To facilitate a proactive margin strategy, the Advisory Board has created the Margin Improvement Intensive to help organizations assess performance both at the individual facility and the system level. The Margin Intensive relies upon the most up-to-date data sources—including CMS's Standard Analytic Files claims databases, MedPAR, Medicare cost reports, and Hospital Compare data sets—to analyze and benchmark performance relative to the industry or a hand-selected cohort of similar organizations.

The 3 elements of the margin improvement intensive

Get 8 strategies to contain future cost growth

1. Customized data diagnosis

The Margin Improvement Intensive begins with a review of your performance across a broad set of margin-related metrics including: direct costs, revenue, contribution profit, pay-for-performance, financial indicators, surgical mix, short stay cases, patient safety/infections, patient satisfaction, PACT revenue at risk, spending efficiency, and more.

2. Executive workshop

One of our expert facilitators will come on-site to deliver the results of your customized data diagnosis and present The Cost Control Atlas, which contains our latest perspective on cost reduction best practices, based on our conversations with hundreds of hospitals and health systems. The workshop is an excellent opportunity for hospital leaders to initiate a strategic review dedicated to strengthening financial performance.

3. Targeted resources

We will also help you access a library of Advisory Board best practices and research specific to your own research memberships that can be incorporated into your margin strategy.