include:

  • 97.9 percent of Strata customers say StrataJazz is “part of their long-term plans” – a score that is over 10 points higher than the average for business decision support solutions reviewed by KLAS
  • 97.9 percent of Strata customers say they would buy StrataJazz again – a score that is over 20 points higher than the segment average

“Providers and payers demand better performance, usability, and interoperability from their vendor partners every year,” said Adam Gale, President of KLAS Research. “Best in KLAS winners set the standard of excellence in their market segment. Earning a Best in KLAS award should both excite and humble the recipients. It serves as a signal to providers that they should expect only the best from the winning vendors.”

The modular, cloud-based StrataJazz platform is currently used by over 1,000 hospitals and 200 healthcare delivery systems across the U.S., providing a “financial flywheel” to better plan, analyze and perform, driving margin to fuel their clinical mission.

Strata is seen as the standard in the market for advanced cost accounting, the core component of business decision support. Over $4.0 trillion is spent on healthcare in the United States every year with close to $2.0 trillion of that spend flowing through hospitals and health systems. Currently, fewer than 10 percent of hospitals and healthcare delivery systems have advanced cost accounting systems capable of providing accurate cost data across the continuum of care. A recent Strata survey found 90 percent of those responsible for the delivery of care don’t know the cost of it.

“We are incredibly proud to be the No. 1 in KLAS for the sixth consecutive year, and especially to be recognized again by our clients for our ability to help them get accurate, accessible and actionable information on cost,” said Dan Michelson, Chief Executive Officer of Strata. “Hospitals and healthcare delivery systems have been flying blind when it comes to understanding the cost of care. We feel very fortunate to be able to help our customers tackle this challenge as they seek to improve financial and clinical outcomes, driving more value for their providers, their organization and the communities that they serve.”

Strata recently partnered with The Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) to launch the HFMA-Strata L7 Cost Accounting Adoption Model™ (L7 Model), healthcare’s first roadmap to help healthcare providers access accurate cost data via the use of advanced cost accounting. Originally designed for 200 leading healthcare delivery systems, the L7 Model is now being open-sourced, making it available at no charge to all healthcare providers.

Comments from Customers

In determining its rankings, KLAS collects both quantitative and qualitative feedback from healthcare providers on the technologies they use. The following are selected, anonymous commentaries by Strata customers, reported by KLAS:

  • “It is very unusual to hear a sales pitch from a vendor and actually get the product that was described, but we got what was advertised and more. That is a real strength of the Strata Decision Technology system. I would rate the product as better than perfect if I could.”
  • “I would pick StrataJazz Decision Support a thousand more times. It is the right product, and the vendor relationship is right for us.”
  • “What Strata Decision Technology has done with decision support and cost accounting is really fantastic. Strata Decision Technology has also done really well with the drill-down capability that shows me my profitability or my contribution margin at a service line level. This capability also lets me see data from the DRG, the doctors, and the community technology preview. That tool is just amazing.”

The KLAS recognition marks the culmination of a year in which Strata and StrataJazz received multiple industry awards and recognition. Notably, the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) awarded StrataJazz its coveted “Peer Reviewed by HFMA®” designation for the seventh consecutive year. The rigorous, 11-step process includes a Peer Review panel review composed of current Strata customers, prospects who have not made a purchase, and industry experts.

The full Best in KLAS report is available at www.klasresearch.com.

About KLAS

KLAS is a data-driven company on a mission to improve the world’s healthcare by enabling provider and payer voices to be heard and counted. Working with thousands of healthcare professionals, KLAS collects insights on so­ftware, services and medical equipment to deliver reports, trending data and statistical overviews. KLAS data is accurate, honest and impartial. The research directly reflects the voice of healthcare professionals and acts as a catalyst for improving vendor performance. To learn more about KLAS and the insights we provide, visit KLASresearch.com.

About Strata Decision Technology

Strata Decision Technology provides an innovative cloud-based financial analytics and performance platform that is used by healthcare providers for financial planning, decision support and continuous improvement. Founded in 1996, the Company’s customer base includes 1,000 hospitals and many of the largest and most influential healthcare delivery systems in the U.S. The Company’s StrataJazz® application is a single integrated software-as-a-service platform that includes modules for capital planning, continuous improvement, contract modeling, cost accounting, cost management, decision support, financial forecasting, management reporting, operational budgeting and performance improvement and strategic planning. The Company’s headquarters are in Chicago, IL. For more information, please visit www.stratadecision.com.

