As we look ahead to 2025 and beyond, hospitals and health systems will continue facing complex financial challenges and opportunities. While the healthcare sector has shown resilience in recovering from the immediate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, ongoing pressures related to rising costs, workforce shortages, regulatory changes, and shifting reimbursement models remain significant concerns. These factors will shape the financial strategies of hospitals and health systems for the foreseeable future. However, innovation in technology, diversifying non-clinical revenue streams, integrated operational models, and industry partnerships also present opportunities for healthcare providers to improve financial sustainability and operational efficiency.
To thrive in this environment, health systems must look beyond traditional cost-cutting measures and explore innovative approaches to drive sustainable financial performance and operational efficiency.
Achieving Greater Efficiencies Through an Integrated Approach
Health systems need to take a holistic approach to margin improvement, focusing on areas such as workforce optimization, supply chain management, revenue cycle, and clinical care transformation. Hospitals are complex organizations where financial, operational, and clinical areas are interconnected. For example, improper clinical documentation leads to coding issues, which leads to increased denials. Workforce shortages in clinical areas lead to capacity constraints and lost revenue.
An integrated approach to margin improvement drives greater efficiencies than siloed efforts that focus on individual components of the organization. Hospitals that take a holistic view of their operations— aligning financial, clinical, and operational goals—are better positioned to achieve long-term sustainability
An Integrated Approach Drives Greater Efficiencies than a Siloed One
A Purpose-Built Healthcare Partner
Impact Advisors, a leading healthcare management consulting firm, is at the forefront of providing the expertise, tools, and strategies required to address these challenges. With a proven track record of award-winning leadership, technology expertise, and a commitment to healthcare-specific solutions, Impact Advisors is uniquely positioned to guide health systems through this complex landscape.
With a comprehensive suite of services designed to target each of healthcare’s strategic priorities, including financial improvement, clinical efficiency and quality, workforce optimization, and more, and leverage data and technology to make improved performance sustainable, Impact Advisors delivers lasting, measurable results that empower hospitals to succeed.
Impact Advisors’ Integrated Margin Improvement approach is rooted in leveraging a health system’s existing infrastructure, particularly its technology portfolio, to drive sustainable margin improvement.
Technology-Connected Margin Improvement
By optimizing the use of existing EHR, ERP, and other digital tools, healthcare providers can drive operational efficiencies, reduce redundancies, and improve patient care outcomes. This enables hospitals to achieve measurable financial gains without requiring significant additional investments in technology.
Impact Advisors has an unmatched understanding of electronic health records (EHR) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. This expertise and strong partnerships with vendors in both spaces allows us to integrate technology into the broader margin improvement strategy in ways that maximize its impact. Health systems invest heavily in their EHR and ERP platforms. Our approach focuses on helping clients get the most out of these systems by aligning technology with operational and financial improvement goals. This “technology-connected” approach ensures that improvements are not only sustainable but also scalable across the organization.
Download “Navigating Health System Margin Challenges with an Integrated Approach” to learn more.