5 Ways Strategy Management Software Helps Healthcare Manage COVID-19

During the unprecedented pandemic year of 2020 and into 2021, healthcare organizations, whether public or private, have felt the pressure of tightening budgets, and rapidly changing policies and regulations. Healthcare leaders have had to develop and implement strategic plans to keep their organizations ahead of the curve. So, it’s critically important for healthcare organizations to ensure their business objectives are still being met during the pandemic.

Knowledgeable healthcare organizations are investing in solutions that track and measure KPIs and other organizational performance data, and allow leaders to make data-driven changes to improve organizational performance—solutions like Spider Impact.

The right strategy management software can help healthcare organizations measure their KPIs, and make fast, effective improvements. Let’s look at five ways a strategy management solution can help healthcare companies continue to navigate COVID-19, and set themselves up for success in the future.

1. Visualize Multiple Scenarios

Tracking an organization’s needs during a crisis requires real-time data and systems that can perform complex scenario modeling in seconds. Healthcare organizations using strategy management software will be able to consistently plan for, visualize, and forecast multiple scenarios.

Healthcare KPIs such as revenue, supply costs, service costs, average pay and average hours worked can be tracked and updated in real-time, giving managers access to actionable insights when it's needed.

2. Achieve Accurate Planning & Insight Across Dimensions

Budgeting and forecasting in healthcare relies on integrated data from a variety of sources. Keeping up with all of the planning required by healthcare organizations requires a more sophisticated system than spreadsheets. In order to forecast realistic margins, healthcare organizations can benefit from a solution that automates the consolidation of their data.

In healthcare, revenue planning and reporting involve multiple dimensions, such as the type of patient or type of service offered. As such, forecasts should be linked to both financial and patient data sources to achieve accurate planning across all areas of the organization.

Strategy Management software can incorporate data from individuals, teams and departments, and track Healthcare KPIs related to each.

3. Enable Better HR Planning

One of the major impacts of COVID-19 is the need for an increased workforce to care for patients. Responses from healthcare organizations could include premium pay, additional staff, sick leave or even a reduction of benefits.

With changing work conditions and regulations, many healthcare organizations are increasingly turning to strategic performance management solutions like Spider Impact to unify data from their financial and HR departments to better spot human resource factors affecting the business. Healthcare organizations can track top-performing teams and measure resources across a wide range of metrics to avoid over or understaffing.

4. Create Comprehensive Financial Statements

COVID-19 has presented a number of changes to typical KPIs measured by healthcare organizations including accounts payable, average treatment charge, and supply chain costs.

Hospitals may need to extend payment terms for patients during the pandemic, as many could be without an income or waiting for government aid. Average treatment charge is typically measured with the objective to reduce hospital costs, but this may not be the case during the pandemic. Supply chain costs are also heavily affected, as any shortages cause a spike in supply costs, meaning hospitals may need to plan for more inventory.

In terms of cash flow, issues are likely to arise around a slower claims process and a reduction in point-of-service collections. Organizations may even face increases in governmental receivables. As such, healthcare organizations must be prepared to create P&L, balance sheet and cash flow statements that reflect constantly shifting operations.

5. Visualize & Analyze KPIs Using Dashboards

Healthcare organizations need to perform variance analysis to see the true impact of COVID-19 on their planning. To better visualize active planning, dashboards can be created in strategic performance software like Spider Impact. Dashboards help healthcare leaders quickly evaluate KPI performance.

For example, dashboards can be set up to help healthcare organizations analyze the difference between headcount costs and revenues, and accounts receivable and sales. All data is pulled in and consolidated to present an overview that is customized and relevant to unique team members.

Because the dashboard is linked to live budgets and reports, when changes are made, they are automatically reflected in the visualization. Dashboards can be set up to track all KPIs at once, giving a comprehensive look at the entire organization’s strategic performance.

See What Spider Impact Can Do for Your Healthcare Organization's KPI Performance

Let us show you how Spider Impact can revolutionize your healthcare organization's KPI management/measurement and performance reporting. Request a free test drive or demo.