Media contact:
Todd Stein
Todd Stein Communications
510-417-0612
[email protected]

CHICAGO, November 8, 2019 – Strata Decision Technology, a pioneer and leader in the development of cloud-based financial planning, analytics and performance tools for healthcare, has been awarded a Top Workplaces 2019 honor by The Chicago Tribune.

The Top Workplaces award spotlights private, public, nonprofit and government organizations that earn the highest ratings from their employees in a survey commissioned by the Chicago Tribune in partnership with research company Energage.

“We are truly honored to be recognized by the Tribune as one of Chicago’s top workplaces,” stated Heidi Farrell, Vice President of People Operations at Strata. “Our focus is simple – to give our team the opportunity to work on something they care about with people they care about.”

Strata joins a prestigious group of organizations that have earned the Chicago Top Workplaces award previously, including Salesforce.com, Hyatt Hotels, William Blair, Accenture and Strata customer Advocate Aurora Health.

“As a company, we’re tackling one of the biggest socio-economic problems of our time – the cost of healthcare,” said Dan Michelson, Chief Executive Officer of Strata. “Working with over 200 top health systems across the country, including many in the Chicago area such as Advocate Aurora Health, NorthShore University Health System and Northwestern Medicine, we’re in a position to make a difference not only in our community, but across the country. Our team is energized by our mission to help heal healthcare and empowered to make a meaningful impact.”

To learn more about what it’s like to work at Strata and what employees value most about the experience, visit their careers page.

About Strata Decision Technology
Strata Decision Technology provides a cloud-based planning, analytics and performance platform that is used by healthcare providers for financial planning, decision support and continuous improvement, helping hospitals and healthcare systems bend the cost curve and drive margin to fuel their clinical mission.  Founded in 1996, the Company’s customer base includes over 1,000 hospitals and many of the largest and most influential healthcare delivery systems in the U.S.  The Company’s headquarters are located in Chicago, IL. For more information, please visit www.stratadecision.com.

About Energage, LLC
Headquartered in Exton, Pa., Energage is a leading provider of technology-based employee engagement tools that help leaders to unlock potential, inspire performance, and achieve amazing results within their organizations. The research partner behind the Top Workplaces program, Energage has surveyed more than 58,000 organizations representing well over 20 million employees in the United States.

Media contact:
Todd Stein
Todd Stein Communications
510-417-0612
[email protected]

CHICAGO, Oct. 24, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — A record 750 attendees from 110 healthcare delivery systems across the country came together this week for Lift19, the three-day Strata Decision Technology (Strata) user’s conference. Summit attendees heard from national centers of excellence that leverage Strata’s cloud-based StrataJazz® platform, rated #1 in KLAS, to drive financial planning, analytics, and performance in support of their clinical mission.

Summit keynote speaker Robert Pearl, MD, former Chief Executive Officer of Kaiser Permanente’s medical group, and now a professor at Stanford University, shared the factors driving out-of-control costs in American healthcare that he highlighted in his bestseller, “Mistreated: Why We Think We’re Getting Good Health Care—and Why We’re Usually Wrong.” During the keynote, Michael Allen, the Chief Financial Officer of OSF Healthcare and board chair of the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA), outlined the steps that finance executives need to and can take right now, including moving away from the traditional ineffective approach to budgeting to a more advanced planning process as well as better leveraging data to drive action.  

“America’s healthcare delivery systems are working hard to implement best practices to drive more value for their providers, their organization and the communities they serve,” said Dan Michelson, Chief Executive Officer of Strata. “This week we released StrataJazz OnePlan™ and StrataSphere™, two new breakthroughs and game changers for healthcare finance. And we heard ample evidence of the success of many organizations, including the achievements of two organizations that have driven meaningful improvements in value.”

VCU Health and Owensboro Health Win 2019 LEAP Awards
Strata announced the winners of the 2019 Strata Decision LEAP Award, VCU Health and Owensboro Health. The LEAP (Lead, Excel, Achieve, and Progress) Award recognizes healthcare organizations for outstanding performance in the areas of finance and strategy to benefit both their organization and the communities they serve. Past award winners include CHRISTUS Health, Legacy Health, Parrish Medical Center, Mission Health, Northwestern Medical Center, CGH Medical Center, and Aurora Health Care.

