What the Best Healthcare Consulting Firms All Have in Common
The best healthcare consulting firms all retain similar traits that enable them to handle the most important healthcare challenges, including:
- Knowledgeable human capital
- Analytics and data
- Contracting support
- Renegotiation competencies
- Credentialing support
- Understanding of the big picture
- Strong track record of success
Read on to learn more about how the best healthcare consulting firms assist their clients, including a tip on getting premier support for healthcare contracting for your practice today.
1. Knowledgeable Human Capital
One of the most important aspects of the best healthcare consulting firms is a knowledgeable base of human capital. What does this mean, exactly?
Premier healthcare consultancies employ a mix of healthcare experts and strong business minds. This combination offers the benefits of both worlds—what’s best for the patient and what’s best for the healthcare organization.
All of the top healthcare consulting firms employ a combination of the following types of consultants:
- Generalists who have a deep understanding of business growth and development planning
- Subject matter experts who can provide guidance on specific challenges in the healthcare space
- Data and analytics professionals
- Legal and regulatory specialists
- Contract negotiators
What does a healthcare consultant do to offer value? These experts come together to offer a baseline of information which healthcare organizations can leverage to ensure positive results.
2. Analytics and Data
Every consulting firm today must be data-driven and analytically focused. The best healthcare consultancies employ a base of analytical minds that can interpret, model, and project data to drive growth. Pair this with the latest AI and machine learning software, and you have a competent consultant ready to discover and analyze any inefficiency.
3. Contracting Support
The best healthcare consultancies help their clients sign better payor contracts and increase revenue. Contracting support forms the basis of these activities.
The role of consultants in improving contracts between providers and payors cannot be understated. Some of the most important factors include:
- Assisting providers in accessing new networks
- Improving reimbursement rates
- Increasing revenues across the board
- Standardizing contracts to facilitate contract management among staff
- Developing a system of monitoring and evaluating contracts overtime
By enabling providers to sign better contracts, premier healthcare consultancies create a sustainable revenue cycle for their clients.
4. Renegotiation Skills
Renegotiating contracts can be one of the most difficult tasks for any healthcare provider. Payors typically have a leg up in the negotiating process because it is one of the core activities of that business.
Conversely, healthcare providers tend to focus on patient care and are effectively less competent at managing renegotiation efforts.
Finding the right healthcare consulting firm can help providers retain the necessary skills to negotiate with payors and, in effect, help their clients get the best terms for their practice.
5. Credentialing Support
Many payors will omit certain providers from networks due to credentialing requirements. Unfortunately, it can be difficult for a provider to foresee these requirements due to their focus on patient care.
The best healthcare consultancies will preempt these measures and ensure that clients are prepared for the implementation of credentialing requirements per their contracts.
They also will ensure that no added measures are included in contracts that could potentially omit them from a given network. Networks are the bread and butter of any healthcare provider, making inclusion an important aspect of revenue management. Healthcare consultancies bring providers a unique ability to enhance inclusion in these networks.
6. Understanding of the Big Picture
Sometimes big picture considerations can get lost in the shuffle of managing day-to-day operations for healthcare providers. The best healthcare consultancies remedy this issue and help guide their clients on building a strategic vision with their expertise.
Some of the main characteristics of big picture success include:
- Development of a mission, vision, and value proposition for the business
- Drafting short-term goals for success
- Creating a long-term strategic plan
- Understanding the needs and requirements of all stakeholders
A key factor why healthcare consulting is so important is that it helps providers drive success long into the future, and can create a sustainable vision for the business.
7. A Strong Track Record of Success
History is incredibly important in healthcare consulting. The top healthcare consulting firms retain a strong track record of helping their clients grow and remain successful far into the future. Any provider looking for a useful consulting firm to help them meet their business challenges should analyze the track record of a given firm before bringing them on.
Consulting is a unique field that can help drive performance at a fraction of the cost of bringing on full-time staff. Additionally, they can solve problems that hiring additional staff can’t—removing underlying inefficiencies.
PayrHealth: A Leader in Payor Contract Management and Consulting
If you are looking for a top healthcare consulting firm that embodies all of these seven important qualities, consider partnering with PayrHealth.
PayrHealth employs leading healthcare consultants that can help you transform your practice through better payor contract management. With PayrHealth, you will sign better contracts, grow your team, and increase revenue.
Sources:
Vault. 2020 Best Consulting Firms for Health Care Consulting. https://www.vault.com/best-companies-to-work-for/consulting/best-firms-in-each-practice-area/health-care-consulting
