Strata Decision Summit Brings Healthcare Leaders Together To 'Bend The Cost Curve'

CHICAGO, Oct. 21, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Strata Decision Technology (Strata Decision) today announced the start of the 2014 Strata Decision Summit, hosting over 400 attendees from the Company's client base of 170 healthcare delivery systems and 1,000 hospitals across the U.S.  Strata Decision provides a cloud-based financial analytics and performance platform that is leveraged for financial planning, decision support and continuous cost improvement.

The theme of the 2014 Summit is 'Bending the Cost Curve' and the conference will focus on how hospitals and healthcare delivery systems are reducing the cost of care while also improving the value of the care they deliver. According to a recent study by the Healthcare Information Management and Systems Society (HIMSS), reducing cost has become the top strategic priority for healthcare providers.  With changing and challenging market dynamics and a movement to value-based and capitated reimbursement, hospitals and healthcare systems have begun to shift their focus from growing the 'top line' to improving the 'bottom line,' from both a clinical and financial perspective.

"Providers are recognizing that the current 'cost data gap' in healthcare is unsustainable and they must take action to bend the cost curve now in order to survive in the future," said Strata Decision's Chief Executive Officer Dan Michelson. "Cost reduction is clearly not a passing trend.  Regardless of whether one is operating in a traditional fee-for-service or a capitated setting, reducing costs has become a board-level imperative. In order to get after it, healthcare leaders are now coming together to share ideas and best practices.  The opportunity to make a difference and make healthcare better is significant."

Keynote Session Highlights

The keynote will feature two world-famous physicians who will share two inspiring and instructive healthcare stories—one that is unfolding right now and one that happened over 20 years ago:

• Dr. Ashutosh Raghuvanshi, Chief Executive Officer, Narayana Healthcare: Dr. Raghuvanshi will discuss India-based Narayana Health's breakthrough of delivering open heart surgery at the same or better quality as in the U.S. for less than 10% of the cost. Their innovative model, featured in the Wall Street Journal and in the Harvard Business Review, has emerged as a global industry standard for low cost, high quality care. 
• Dr. George Lombardi, Nationally-known Infectious Disease Specialist: Dr. Lombardi will discuss his experience receiving a life-altering phone call asking for his help to save a gravely-ill patient. That patient was Mother Teresa, the universally acclaimed Nobel Peace laureate and champion of the world's poor.  Dr. Lombardi's journey to India and his fight to save Mother Teresa's life is a testament to the power and passion of healthcare.

During the keynote, Strata Decision will also highlight the introduction of StrataJazz Continuous Cost Improvement, a new module within StrataJazz® and the first cloud-based solution designed to help healthcare providers reduce cost on a continuous basis.  Shrinking margins coupled with additional market pressures have driven most hospitals to implement major cost reductions with targets of over $100 million. Currently, there are no software applications on the market to support these initiatives, which are time consuming, costly and often ineffective.  Continuous Cost Improvement represents the introduction of a new category of healthcare information technology software, designed to help hospitals and health systems reduce cost and drive the bottom line.

Parrish Medical Center Receives 2014 Strata Decision LEAP Award

Parrish Medical Center (PMC), a210-bed acute care hospital in Titusville, Florida and member of the Mayo Care Clinic Network, was named the recipient of the 2014 Strata Decision LEAP Award. The LEAP (Lead, Excel, Achieve, Progress) Award recognizes healthcare organizations for outstanding performance in the areas of finance and strategy to benefit both their organization and the community that they serve. Past LEAP Award winners include Legacy Health, a five-hospital system based in Portland, Oregon and CHRISTUS Health, one of the nation's largest healthcare delivery systems.

PMC was named the recipient of the 2014 LEAP Award as a result of a number of significant accomplishments:

• PMC leveraged cost accounting and decision support as part of its organization-wide initiative to achieve Medicare break-even for several service lines. Using StrataJazz®, they were able to analyze service lines to identify which DRG's were driving cost, identified the primary cost drivers, benchmark physicians and create population profiles to further control costs across the continuum of care.
• A cross-functional team utilized a lean six sigma methodology to design new processes for Congestive Heart Failure and Total Joint Populations. The new process was adapted from the NASA concept of a "system engineer" approach. The PMC team reduced length of stay without increasing readmissions, improved communication between the clinical staff and physicians, and moved the Congestive Heart Failure service line from loss to a positive margin.
• PMC conducted high cost audit reports to identify larger cost trends and to determine which patients were incurring the highest costs and flagged unusually high cost charges that required additional review. They created population profiles to further control costs across the continuum of care. Their population studies include diabetes, emergency room utilization, and readmissions.
• As part of the diabetes initiative, StrataJazz data was used to identify newly diagnosed diabetes patients. This helps Parrish to start disease management before patients become chronic or high risk—and keep costs down as well as deliver better care.
• PMC also conducted an emergency room utilization study and is now working to place lower cost resources in the community where and when the population needs them to reduce ER traffic and improve costs.
• The hospitalist program, as quantified in StrataJazz, resulted in over $2.2 million in cost savings as well as a decrease in length of stay and readmissions.
• The end result of the overall initiative has been millions of dollars in savings, with several DRG's within key services lines moving from a loss to a positive margin while providing safe, high quality care.

The 2014 Strata Decision Summit is taking place from October 20^th to October 23^rd in Chicago, IL.

About Strata Decision Technology
Strata Decision Technology provides a cloud-based financial analytics and performance platform that is leveraged by healthcare providers for financial planning, decision support and continuous cost improvement. Founded in 1996, the Company's customer base includes 1,000 hospitals and many of the largest and most influential healthcare delivery systems in the U.S.

The Company's StrataJazz® application is a single integrated software platform that includes modules for capital planning, contract modeling, cost accounting, cost management, decision support, financial forecasting, management reporting, operational budgeting and performance improvement and strategic planning.  The Company's headquarters are in Chicago, IL.

For more information, please visit www.stratadecision.com.

Contact:
Lisa Chernikoff, Strata Decision Technology, 312.827.7635 ([email protected])

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SOURCE Strata Decision Technology

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