VCU Health is part of Virginia Commonwealth University, a major, urban public research university with national and international rankings in sponsored research. The VCU Health brand represents the VCU health sciences academic programs, the VCU Massey Cancer Center and the VCU Health System, which comprises VCU Medical Center, Community Memorial Hospital, Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU, MCV Physicians and Virginia Premier Health Plan. A Strata customer for 10 years, VCU Health was recognized for their work increasing the effectiveness of financial planning, driving accountability by managing performance, and streamlining capital planning, with results that include:

  • Reducing the time spent preparing a traditional budget by over 20,000 hours
  • Driving 97% compliance among department managers with action plans to address budgeting variances
  • Tracking 531 capital projects totaling over $900 million; and making cost data available across the entire continuum of care

“VCU Health is honored to be recognized as a Strata LEAP Award winner,” said Melinda Hancock, System Chief Administrative and Financial Officer of VCU Health System. “I am so proud of the progress we have made in making this change and creating buy-in to the new approach of Advanced Planning. I want to thank our team for their tremendous effort, which has left us well-positioned to continue our journey to be nimble and knowledgeable in our planning and resource utilization.”

Owensboro Health, based in Owensboro, KY, is a nonprofit health system serving 14 counties in Kentucky and Indiana. The system includes two hospitals, a 200-provider medical group, as well as numerous outpatient facilities and a cancer center. A Strata customer for 10 years, Owensboro Health is the first health system in the nation to achieve Level 7 on the HFMA-Strata L7™ Cost Accounting Adoption Model, healthcare’s first roadmap to help providers access accurate cost data via the use of advanced cost accounting. Owensboro Health was recognized for their work improving the accuracy of cost accounting, strengthening payer negotiations and pricing, and reducing the cost of care delivery, with results including:

  • $450,000 saved per year by using decision support to identify an IV catheter that was exponentially more expensive but no more effective than a cheaper brand
  • Using what-if analysis for lesser-of clauses to identify charge increase opportunities of $1 million a year
  • Preventing a potential $12 million net loss through more accurate analysis of a payer’s proposed risk-based contract

“With the help of Strata, Owensboro Health has been able to move from a position of having interesting facts to having actionable data,” said John Hackbarth, System Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Owensboro Health. “We finally have data at a discreet level to show the comparative resource consumption profiles by providers. Additionally, we are able to identify costing of items compared to national median data to sharpen our focus on annual use levels by provider, payer, and service line.  And we can now evaluate proposed changes to managed care contracts against the actual utilization rate for preceding periods and know the impact on net revenue before we agree to any contract adjustments. Most importantly, we can now depend on the data so when a provider questions the results, we have the ability to drill down and prove the numbers.”

Strata Launches New Solutions for Advanced Planning and Benchmarking
During the Summit, Strata announced the release of StrataSphere™ and StrataJazz OnePlan™.

StrataSphere leverages the company’s management of trillions of data points across more than 200 health systems and 1,100 hospitals to deliver advanced analytics, insights, benchmarks and industry-level financial management standards. All Strata customers can opt in to StrataSphere at no cost.

The OnePlan Advanced Planning platform simplifies and automates many of the most time-consuming and difficult elements of planning and budgeting, significantly reducing time and effort. It breaks down the silos that exist within the traditional planning process, combining operating budgeting, variance reporting, long range and capital planning together in a single, powerful financial planning platform. Cleveland Clinic was named Strata’s 2019 Development Partner of the Year for their assistance in the development of OnePlan to help drive greater value from their planning and budgeting processes.

About Strata Decision Technology
Strata Decision Technology provides a cloud-based planning, analytics and performance platform that is used by healthcare providers for financial planning, decision support and continuous improvement, helping hospitals and healthcare systems bend the cost curve and drive margin to fuel their clinical mission.  Founded in 1996, the Company’s customer base includes over 1,000 hospitals and many of the largest and most influential healthcare delivery systems in the U.S.  The Company’s headquarters are located in Chicago, IL. For more information, please visit www.stratadecision.com.

Media contact:
Todd Stein
Todd Stein Communications
510-417-0612
[email protected]

CHICAGO, October 23, 2019 – Strata Decision Technology (Strata), a pioneer and leader in the development of cloud-based financial planning, analytics and performance tools for healthcare, today introduced StrataJazz® OnePlan™, the first purpose-built advanced planning platform for hospitals to help address the major budget issues that they face.  OnePlan provides a radically more efficient, accurate, agile and accountable approach to planning, providing hospitals and healthcare systems the ability to significantly improve their performance.

