Acucare Health Strategies, Inc.: Outcomes: Marketing Development


	"Acucare has done a tremendous job in pulling together what was previously a very unorganized operation into a strong coordinated network"

Challenge: A large hospice provider lost 25% of its market share and experienced increased cost in patient care and administrative overhead. They considered the acquisition of another local hospice.

Outcome:

Entered into an agreement to serve as a member of the executive team reporting to the Board of Directors, with responsibility for the strategic plan, its implementation, and all marketing efforts for new programs and services
Conceived and implemented new clinical services to support the hospice programs, increasing referrals by 19%
Reengineered operations, which improved the conversion ratio and increased admissions by 18%
Initiated and oversaw the acquisition of another local hospice, and created a parent company to optimize efficiency and economies of scale in a non-profit environment. Subsequently acquired two additional hospices and created a regional presence
Directed public and media relations and maintained relationships with elected officials
Actively participated in fund raising, budget development and implementation
Expanded the local average daily census by 20%, the length of stay by 22%, and the market penetration among cardiac and COPD patients to 27%
Enhanced existing information system, created and implemented databases to review demographics and utilization data, collected statistical information, evaluated trends, and tracked referrals
Increased the average daily census in the newly acquired markets by 100% within 70 days

Challenge: Medicare & JCAHO accredited healthcare provider lost market share and exhausted its credit line. Considering bankruptcy proceedings and looking to sell its California offices.

Outcome:

Organized and completed the leveraged buyout of four Southern California offices
Established the vision of the organization; introduced and implemented a variety of programs to gain market share in a highly competitive environment
Negotiated managed care contracts at executive management levels, obtained contracts with physician groups, and joint ventured with strategic alliances and insurers
Increased total annual revenue to $6.5 million within two years and to $14 million within six years
Increased home health and hospice annual revenues to $4.5 million
Established new and profitable programs in home medical equipment, hospice, outpatient rehabilitation, psychiatric home care, and infusion pharmacy
Conceived and established a highly successful shared risk capitation program to control utilization and increase profitability

Challenge: A national hospice provider was instructed by the Health Care Financing Administration to close down one of its agencies due to numerous violations of the Medicare Conditions of Participation. This client was also at risk in 4 other locations. The client also identified inadequate leadership, resulting in loss of market share and excessive staff turnover.

Outcome:

Entered into an agreement to manage operations. Our team reported to CEO and Board Chairman
Managed a $98 million budget with 32 offices nationwide
Realized $7.7 million in operations efficiency within 8 months
Increased the patient admission conversion ratio by 26% to 88%
Increased the length of stay by 24 days to 79 days and the market penetration by 26%
Implemented audit tools to ensure regulatory and clinical compliance, reduced claim denials, and improved accounts receivable collections

Challenge: JCAHO accredited regional home health and hospice provider with fragmented operations had several locations with conflicting ownership. Provider lost patient care focus and market share.

Outcome:

Successfully placed cohesive top level management
Implemented a marketing strategy for managed care division that increased home health annual visits from 15,000 visits to over 70,000 visits
Launched a Congestive Heart Failure disease management program with over 50 patients on monthly capitated payment (payor calculated $800K in annual savings)
Redesigned internal operations and installed new information system achieving outcomes reporting, cost accounting capabilities, ensured regulatory compliance, increased productivity by 25%, and reduced fixed cost by $1 million
Assisted in the acquisition of a major competitor and successfully integrated operations reducing costs by $4.2 million while improving the continuity and quality of patient care
Increased hospice average daily census from 50 to 200 through internal growth and acquisition

Challenge: A financially strapped internal medicine practice, with physicians at times declining their salaries, wanted to practice holistic medicine without the pressures of seeing more patients to maintain the financial viability of the organization. Patient dissatisfaction was growing due to long patient wait times to see a physician. A lack of technology existed within the office hindering the facilitation of workflow. A lack of knowledge also existed concerning HIPAA's new regulations regarding privacy and security.

Outcome:

Created new service lines to increase revenue while allowing the physicians to continue to practice as they saw fit, despite the pressures of declining insurance reimbursement
Created professional development and training plans
Redesigned the charge master
Renegotiated managed care and service contracts
Redesigned scheduling process and implemented technology for scheduling, patient reminders, and actual visit documentation in order to reduce wait time and actual time needed for each visit
Conducted patient satisfaction surveys and implemented many suggestions
Oriented staff and physicians to new law and regulatory requirements
Redesigned and implemented process changes to meet regulatory requirements


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