How to Win More Healthcare Business

How to Differentiate and Win More Business in the Healthcare Consulting Industry

The healthcare marketplace is, in a word, healthy. It’s ripe with potential and profitability for savvy consultants, provided they are able to stand out in a highly competitive environment. Recent estimates suggest that the global market for healthcare consulting will top $22 billion -- in less than five years. The strongest-performing healthcare consultancies are getting ready right now. They are confronting project management, communication and collaboration challenges so they can help firms to optimize efficiency, ensure client satisfaction, and make the biggest impact on the bottom line.

Top Areas of Need

As noted, consultants have become critical to helping healthcare organizations thrive. They allow those organizations to remain focused on a core mission of delivering care, taking the reins on priority operational areas. Top areas of need include:

• IT system setup, redesign, and deployment
• Helpdesk and similar managed IT services
• Financial management and billing.

Insight from HIMSS

Looking for valuable insights about how forward-thinking healthcare consultancies are evolving in sync with the booming global market, Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) conducted a survey of more than 100 professionals working at acute-care hospitals and integrated delivery networks in the United States. The hope was to determine the best ways to improve the relationships between consultant and client and come up with a straightforward approach, organizations can take to differentiating and distinguish themselves in the marketplace

Active Collaboration is Key

According to the survey, of the five areas on which healthcare consulting organizations can focus, Active Collaboration was the clear priority. Almost 70 percent of survey respondents indicated this was an imperative. A firm that takes the lead on facilitating daily interaction with its clients stands the best chance of success. As detailed in the whitepaper, healthcare providers understand the value of solid collaboration; physicians, clinicians, administrators, and patients all need to collaborate in order to create the best patient outcomes. In that same spirit, these organizations have a baked-in expectation that their consulting relationships will deliver that same level of interaction. What’s further expected is an understanding of how to leverage technology in a way that is efficient and effective without over-burdening clients. Technology needs to help, rather than hinder, existing operations.

Real-Time Project Reporting

Another critical area noted by more than half of the survey respondents is Real-Time Project Reporting. The mission for healthcare providers is patient care, and their commitment to the best patient outcomes demands constant access to patient data, as well as access to robust, reliable clinical-decision support tools. Consultants must also be able to provide accurate project information to any and all stakeholders -- the business side of healthcare that includes IT and financial decision-makers. This addresses the constant concern of being able to understand project status at any time, making smart decisions that allow projects to stay on budget, or being able to reallocate hours if necessary.

Top Challenges for Healthcare Consultants

The survey also noted five top challenges healthcare organizations face when working with consultants:

1. Cost Overruns/Undocumented Costs
2. Project Delays
3. Scope Creep
4. Undelivered Services
5. Lack of Project Spending Visibility

Any consultancy determined to address these challenges stands the best chance of standing out in this lucrative marketplace.

And Speaking of Winning in Healthcare

You can access a breakdown of the findings from the HIMSS survey in our whitepaper: 5 Ways Healthcare Consultants Can Differentiate From the Competition and Win.