With this latest version of StrataJazz introduced this week at Strata’s Lift19 user conference, OnePlan addresses the archaic process many hospitals and health systems still use to budget and plan. Thousands of hours are spent creating a budget that is typically tens of millions of dollars off the mark and cast aside almost as soon as it is submitted. Rather than helping to control costs and build strategic alignment, the budget is viewed as a distraction, providing little to no value and even negatively impacting performance.

  • The typical large healthcare delivery system spends four to six months and up to 20,000 hours building their annual budget.
  • Senior executives and financial managers devote up to 30 percent of their overall time throughout the course of the year to this process.
  • 66 percent of healthcare chief financial officers say their organization’s budget is irrelevant within the first three months due to built-in inaccuracies and the difficulty of adjusting the plan to changing conditions.

To help address this combination of issues, close to 50 percent of healthcare providers are now moving to Advanced Planning – a radically more effective approach to planning, budgeting, forecasting and managing expenses.  One benefit many are targeting is a reduction of waste in the system.  According to a recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), there is close to $1 trillion in waste per year in U.S healthcare.  With over 50 percent of the cost of U.S. healthcare coming through healthcare providers, they are in a unique position to help reduce waste and better steward resources.

“The most powerful tool any hospital has in controlling cost is ultimately their plan and budget. Unfortunately, many hospitals are still in the dark ages and budgeting and planning is not only a stunningly inefficient and ineffective process, it is also a source of enormous waste,” said Dan Michelson, Chief Executive Officer of Strata. “In the same way that FinTech applications such as online banking and tax preparation services have simplified complex processes for consumers, OnePlan is an Advanced Planning Platform that radically streamlines the budgeting and planning process for hospitals. Instead of burning cycles on creating a budget that doesn’t hit the mark and they don’t believe in, providers and administrators can now be accountable for improving performance and better stewarding the finite resources of their organization and their community.”

OnePlan simplifies and automates many of the most time-consuming and difficult elements of planning and budgeting, reducing time and effort by up to 50 percent. It breaks down the silos that exist within the traditional planning process, combining operating budgeting, variance reporting, long range and capital planning together in a single, powerful advanced planning platform.

A Planning Approach that is Accurate, Efficient, Agile and Accountable

As health systems continue to navigate fee-for-service while preparing for the next generation of full value-based payment, they must be able to plan and perform based not only on department verticals, but also horizontally across patient populations, service lines and payors. OnePlan is the first and only planning platform that enables organizations to plan and manage the full Income Statement on both a vertical and horizontal basis. As a result, OnePlan helps hospitals and health systems rapidly shift toward an Advanced Planning approach that is more efficient, accurate, agile and accountable.

  • Accurate—OnePlan provides new, advanced budgeting methods, such as Patient Activity Flexing, an approach that leverages accurate and detailed data in Strata’s cost accounting solution to automate and increase the accuracy of the budget process. As compared with a traditional flex budget, Patient Activity Flexing has proven to be significantly more accurate, revealing that up to 50 percent of budget variance can be attributed to the lack of accuracy in traditional budget models versus a true deviation from plan.
  • Efficient—With OnePlan, finance administrators can develop accurate projections and set targets in days rather than weeks. A 5-hospital health system based in the Southeast compared the results of a 5-month budget process developed in their old system to an automated projection developed in minutes with OnePlan. The OnePlan projection proved to be 10x more accurate than the budget they had built over 5 months and thousands of hours with the prior system.
  • Agile— No planning solution has ever made pivoting between traditional hierarchies and horizontal perspectives so simple, or even possible. Within minutes, analysts can translate the impact of service line strategies, patient utilization changes and shifts in payor mix across the full P&L and down to a granular, operational level. Sophisticated algorithms translate volume shifts modeled by the finance team into variable staffing and non-staffing expense targets at the department level. Department managers then have a simple interface to react to, adjust and itemize the fixed staffing and non-staffing expenses within their control.
  • Accountable — Following the planning process, targets seamlessly flow into the StrataJazz Management and Productivity Reporting modules to be compared against actual results. The monthly variance commentary process solidifies ownership of the budget and plan by front-line managers and quickly highlights areas where the organization is deviating from the plan, so corrective actions can be documented, taken and tracked.

