Challenge
Boone County Health Center (BCHC), a 25-bed Critical Access Hospital located in Albion, Nebraska, was ready for its first strategic initiative in 15 years. The hospital’s new CEO wanted to assess the organization’s direction to ensure its goals and decisions were sound while also identifying any potential gaps and opportunities. Hospital leadership were juggling requests from community members and departments across the organization, and BCHC needed a clear strategic plan on a tight deadline.
Process
Leaders at Boone County Health Center were looking for a partner with knowledge of the unique challenges rural healthcare organizations face. Through research and referrals, they found at stroudwater is the expert in this domain.
“Its not easy to find a firm who truly understands the unique needs of rural medicine,” said Tanya Sharp, CEO of Boone County Health Center. “Stroudwater, however, truly understands the market – working with them was a fantastic experience that delivered actionable next steps for our team on operational, financial, and strategic initiatives.”
Results
Through this project, Stroudwater helped Boone County Health Center identify its five-year goals and define the tasks, milestones, and progress measures that will be crucial to achieve those goals. The hospital was built in 1951, and while it has expanded its acute care facilities over the years, its ambulatory care facilities needed to be modernized. The Rapid Strategic Planning process quickly identified that to address the transition from sick care to healthcare, the ambulatory space on campus would have to be substantially improved. By moving quickly through the strategic planning process and immediately into a Charrette Master Facility Plan, Boone County Health Center was able to confidently execute a building project. The underlying analyses from the Rapid Strategic Plan were seamlessly incorporated into an application to the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Community Facilities program. As a result of our work with the team at Boone, their 47,000-square-foot ambulatory addition, strategically grounded in the needs of the market and funded through the USDA, broke ground on May 26, 2020. This new addition sets the stage for increased primary care capacity and the ability to provide more ambulatory care close to home.