Adoption and perceived effectiveness of financial improvement strategies in critical access hospitals

To ascertain the use and perceived success of strategies to improve the financial performance of Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs).

Information about the use and perceived effectiveness of 44 specific strategies to improve financial performance was collected from an online survey of 291 CAH Chief Executive Officers and Chief Financial Officers. Responses were merged with financial and operational characteristics of the respondents' hospitals obtained from Medicare cost reports. Use rates and perceived success and failure were calculated for each strategy. A cluster analysis was applied to classify strategies based on their use and success. Finally, CAH characteristics were examined to predict the use of individual strategies.

Financial improvement strategies are pervasive among CAHs. The administrators who responded to the survey in this study reported using an average of 17.0 of the maximum 44 strategies listed in the survey questionnaire. Revenue/cost, human resource, and capital strategies were more frequently used than service expansion and reduction strategies. Overall, CAH characteristics did not explain the use or perceived success of specific strategies, but they did partially predict the number of strategies attempted.

CAH administrators have used multiple strategies to improve financial performance with a wide variety of reported success. More research into the effectiveness of specific interventions is needed to help administrators select evidence-based strategies.