A Single Platform Approach to Financial Planning

Over the last decade, healthcare providers have made significant investments in Electronic Health Records to provide a single clinical platform for their organization.  Hospitals and health systems have now concluded that they need to get rid of the many disconnected applications that they use for the financial side of their organization and move to a similar platform approach.  OnePlan provides a single platform approach:

  • Short and Long Term – Combines long-term planning and short-term budgeting with the ability to apply different lenses and levels of detail. Supports a rolling approach to planning with annual, monthly and/or quarterly budgeting.
  • Department and Service Line – Leverages patient-level data that already exists in the StrataJazz platform. Easily pivots to view P&L’s by entity, service line, physician, department, etc.
  • Finance and Cost Accounting – Aligns finance and cost accounting teams by leveraging cost data to drive and automate more of the budget process.
  • Planning and Performance Management – Provides the ability to adjust the plan as needed and seamlessly update targets, react to financial adversity and drive intervention immediately, as opposed to waiting for the next planning cycle.
  • Capital and Operational – A single model provides the ability to layer initiatives and the impact of capital projects on or off of the baseline plan.
  • Enterprise-wide Support – Encompasses budgeting for the entire organization, including provider, acute, post-acute, health plan, etc.
  • Manager to Executive-Level Accountability – Quickly identifies and escalates performance issues via Management Reporting to help understand root causes, drive corrective action, and track progress.

Advanced Planning Institute

As organizations look to understand more about Advanced Planning and learn from their peers, they can participate in the Advanced Planning Institute, supported by Strata.  The Advanced Planning Institute brings together a network of organizations interested in improving planning through leveraging their collective experience as they journey towards Advanced Planning.  For more information on the Advanced Planning Institute, please contact [email protected].

Join the OnePlan Webinar on Nov. 14

Click here to join the webinar on Thursday, November 14th to better understand how StrataJazz OnePlan™ can help your organization achieve a more accurate, efficient, agile and accountable planning process.

About Strata Decision Technology

Strata Decision Technology provides a cloud-based planning, analytics and performance platform that is used by healthcare providers for financial planning, decision support and continuous improvement, helping hospitals and healthcare systems bend the cost curve and drive margin to fuel their clinical mission.  Founded in 1996, the Company’s customer base includes over 1,000 hospitals and many of the largest and most influential healthcare delivery systems in the U.S.  The Company’s headquarters are located in Chicago, IL. For more information, please visit www.stratadecision.com.

Media contact:
Todd Stein Communications
510-417-0612
[email protected]

CHICAGO, October 22, 2019 – Strata Decision Technology (Strata), a pioneer and leader in the development of cloud-based financial planning, analytics and performance tools for healthcare, today launched StrataSphere™, a unique data-sharing network and platform powered by machine learning leveraging the most comprehensive and granular dataset on the cost of healthcare.

Introduced today at Strata’s Lift19 user conference, StrataSphere will leverage trillions of data points across the 200 healthcare delivery systems and over 1,000 hospitals that use Strata’s cloud-based StrataJazz® platform to deliver advanced analytics, insights, benchmarks and industry-level standards. The initial roll-out of StrataSphere included over 60 health systems serving more than 35 million patients representing approximately 10% of the provider spend in U.S. healthcare.  It is now being made available to all Strata customers at no cost on an opt-in basis. The Strata customer network represents approximability 25% of the provider spend in U.S. healthcare.

The cost of U.S healthcare is approaching $4 trillion in 2019 with the level of waste in the system now estimated to be close to $1 trillion a year. With over 50% or close to $2 trillion in healthcare spend taking place in hospitals and physician practices, healthcare providers are in a unique position to help reduce waste and lower the cost of care.

“The biggest problem in healthcare and our nation’s economy is the rising cost of care. While there is an enormous amount of waste in the system, there is also a significant level of opportunity to drive improvements by collaborating and sharing data in a way that makes a difference,” said Dan Michelson, Chief Executive Officer of Strata. “StrataSphere is a breakthrough, providing hospitals and health systems the unique ability to leverage the best practices and insights of their peers, collaborate to conduct research to help bend the cost curve and better steward resources for their organization and the community that they serve.”

StrataSphere Leverages the Industry’s Deepest Dataset on the Cost of Care

StrataSphere utilizes the trillions of data points already in StrataJazz, the company’s cloud-based solution for financial planning, analytics and performance, and requires no additional data submission and no upfront mapping.  Rated #1 in KLAS for Decision Support, Strata is recognized as the “gold standard” in healthcare for cost accounting. Leveraging the most advanced costing methodologies including Time-Driven Costing™ , Strata customers have the ability to understand cost and margins across episodes of care, service lines and patient populations throughout an entire delivery network including hospitals, physician groups and post-acute care. This level of detail on the actual cost of care, not charges or claims, is unique and provides a level of visibility into the direct resources that are utilized pinpointing opportunities to reduce variation, eliminate waste and improve quality.

