Healthcare, Senior Living, Economics
One of the top questions I’m asked by clients, readers, students, and interested parties everywhere is how can my organization excel in a competitive environment. In other words, how can I build my organization’s value proposition such that the organization becomes the provider of choice in the market? My answer is always thematically the same: … Read more
Earlier this spring (a couple, three moths ago), I spoke at a marketing/P.R. conference and when my session was over, I sat and visited with a number of the attendees. My presentation was about value propositions and marketing; how to align your organization’s core economic value components within a marketplace, within a customer segment. Within … Read more
I don’t write a lot on compliance issues. Given the scope of my firm’s practice in this area, maybe I should. My practice focus is more strategic, policy, research and corporate development while compliance is the purview of another Sr. Partner and it is our largest practice area (by full disclosure, this practice area is … Read more
In news just released, Kindred (the post-acute, skilled, rehab and LTAcH behemoth) has made two separate offers to purchase control of Gentiva, the latest a $14 per share offer consisting of half cash, half stock ($7 and $7). An earlier offer of $13 per share was rejected and it appears the $14 offer will see … Read more
Below is a link to an article from Bloomberg Business Week regarding the Hospice industry and the Medicare Choices Program. My last post covered the elements of this CMS demonstration project. The link comes from the original piece written by Charles Elmore and published in the Palm Beach Post this weekend. Readers will note my … Read more
About a month ago (mid-March), CMS introduced a pilot program called the Medicare Care Choices Model. Basically, this pilot program will allow Medicare beneficiaries to access, via certain participating hospice organizations, dual benefits; hospice and curative treatments, concurrently. Under the current Medicare Hospice Benefit, a patient with a terminal illness or condition, certified likely to … Read more
As a follow-up to a recent post on Boards of Directors and corporate governance (http://wp.me/ptUlY-gq), this post addresses how boards promote success, can often drive mediocrity and in some cases prompt organizational failure. The take-away where success, mediocrity and failure occur isn’t structure, terms or committees rather, a consistent excellence or break-down in terms of … Read more
Over the course of many engagements plus my years as an executive, I’ve addressed and been asked to address, the theme of effective governance, particularly at the Board level. To bring this topic into full context, one of my many “hats” that I wear (periodically), is as an advisor to graduate and post-graduate students working … Read more
Rarely do I write about a specific company as my work doesn’t focus on individual companies per se, more on industries and the policy/economics of health care industry segments. Occasionally, a company’s story typifies an industry flaw or trend or the same is illustrative of an endemic issue (Vitas for example). Amedisys’ continued saga of … Read more
Using characterizations, 2013 was a year of gradual ascent for the industry but not necessarily, uniformly so. After a series of years preceding classified as industry malaise, occupancy began to trend forward and absorption rates stabilize. Industry wide, overall occupancy is hovering around 90% for CCRCs though again, this number is broadly misleading. Non-profit CCRCs, the … Read more