Building resilience in healthcare: Here’s where you can focus

• From shifting healthcare policies to staffing shortages, now is the time for healthcare organizations to strengthen their core businesses.
• Healthcare organizations can quickly realize immediate improvements and build more resilient operations by optimizing revenue cycle management, strengthening workforce and resource strategies, and improving care access and quality.
• The next step for healthcare leaders is to pick the areas that will make the most significant impact on the business and start there.

From shifting policies to staffing shortages, the ground constantly moves under our feet. Change is a constant in healthcare, and its speed is accelerating. But here's the good news: There are ways to strengthen your organization to emerge stronger on the other side.

Where should you focus right now?

Now is the time to strengthen the core of your business. Huron has been navigating change with healthcare organizations for over 20 years. We’ve found that consistently focusing on the key areas below can quickly realize significant improvements in the short term and build more resilient operations in the long term.

Financial sustainability for healthcare organizations may feel more complicated given the uncertainty of policy changes, including recent NIH research funding disruption and possible cuts to Medicare and/or Medicaid, contemplated increases to endowment taxes, and possible alterations to the 340B program. What are leading organizations doing to maintain stability? They're taking a fresh, comprehensive look at their end-to-end revenue cycle processes, digging into their documentation and billing processes and charge structures, and getting smarter about handling denials. The goal isn't just better numbers — it's about creating a financial experience that works for your organization and your patients.

Supply chain challenges remain a barrier for healthcare leaders, now exacerbated by global economic shifts and uncertainty. We’ve all learned from the last few years that preparation is paramount. The most successful healthcare organizations are focused on:

• Using data to make smarter inventory decisions
• Building stronger relationships with their vendors
• Creating central hubs for strategic sourcing
• Critically reviewing supplies, purchased services and discretionary spend for possible savings
• Making sure everyone's following the same playbook with standardized policies and accountability structures across your enterprise

Your team is everything. In today's competitive landscape, you need more than just a hiring strategy — you need a comprehensive plan for finding, keeping, and engaging great talent. This means looking at everything from how you're planning your workforce needs to how you're managing your relationships with outside vendors. In times of high uncertainty, consider:

• Improving hiring processes through enhanced position control
• Elevating your employee experience strategies to promote engagement
• Evaluating productivity targets for possible efficiencies
• Ensuring clinicians are practicing at top of license
• Transforming HR services, total rewards, and technology to meet employee needs and inspire loyalty
• Incentivizing outcome-based measures
• Leveraging automation/AI to automate routine tasks and upskilling teams to optimize value
• Exploring supplemental workforces to uplevel and supplement your team

If patients can't easily access your services, nothing else matters. Organizations will benefit from prioritizing the following:

• Enabling digital scheduling that makes sense for consumers
• Implementing strategies to maximize existing capacity
• Matching patients to the right provider the first time
• Optimizing contact centers that provide a superior patient experience

At the end of the day, it's all about providing the best possible care. Leading organizations are focused on:

• Doubling-down on creating quality cultures
• Coordinating care more effectively
• Getting patients more engaged in their health journey
• Using technology to reduce variations in care

AI is on everyone’s minds. What should you be doing now to realize short-term and long-term wins with AI? The quick answer: Focus on your infrastructure. That’s what is needed to make AI work. You need a solid AI foundation before you can add all the most valuable features. This means getting your data organized now so you're ready to use AI tools that can make a difference.

Building resilience is an ongoing journey. By focusing on these key areas, you can start making real progress today. Remember, you don't have to tackle everything at once. Pick the areas that will make the most significant impact on your business and start there.

The healthcare world isn't getting any simpler, but we can get better at navigating change. Strengthening the core areas of your operations will make you better prepared for whatever comes next.

What's your next move?

Where is the most significant opportunity for improvement in your organization? We work with clients every day — national and regional systems, academic medical centers, and non-profits — to assess these areas, streamline operations, and prepare them for what’s ahead.