Pulling the right economic levers

Efforts throughout your restructuring program should be as focused as your targets. If you are targeting large amounts of savings through infrastructure reduction, push for extensive service redeployment, implement new operational enablers and reexamine burdensome policies. If the savings are expected to come from skill mix reduction, analyze the workload, study licensure laws, get comfortable with competency thresholds and understand training costs. If management hierarchy reduction is the key, then put in place qualified managers, foster employee involvement to optimize SDWTs and modify your environment to reward risk taking and initiative. Lastly, if reduced LOS is the savings opportunity, rethink your patient groups. LOS reduction can also be achieved through improved care team continuity with physicians and patients. Understanding how your savings opportunities are influenced by ++your project decisions, direction and emphasis, will help you pull the "right" economic levers to meet your goals. Ultimately, that economic health will allow you to continue to provide uncompromised care and service quality to your communities.