Overcoming Financial Challenges

You may be intrigued by this recent study by The American College of Healthcare Executives.

Their study was on the top issues confronting hospitals and the number one issue that came up was financial challenges.

Given that this is, not-so-surprisingly, a common issue that hospitals face, I wanted to share with you three innovative ideas on overcoming these challenges.

First, consider a zero-based budgeting approach to your department costs, where you need to justify each supplier and each cost.

You can then begin a 12-month accounts payable spend and break it down by department and analyze every supplier and every spend to see if there’s an actual need or if there’s a different approach to that expense that may end up reducing costs.

The second idea is to incorporate an ongoing cost containment scorecard.

This isn’t just for a one-time use or when you have a great need to take out costs. This is about creating a disciplined approach to cost reduction and cost management that actually measures every initiative and is able to prove that the reductions are actually being achieved. This scorecard should also have c-suite and board visibility.

Finally, ask your employees, suppliers and patients for their ideas.

All three of these untapped resources will often come with a wealth of knowledge. They’re privy to seeing things on the front line that you don’t necessarily see and can offer perspectives that you may not currently be considering.

In talking to hundreds of executives, financial challenges are on the forefront of their minds. Click To Tweet

This doesn’t have to be a concern that plagues you. Start implementing these three innovative ideas and see your financial challenges reduced and even eliminated.

What’s another idea you’ve implemented to overcome financial challenges?

The audio version of this entry is at the bottom of this post.