Posts Tagged ‘compliance’

Along the Way…Things Became Very Interesting

January 31st, 2011

Two years ago I began this new journey, but not until a few months ago did my work in consulting really begin to take shape in a way that could never have been predicted.

As the challenges of our present economic times have become increasingly daunting, my personal and professional journey has become even more dedicated to innovation and creativity. One goal has been to provide new alternatives to past practices that will create value for patients. This means making a contribution to saving and transforming lives, while producing cost savings and financial stability, and developing new markets to enable provider growth in their missions.

Olympic National Park, Port Angeles, WA - Nick Jacobs, FACHE - Healing Hospitals - SunStone Consulting

The driving force behind my exploration began with asking how we can begin to control those out of control expenses that are currently blurring the lines between continued care for our population, and rationing or elimination of services?  But, the answer(s) must enable us to continue to add healing opportunities for our patients at every turn.

Because my creative energies have always been focused on producing more ways to generate new monies for whatever organizations I have personally represented,  it seemed somewhat foreign to me to spend more time on fiscal issues than creative alternatives.  However, with literally millions of Baby Boomers coming of age each year, it was obvious that our entire culture is at risk both fiscally and socially. Consequently, after listening carefully to my peers, several opportunities presented themselves that would address all levels of these concerns.

Through the combination of their proprietary software and dozens of years of combined knowledge in the healthcare finance field, SunStone Consulting, LLC, spends each and every working day addressing the challenges of finding monies that should already have been captured by hospitals and physician practices, while also creating new opportunities that have heretofore not been explored. That’s where SunStone Management Resources comes into play.

SunStone Consulting - Nick Jacobs, FACHE

We have identified new companies, new entrepreneurs and new creatives who can not only improve healthcare, but also significantly improve the bottom line of those organizations willing to embrace their programs. One such company with whom we are partnering can increase Emergency Room productivity by as much as 35 to 50%.  They can also help do the same for cancer centers and operating rooms. They utilize robotic systems that communicate patient needs and simultaneously seek out the appropriate medical services required as soon as the patient is triaged. The patient’s condition and potential requirements are communicated to every individual who will or should have contact with them throughout their hospital stay.

We have also identified what I refer to as “no brainer” opportunities. By making otherwise locked fiscal percentages  a commodity, even small and medium sized organizations can save huge dollar amounts. How? By changing out only the electronic reading devices used hospital-wide. This simple change has resulted in huge fiscal savings for clients.

Add to examples like those above the introduction of  a new invention that, in the right hands, can help to extend some types of Stage 3B and Stage IV cancer patients’ lives from months to years through a relatively simple post-surgical procedure. Also consider the invention of new materials that would support bone growth, while virtually eliminating the need for casts or even slings. Imagine a series of protocols that have brought over 40 people out of deep, irreversible comas. Then, on a completely different path, consider having access to  the cumulative knowledge garnered from over a hundred million dollar investment in breast cancer care.  (This is about to be made available to small and medium sized hospitals across the world.)

These are but a sampling of  just some of the opportunities currently driving my passion in this new healthcare world order.

You may want to make a simple inquiry into what’s behind the innovative, practical, and incredible creations of the brilliant people doing this work.  It’s not just so many words on a page.  It is the future, and the future for you and your organization could be now.

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Posted in Boomers, Healthcare, Hospital Administration

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Thinking at the Beach

August 13th, 2009

In January, my journey to create a new division for SunStone Consulting, LLC, began, and, with the economy in a deep slump, it appeared to be a journey fraught with almost insurmountable challenges.  How does one begin a new division during a time when most organizations were digging deeply into self-preservation mode?

Photo credit: Generation Y Travel
Outer Banks, NC | Photo credit: Generation Y Travel

The first concept that we explored was to help organizations, groups, councils, and associations assist their members while providing either a stream of income or discounts for these organizations.  Several companies responded positively to this idea: Chambers of Commerce, Hospital organizations, and others signed on for involvement in these relationships.

By March, nearly 20 companies had come on board and 12 more have followed since then.  We brought on two additional marketing specialists to assist us with these contacts.  The areas of interest ranged from Environmental to Government; software to construction projects, from hazardous waste to  fund raising, building quality initiatives into employee job descriptions; and economic development to educational training for management.

