Restructuring opportunities drive small town hospital's success
A critical access hospital, which is a provider of primary and emergency care for residents and key employer within the community, achieves $3.7 million in year-over-year savings through process and financial improvement efforts.
The challenge
In FY19, Clay County Hospital incurred a loss of $1.6 million. Since the hospital generates jobs for many local residents and because other hospitals aren’t easily accessible, Clay County Hospital is vital to its residents in many ways. The issues that plagued Clay County are many of the same issues that affect rural hospitals in small towns. These include recruiting challenges, aging communities who require more care, and inefficiencies resulting from a smaller patient population. With concern for the sustainability of their hospital and a desire to bolster their service offerings in the community, they engaged our restructuring and transformation team.
The solution
For 12 months, our team partnered with hospital leadership to identify cost-saving measures, find opportunities for collaboration with other facilities, and create critical community partnerships. By restructuring hours and reviewing other departmental needs, they were able to significantly reduce staffing costs after hours and improve scheduling, particularly in the radiology department and the walk-in clinic. Clay County Hospital formed partnerships with community businesses and schools to share resources. For example, they developed an occupational health strategy aimed at providing services to industrial clients in town and in nearby communities. As part of this, they’ll provide educational sessions and trainings, drug screenings, and health fairs. They also found opportunities to collaborate with hospitals in their regional network, resulting in a significant expense reduction and additional pro-fee revenue.
The benefit
Clay County Hospital ended the year with a positive $2.1 million bottom line. Beyond that, the collaborations have brought more healthcare options to Clay County residents. They now have better connectivity to the other hospitals within the regional network, ultimately improving access to care, continuity of care, and patient satisfaction. Additionally, they’ve created sustainable strategies that ensure healthcare availability in their county as well as jobs for the community that, in turn, benefit the local economy.
