Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1272398
52 Executive Briefing Members shared that these tools were a gamechanger for staff to quickly ascertain availability of resources and beds during COVID-19. Teams came together to gain visibility into projected patient flow, conduct resource planning and plan around if/then scenarios if a patient surge was predicted for the day. Accommodate the workforce and patient preferences for care Community members may begin to revert to the mentality of earlier generations, when people often refused to go to the doctor unless they were extremely sick. The current economic climate coupled with new patient fears and ongoing high-deductible health plans are likely to lead to medical avoidance for a period of time. And for the patients who require an in-person clinic visit, health systems have already implemented new guidelines and limitations that restrict the number of family members or individuals that wish to accompany them. Telehealth quickly emerged as a winner during the pandemic and will remain in the spotlight going forward. While staffing models within nursing have remained fairly constant for years, COVID-19 encouraged swift adoption of virtual technology for nurses to triage and care for patients. Going forward, the opportunities explode for ways virtual care and remote staffing could be leveraged. Functions that may lend themselves to virtual care include patient and family education, admission assessments, care planning, increased touchpoints for patients in isolation and patient and workforce safety. In April, with COVID-19 cases swelling, one health system noted its use of tele-ICU technology to increase its ICU capacity by nearly 150 percent. As health systems adopt care delivery models to understand what patients need, they will also have to account for the effect on their clinicians and doctors. They'll need to strategically attend to those clinicians and physicians who may gravitate toward virtual care versus those who prefer providing care in an office setting. Some clinicians love providing care through telemedicine portals, while for others it exacerbates the symptoms of burnout because of the perceived distance from their patients and the lack of connection. Health systems have forged stronger partnerships with staffing agencies, as well, to help fill gaps in needed areas or reallocate resources. Some Premier members worked with trusted staffing partners to efficiently reapportion their furloughed clinicians to geographies of high need and return them as the pandemic allowed. An ideal agency partnership supports credential sharing to fast-track temporary employment; tracks each employee's status and contract completion; and communicates key information to the employee's home healthcare system. Strengthen your financial position While hospitals received some help in the form of emergency relief legislation, providers know they will need to take action to compensate for falling revenues, the changed payer mix and rapidly evolving cost structures. To stimulate swift margin improvement, once hospitals and health systems assess the cost implications of COVID-19, they've created actionable financial transformation strategies that maximize outcomes through rapid-cycle margin improvement. A roadmap to financial sustainability helps providers recognize the changes that must be made in both the short and long term to ensure sustainable transformation. For rapid-cycle margin improvement, providers should target five key areas with this approach: balance sheet/cash flow, programmatic rationalization, corporate/fixed costs, revenue cycle and reactivation. It's clear that COVID-19 is going to inspire a stronger shift toward value-based care in the near term. In the fee-for- service model, volume is an important indicator relative to revenue, yet patient preferences and utilization are already shifting toward less consumption of healthcare services coming out of the first wave. Going forward, some providers will look at risk-based arrangements to protect future revenue, including capitation and other innovative arrangements. During this movement, there's no doubt that a stronger alignment will be needed between the health system and the employed and community physicians around cost and efficiency, with a common goal of reducing unwarranted variation. Providers will want to explore financial mechanisms and incentives that can help solidify this alignment, such as expanded use of the Hospital Quality and Efficiency Program to improve quality and reduce costs across the system. Looking toward the future While the U.S. healthcare system was caught off guard by COVID-19 — as, arguably, were all the other nations' — we've emerged stronger. The industry has the capabilities, infrastructure and resiliency to actively respond to a resurgence or other crisis. In the meantime, the nation has taken crucial steps to help fix the supply chain. Premier's approach includes real-time, nationwide data-gathering on the availability of critical items, their sources and potential pandemic threats; a strong infrastructure for, and investment in, domestic manufacturing; revitalization of the Strategic National Stockpile; and continued partnership between public and private entities. Learn more at premierinc.com/covid-19-response. n Premier Inc. is a leading healthcare improvement company, uniting an alliance of more than 4,000 U.S. hospitals and health systems and approximately 175,000 other providers and organizations to transform healthcare. With integrated data and analytics, collaboratives, supply chain solutions, and consulting and other services, Premier enables better care and outcomes at a lower cost.