Once it was clear that this component of the new division was going to be functional and effective, we placed our focus and emphasis on direct consulting, which, due to the economy, was a much greater challenge.  This effort started very slowly as organization after organization expressed sincere interest but most also faced serious budgetary challenges.  Of course, for SunStone Consulting’s other financial divisions, because they specialize in finding the money that typically was already earned by the hospital or assisting with compliance and billing issues, business remained strong.

telemedicine_connectsDuring this time some very interesting assignments appeared including:  a university wellness program, multiple brain-oriented companies, as well as two PTSD, and two combat wound injury-related programs.  This part of the new division is now beginning to flourish with assignments ranging from the military to a hospital-based disaster recovery center, from telemedicine in rural hospitals to development efforts in Indiana, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and California.

As we move forward into this next quarter, it is clear that the new division will produce results through rewarding relationships for all companies involved.

Some of you have asked me how this effort relates to having been a hospital CEO, and that answer is clear.  As a CEO, my days were filled with challenges, with literally dozens of special efforts emanating from numerous areas.  For example, here is a typical  list of topics dealt with on a CEO’s agenda:   meetings regarding the following:

  • Community Fitness Center
  • Tissue Repository
  • Breast Center
  • Hospice
  • OB department expansion
  • Pharmacy
  • Operating Rooms scheduling
  • Emergency Department
  • a construction project
  • marketing efforts for a new initiative
  • finance

If you can’t multi-task, the position of CEO is not a place to be, and keeping up with these consulting clients is just as stimulating.

By March, nearly 20 companies had come on board and 12 more have followed since then.  We brought on two additional marketing specialists to assist us with these contacts.
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Posted in Development, Healthcare, Hospitals

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The Coming HIPAAcalypse?

November 14th, 2008

Mayan CalendarThere was a television show on at about 3:00 AM the other morning that, once again, predicted the end of the world. This time, it was the manifestation of predictions from two ends of the earth: both the ancient Chinese and the Mayan Indians concluded 5,000 years ago that the world would end on December 21, 2012. (I think that Merlin the Magician was involved too, but he would have been just a kid 5,000 years ago!) Both predictions were written at nearly the same time, and both predicted the same date, but I believe that I have discovered what may contribute to this major catastrophe:

It is my prediction that the collapse of the planet as we know it will come from HIPAA.

According to Wikipedia,

“The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act was enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1996. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services explain that Title I of HIPAA protects health insurance coverage for workers and their families when they change or lose their jobs. Title II of HIPAA, known as the Administrative Simplification (AS) provisions, requires the establishment of national standards for electronic health care transactions and national identifiers for providers, health insurance plans, and employers.”

Sounds pretty reasonable, doesn’t it? Just hire a full time security person for your electronic medical records, oh and don’t forget to spend millions to create the medical records in the first place. After that, life will be just fine? Right? Wrong.

If you have had little training in what the term oxymoron means, this would be a classic example; “The Administrative Simplification provision.” This provision was intended to deal with the privacy and security of health data. That is also a very noble idea. If two patients are in the same room, and someone is discussing the status of either patient, there should be a sound proof curtain between them. Soundproof curtains would also qualify as an oxymoron. For those of us who have lived this nightmare called HIPAA, Senator Kennedy has often been quoted regarding the fact that his intentions when designing this act have become grossly bureaucratic in their implementation.

Here’s the totally mystifying, Merlin-type description; the standards are meant to improve the effectiveness of our health care system by encouraging the extensive use of electronic data interchange in the U.S. health care system. Seriously, all of this sounds good. The problem comes when hundreds or thousands of government bureaucratic health care wonks and healthcare attorneys are introduced into the equation.

Well, a few weeks ago, according to Managed Healthcare Executive Magazine, the department of Health and Human Services, Office of Civil Rights (OCR) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) and Providence Health Services, Providence Health System, and Providence Hospice and Home Care entered into the first case where a monetary settlement was paid to resolve a potential violation of the HIPAA privacy and security standards.

Providence agreed, without admission of liability, to pay $100,000 to the government over a data breach. This case did not involve a single egregious violation. So, it appears that, HHS may believe that enforcement time has come as they become more aggressive in their investigations and enforcement of these laws. Hence, the end of the world may be approaching. If all of the hospitals are fined into closure, and then the avian flu hits, the most often heard phrase will be “Hasta la vista, Baby.”

I don’t mean to make light of such an important topic as patient confidentiality or the potential portability of health insurance, but, if any of us mere mortals could objectively step back and witness the chaos, expense, and outright insanity created by the current implementation of these statutes, the only objective phrase that could eventually emit from that experience would be, “Holy, $%#@&!”

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Posted in Healthcare, Hospital Administration

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