StrataSphere provides cross-customer and cross-industry analytics along with advanced capabilities including:

  • Benchmarking of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
  • Industry Insights and Comparative Analytics
  • Predictive Modeling
  • Development of Financial Standards

StrataSphere Addresses the Shortfalls of Other Comparative Benchmarking Tools

Existing comparative analytics and benchmarking solutions fall short in helping providers to understand and address their cost challenges. Many rely primarily on poorly vetted public datasets. This lack of detailed source data makes apples-to-apples benchmarking on the cost of care impossible. These systems also derive costs inaccurately, if at all, and often are driven by claims or charge-based data sets rather than the accurate, actionable and detailed cost information needed to identify waste and drive out cost.  StrataSphere addresses each of these failures by delivering:

  • Actionable Data: StrataSphere’s data platform is unique based on its scale, level of granularity and rigorous data cleansing. Every line item and field is screened, scanned and validated using the latest machine learning tools. Data can be translated and analyzed simultaneously and identically across departments, patient populations, service lines, episodes and entity structures.
  • Access to Unique, Reliable, Contextual Data: One-hundred percent of the data used in StrataSphere is the identical source data that organizations are using to make day-to-day business decisions within StrataJazz.
  • Normalized and Standardized Data at the Line-Item Level: StrataSphere leverages machine learning, natural language processing, and predictive analytics to normalize, map and clean data across tens of billions of records and trillions of dollars of total spend. Cost components, general ledger, job code, patient charge and other line item-level data is available for deep analytics. StrataSphere integrates customer- and industry-level service line, episode, social determinants, clinical norms and other strategic and value-based analytical models.
  • Detailed Cost Data: StrataSphere makes use of detailed patient-level costing and can integrate all data sets used to achieve Level 7 on the HFMA-Strata L7 Cost Accounting Adoption Model (L7®), with algorithmic models validated across Strata’s customer base.
  • Collaborative Testing Ground: StrataSphere can be used as a testing ground for an organization’s self-developed statistical models, or to simply answer questions emerging from their data.
  • Faster Research Results: For organizations that lack the volume or diversity of patients to produce statistically significant research results, StrataSphere provides a sizeable dataset for faster analytics and better decision making.

StrataSphere benchmarking and advanced visualization tools identify opportunities, trends, risks and threats that may not be visible when examining an organization’s own data with traditional tools. Uses range from productivity, operating ratios, cost comparisons, supplies, and investment, to fixed and variable costing. StrataSphere’s national data set enables predictive models that help CFOs to analyze future scenarios such as competing in value-based and capitated models and operating at Medicare reimbursement margins.

“As the U.S. healthcare system transitions to value-based payment models and to actively managing the total cost of care, provider organizations need a reliable, transparent and actionable means of benchmarking, identifying areas of waste and improving their financial performance,” said Steve Lefar, Executive Director of the StrataSphere initiative. “Health systems that lack access to data, how they compare to others and what they can do to bend the cost curve will really struggle to survive. We believe StrataSphere is a critical part of the answer.”

For Strata clients, there is no cost to join StrataSphere.  Benchmarking, industry insights and access to the Strata Standards are all included.

About Strata Decision Technology

Strata Decision Technology provides a cloud-based planning, analytics and performance platform that is used by healthcare providers for financial planning, decision support and continuous improvement, helping hospitals and healthcare systems bend the cost curve and drive margin to fuel their clinical mission.  Founded in 1996, the Company’s customer base includes over 1,000 hospitals and many of the largest and most influential healthcare delivery systems in the U.S.  The Company’s headquarters are located in Chicago, IL. For more information, please visit www.stratadecision.com.

Media contact:

Todd Stein
Todd Stein Communications
510-417-0612
[email protected]

StrataJazz® Solution for Healthcare Financial Planning, Decision Support and Performance Improvement Recognized for Overall Effectiveness, Quality, and Value

Chicago – Sept. 25, 2019 – Strata Decision Technology (Strata), a pioneer and leader in the development of cloud-based financial planning, analytics and performance tools for healthcare, has once again achieved the Healthcare Financial Management Association’s (HFMA) “Peer Reviewed by HFMA®” designation following rigorous review of its StrataJazz® application.

