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OVERVIEW
Van Wert Health (VWH) is a top 100 rural community hospital and a long-term partner of HSG. In late 2020 VWH opened an expanded hospital of the future that was ready to maximize patient attraction and retention.
CLIENT QUICK FACTS
- 50+ employed providers
- $50M net revenue
- Client since: 2016
HSG partnered with VWH at approximately the same time as the opening to update the organization’s three-year strategic plan. Optimizing the new facility for overall patient growth was set as a priority.
The strategic planning engagement resulted in two specific strategic priorities related to
patient growth:
1. Urology service line market expansion and growth.
2. Optimization of patient retention from both employed and market primary care providers.
Van Wert County’s primary care volume to urology has increased by 24% and 755 patients in a 12-month timeframe. In addition, patient keepage from employed Primary Care Providers has risen by 16% to urology, 11% to oncology, and 13% to gastroenterology over the same timeframe.
We have been very targeted in our Urology outreach and primary care patient retention strategies through our partnership with HSG. Urology growth has been very targeted to maximize the return on our investment in physician outreach efforts and specialty expansion locations.”
– JIM AHLERSMEYER, VAN WERT HEALTH, VP OF PHYSICIAN & PROVIDER SERVICES
CHALLENGES
Measuring Short- and Long-term Financial Success
Van Wert Health had employed two new high-producing urologists and an accompanying physician assistant for the market. Additionally, a third urologist was simultaneously recruited to join the team 12-18 months later. As a result of the investment in urology service line development, physician outreach and attraction of new patients to the health system were going to be critical for the short and long-term financial success of the service line.
Limited Data Capabilities
VWH simultaneously had some outmigration of patients from employed group primary care providers to key specialties, which was identified as low-hanging fruit for short-term revenue growth.
VWH had developed strategic planning priorities to address:
1. Urology service line growth through new patient attraction, and
2. Short-term revenue growth through increased patient retention from employed primary care.
Neither of these strategies had data capabilities in place to measure the success of the plan for internal reporting purposes.
THE PROCESS
THE RESULTS
HSG began a long-standing relationship with VWH in 2016 and supported VWH in developing its three-year strategic plan in late 2020 and early 2021. In addition to HSG’s consulting and advisory practice, HSG also has service offerings supported by customized healthcare claims data analytics. HSG’s significant experience and operational capability to support VWH in data measurement, reporting, and service line growth was a natural add-on to the relationship.
Leveraging data from both Fee for Service Medicare and Commercial claims allowed HSG to provide VWH with a comprehensive picture of patient utilization of urology services in its markets while also tracking patient relationships from primary care providers to specialists.
HSG and VWH identified two principal metrics for ongoing measurement and reporting related to the overall success of implementing patient attraction and retention strategies, including:
1. Employed Primary Care Patient Retention
Unique patient leakage from primary care to specialists within 90-days of primary care visit
2. Urology Patient Attraction
Identification and ongoing measurement of top urology feeders by unique patient volumes
HSG Patient Flow custom data and analysis were used to measure referral activity from employed primary care to specialists at the overall, individual practice, and individual provider levels for all primary care providers in a 10-county region. To continuously monitor the strategy’s success and minimize patient leakage from employed primary care providers, measurement will be ongoing.
The strategic initiative tactics and actions plan were initiated in Q2 2021 and have been reported quarterly for 12+ months. During this time, both strategies have seen significant success, with the opportunity for incremental growth continuing to be uncovered.
Employed Primary Care Patient Retention: Patient keepage from employed PCPs has increased by 16% to urology, 11% to oncology, and 13% to gastroenterology over the 12 months of data reporting.
Urology Patient Attraction:
Van Wert Health has increased total patient volumes from Van Wert County primary care providers to Van Wert Health employed urologists by 24%, and 755 patients over the timeframe.
Request a complementary HSG Patient Flow report for providers in your market, and learn more about HSG’s approach to measuring patient leakage at the group, practice, and individual provider level. Contact DJ Sullivan directly at djsullivan@hsgadvisors.com