Advancing Operational Success with Hospital-Based Service Line Optimization

With increasing pressures on reimbursement, a shift in focus by payors to inpatient costs and outcomes, and consolidation in the physician market, health systems and hospitals face numerous demands in operating efficient and high-quality service lines. For many facilities, contracts for service line coverage represent the single largest expense with outside physician vendors. Accordingly, what was previously a cost of doing business has become one of the primary means of ensuring a hospital’s financial and operational success.

On an annual basis, HealthCare Appraisers values hundreds of financial support arrangements between hospitals and physician practices for coverage of key service lines and departments including: anesthesiology, emergency medicine, intensive care units, hospitalist medicine, radiology, and trauma centers. Through this experience, HAI has developed a wealth of internal resources designed to evaluate the costs, operational efficiency, and quality of hospital-based service lines.

HealthCare Appraisers’ expertise extends to all areas of service line optimization, including, :

1. Hospital Service Line Evaluation:

a. Benchmarking of production metrics
b. Staffing level and mix optimization using propriety models tailored to the applicable specialty
c. Revenue estimation using proprietary tools tailored to the reimbursement environment by specialty and marketplace
d. Compensation structure and fair market valuation
e. Employment vs. independent contracting cost-benefit
f. Quality metric selection and compensation

2. Physician Practice Advisory: Similar to those analyses listed above, but for physician practices, and including additional insight into internal compensation plan design and avoiding pitfalls in agreement terms

3. Request for Proposal Evaluation: HealthCare Appraisers can provide guidance to healthcare facilities and physician practices in navigating the request for proposal process. From evaluating potential vendors to assisting groups in creating meaningful responses, our peerless industry knowledge can contribute to the successful development of hospital-based service lines.