This is the seventh year in a row that Strata StrataJazz has earned the coveted designation from HFMA. Currently used by over 1,000 hospitals and 200 healthcare delivery systems across the U.S., StrataJazz is a single, modular, cloud-based platform that brings healthcare providers a “financial flywheel” to better plan, analyze and perform, driving margin to fuel their clinical mission.

“We are extremely proud to once again receive this important seal of approval from HFMA, the leading and largest healthcare finance association,” said Dan Michelson, Chief Executive Officer for Strata. “It’s especially gratifying that the number of our customers who would recommend us continues to be ahead of others and on a steady upward trajectory. That’s the best possible testament to the value that healthcare providers realize through both our solutions and our services.”

The HFMA community has more than 43,000 members, including healthcare finance leaders and professionals from hospitals and health systems, provider organizations, physician practices and payers. HFMA’s Peer Review process provides healthcare financial managers with an objective, third-party evaluation of business solutions used in the healthcare workplace. The rigorous, 11-step process includes a Peer Review panel review composed of current Strata customers, prospects who have not made a purchase, and industry experts.

The Peer Review status of StrataJazz and its performance claims are based on effectiveness, quality and usability, price, value, and customer and technical support. Key findings from the process include:

  • 100 percent “agree” or “strongly agree” that StrataJazz has enhanced productivity; that it provides accurate data; that sales and technical support provide good service; and that product updates are easy to install or incorporate
  • 96 percent “agree” or “strongly agree” that the application is easy to use (0% disagree)
  • 92 percent of peers “agree” or “strongly agree” that they would recommend StrataJazz to colleagues (0% disagree)

“We’re pleased to have Strata Decision Technology renew their HFMA Peer Reviewed designation,” said HFMA President and CEO Joseph J. Fifer, FHFMA, CPA. “The HFMA Peer Review process assures our members, through a rigorous evaluation, that the reviewed healthcare business solution meets an objective, third-party assessment of overall effectiveness, quality, and value.”

About HFMA

The Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) is the nation’s premier membership organization for healthcare finance leaders. HFMA builds and supports coalitions with other healthcare associations and industry groups to achieve consensus on solutions for the challenges the U.S. healthcare system faces today. Working with a broad cross-section of stakeholders, HFMA identifies gaps throughout the healthcare delivery system and bridges them through the establishment and sharing of knowledge and best practices. We help healthcare stakeholders achieve optimal results by creating and providing education, analysis, and practical tools and solutions. Our mission is to lead the financial management of health care.

About Strata Decision Technology

Strata Decision Technology provides a cloud-based planning, analytics and performance platform that is used by healthcare providers for financial planning, decision support and continuous improvement, helping hospitals and healthcare systems bend the cost curve and drive margin to fuel their clinical mission.  Founded in 1996, the Company’s customer base includes over 1,000 hospitals and many of the largest and most influential healthcare delivery systems in the U.S.  The Company’s headquarters are located in Chicago, IL. For more information, please visit www.stratadecision.com.

CHICAGO, February 11, 2019 —The Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) and Strata Decision Technology (Strata) today launched the HFMA-Strata L7 Cost Accounting Adoption Model™ (L7 Model), healthcare’s first roadmap to help healthcare providers access accurate cost data via the use of advanced cost accounting. Originally designed for 200 leading healthcare delivery systems, the L7 Model is now being open-sourced, making it available at no charge to all healthcare providers.

Understanding the Cost Crisis in Healthcare and the Need for Advanced Cost Accounting

An estimated $3.6 trillion, or over $10,000 per person, is spent on healthcare in the United States every year, twice the average of comparable countries.  However, a recent survey found 90 percent of those responsible for the delivery of care don’t know the cost of it. Currently, less than 10 percent of hospitals and healthcare delivery systems have advanced cost accounting systems capable of providing accurate cost data across the continuum of care. While hospitals and health systems represent roughly $1.8 trillion of the annual spend on U.S. healthcare, their average net operating margins have dropped below 3 percent, with close to 30 percent operating at a loss. The challenge they are faced with is how to reduce variation, waste, and inefficiency to invest in and improve care—without any access to trusted data on the cost of care. A 2013 Harvard Business Review article by Michael Porter and Thomas H. Lee shared the perspective that, “Without understanding the true costs of care for patient conditions, much less how costs are related to outcomes, health care organizations are flying blind in deciding how to improve processes and redesign care.”

