Health systems nationwide are under pressure to minimize the impact of declining reimbursements and rising costs, while at the same keeping the highest quality and service for patients. Optimizing the laboratory is a key factor in these efforts. However, the large management consulting firms that health systems often turn to lack the laboratory expertise, operational alignment, and collaborative approach needed to truly deliver lasting change.
hc1 Strategic Advisory Services provide trusted guidance through customized, evidence-based assessments that address healthcare leaders’ most complex laboratory challenges. Our in-depth, comprehensive approach has generated actionable recommendations for growth, performance improvement, cost reduction, and more, with a financial magnitude of over $1 billion.
People Process and Outcome
Our team of experienced advisors work alongside clinical and operational teams to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the lab’s current and potential future state and deliver a detailed go-forward plan.
People: Deep laboratory expertise
Our team of leading experts have decades of experience in laboratory and finance and a specialized understanding of complex lab issues, enabling us to create alignment and move quickly.
Process: Evidence-based assessments
We work side-by-side with clinical and operational teams to review your entire lab operation, analyzing your current and future state from both a quantitative and qualitative perspective.
Outcome: Specific, actionable recommendations
We detail the specific actions your lab can take to improve performance and profitability, including the forward-looking financial statements of those actions.
Project Roles
Selecting hc1 as your high-value care platform includes an engagement with the service delivery team. This group is committed to building a customized project plan by understanding your organization’s strategic objectives. You will be partnered with an activation team dedicated to your organization.
A smooth activation is supported by an engaged and active team on both sides. After guiding thousands of clients through the journey toward high-value care, we’ve identified a few key areas where we need members of your team with areas of expertise. By introducing your experts to our experts, we can ensure an activation that will go as smoothly and as quickly as possible.
Please note that while some of your team members may fulfill multiple roles, a successful activation will require each of these roles to be represented.
hc1 Team
Executive Sponsor/Project Owner
- Coordinate teams and resources
- Identify key objectives
- Facilitate decision-making
- Coordinate training
- Communicate with executives
- Six sigma blackbelt
- Clinical subject matter expertise
- Lean Program management
Lab Director of Operations
Data Analyst
- Facilitates data onboarding process
Client Team
Executive Sponsor
- Escalation point
- Identify project goals
- Ensure business value alignment
- Project sign off
Project Owner
- Work closely with hc1 Project Owner to ensure deliverables and timelines are met
- Escalation path
- Coordinate teams and resources
- Identify key objectives
- Mitigate project risks
- Confirm project success
Key Stakeholders/SMEs
- Lab director, manager, etc
- Deep knowledge of business
- Deep knowledge of processes
- Understands challenges
- Validate business requirements
- Validate solution workflows
- Validate configurations
- Validate reports and calculations
Data Analyst
- Able to pull turnaround reports, etc
- Dashboard
- TAT reports
- Benchmarking measures
Finance Resource
- Identify and Secure Financial Resources for Monthly Metrics
- Coordinate with hc1 Leads for Financial Reporting
Understanding the Process
Every client is unique and each hc1 service delivery/ Lab Advisory Service project will require a customized approach based on client deliverables. However, the structure of each project will generally include 4 distinct stages.
KPI Benchmarking & Proprietary RVU System
The first step in optimizing a lab’s performance is understanding its current position. We recommend benchmarking to see the entire picture of financials and operations. Our proprietary Relative Value Unit (RVU) system accounts for test complexity when considering productivity metrics.
Market Opportunity Assessment
We help identify market opportunities in the testing space your lab currently occupies, as well as opportunities to add new tests to menus to expand your customer base.
Laboratory Strategic Planning
Underutilized capacity within labs has the potential to be a strategic asset that can drive revenue and growth. For an asset to provide a consistent revenue stream at a healthy margin, multiple factors must be considered. Our team works with you to develop a strategic plan to leverage your lab’s full potential.
Lab Asset (Outreach Division) Valuation
More health systems are evaluating the economic and operational value of a potential sale of their outreach business. We provide accurate cash flow analysis, including consideration of reimbursement rates, a key requirement as outreach costs and revenues are often intermingled with inpatient/outpatient testing.
Lab Asset Divestiture, Acquisition, or Joint Venture Advisory Services
The sale or acquisition of outreach business or of a lab operation itself is a long-term commitment and should not be undertaken without significant due diligence that supports the decision to buy, sell, or hold the lab asset. Our team provides that due diligence, as well as facilitates execution.