The need to understand cost is becoming even more mission critical as the business model of healthcare continues to shift from fee-for-service to more capitated and risk-based payment models. Traditional healthcare cost accounting methods were not designed for value-based payment. The lack of trusted cost information is driving the rapid adoption of more advanced cost accounting applications that make cost data more accurate, accessible, and actionable. The ability to drill down into the costs associated with bundled services, specific patient groups, or practice patterns can help decision makers better understand variation and costs related to variation—and make changes that will improve value.

Introducing the HFMA-Strata L7 Cost Accounting Adoption Model

In response to an unmet need for strategic cost accounting guidance as the healthcare industry transitions to value-based payment and to actively managing the total cost of care, HFMA and Strata are collaborating to release the L7 Cost Accounting Adoption Model. Analogous to the way the HIMSS Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model (EMRAM) served as a roadmap for accessing better clinical data, the HFMA-Strata Cost Accounting Adoption Model will help providers access accurate and more actionable data on the cost of care.

The L7 Model will help hospitals and healthcare delivery systems measure the adoption and utilization of advanced cost accounting methods, including time-driven and activity-based costing. The model provides an industry standard for helping hospitals and healthcare delivery systems:

  • Assess their current cost accounting methodology, understand the level of accuracy of their cost data, and benchmark capabilities against peers, and
  • Create a roadmap for the actions required to ensure their cost accounting approach meets their strategic needs

“As hospitals and healthcare delivery systems move toward value-based payment structures, they will need to leverage cost accounting in a much more strategic fashion,” said HFMA President and CEO Joseph J. Fifer, FHFMA, CPA. “To effectively improve their cost accounting capabilities in a rapidly changing and complex setting, health systems need a roadmap to ensure their approach meets their strategic needs.”

Each level of the cost accounting model builds upon the prior level, deploying more extensive data sets and dynamic methodologies to help an organization increase the extensibility and accuracy of their cost data. As an organization moves up to the next level, more sophisticated costing processes and workflows are deployed, generating more meaningful and accurate output. The model also assesses current gaps in source system data to help standardize and automate data capture. At the base of the model are healthcare organizations with a basic cost accounting tool that deploys ratio of cost-to-charge (RCC) methods. An organization that is at Level 7 has expanded the use of time-driven costing to all clinical areas and engages clinicians with the cost data to help drive performance improvements.

“All healthcare providers recognize that understanding the cost of care is mission critical and that a clear set of standards related to cost accounting is a requirement,” stated Dan Michelson, CEO of Strata Decision Technology. “We feel privileged to be able to play a part in helping healthcare providers better understand the cost of care so they can use that data to reduce waste and invest in what matters most to the patients they serve and the care providers they support.”

Strata has earned top honors as the KLAS Category Leader for Business Decision Support and Cost Accounting for five consecutive years and recently authored the book, Margin + Mission: A Prescription for Curing Healthcare’s Cost Crisis.

Using the HFMA-Strata L7 Cost Accounting Adoption Model

Watch the webinar to review the structure of the L7 Cost Accounting Adoption Model and become familiar with the self-assessment tool. Hear the best practices for developing an L7 Roadmap.

To download a copy of the model and register for the webinar, please go here. You can also request a complimentary Cost Accounting Adoption Assessment to help your organization determine their current level and receive recommendations on building out a strategic roadmap.

About HFMA
The Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) is the nation’s premier membership organization for healthcare finance leaders. HFMA builds and supports coalitions with other healthcare associations and industry groups to achieve consensus on solutions for the challenges the U.S. healthcare system faces today. Working with a broad cross-section of stakeholders, HFMA identifies gaps throughout the healthcare delivery system and bridges them through the establishment and sharing of knowledge and best practices. The Association helps healthcare stakeholders achieve optimal results by creating and providing education, analysis, and practical tools and solutions. Its mission is to lead the financial management of health care.

 

About Strata Decision Technology

Strata Decision Technology provides an innovative cloud-based planning, analytics and performance platform that is used by healthcare providers for financial planning, decision support and continuous improvement. Founded in 1996, the Company’s customer base includes 1,000 hospitals and many of the largest and most influential healthcare delivery systems in the U.S. The Company’s StrataJazz® application is a single integrated software platform that includes modules for strategic planning, capital planning, operational budgeting, management and productivity reporting, decision support and continuous improvement. The Company’s headquarters are in Chicago. For more information, please visit www.stratadecision.com.

Contacts:

HFMA: Karen Thomas, [email protected], 708.492.3377

Strata Decision Technology: Christie Markiewicz, [email protected], 217.531.2604