Our attention to detail, combined with the experience to understand the regulatory process, results in a final product that gets your organization to the future that you envision.
We offer strategic planning services to assist our clients in determining where their organization is going long-term, and how it’s going to get there.
Keystone’s principal has served as expert witnesses in over 30 contested case proceedings. Each has provided testimony and/or deposition with the expert designation of healthcare planning and certificate of need preparation.
With Keystone’s business planning expertise, clients can more successfully plan, implement and manage new or expanded healthcare services and facilities.
Keystone has considerable experience providing Certificate of Need (CON) planning services to healthcare providers. Since 1997 we have prepared and submitted hundred of CON applications for regulatory review. The bottom line with any CON project is obtaining regulatory approval. Based on this measure, Keystone is a leader. Our measurable result is a high track record of success so your organization can proceed with development plans.
Keystone focuses on offering our healthcare clients straightforward and effective solutions to their regulatory challenges. We have deep knowledge of and wide-ranging experience with CON law. It is no exaggeration to say that we have daily interaction with CON regulators and the regulatory process. The result is a tangible benefit to our clients. In developing your application, we call upon this broad knowledge, technical excellence, reality-based planning, and attention to detail. Combined with our unparalleled reputation for service, your team is sure to be satisfied in entrusting its CON project to Keystone.
Our keys to success with CON projects include a clear focus, an effective strategy, and a concise and realistic application. Throughout the engagement, Keystone will work closely with your team to shape a winning CON strategy. We communicate clearly throughout the project, ensuring that your team is fully engaged. Via the project kickoff, a pre-application conference with regulators, and during application development, Keystone efficiently leads our clients toward a positive outcome. Each CON application is unique and requires a customized strategy. This includes a focus on service area definition, community need, program staffing, proforma financial statements, and conformity with CON law and administrative rules. Our attention to detail, combined with the experience to understand the regulatory process, results in a final product that gets your organization to the future that you envision.
Keystone has developed a client-friendly process for assisting healthcare providers to successfully navigate the regulatory process. Our engagement with you means everything to us. Your project is unique. Your development goal is the centerpiece of our CON engagement. Whether the project has a short or long-lead-time, clients are assured of a comprehensive CON development process.
Keystone works with every type of healthcare provider, on all regulated healthcare services, including:
o Acute care & specialty hospitals
o Ambulatory surgery centers
o Long-term care facilities
o Psychiatric & inpatient rehabilitation facilities
o Hospice inpatient facilities
o Home health & homecare agencies
o Medical diagnostic & therapeutic equipment
Beyond CON applications, Keystone provides alternative regulatory solutions such as material compliance, no review, and CON exemption letters. We participate in the annual planning process of the North Carolina State Medical Facilities Plan. We offer our clients regulatory research, general methodology, and adjusted need determination petitions, public hearing presentations, and advocacy before the North Carolina State Health Coordinating Council. We provide CON services in North Carolina and other states.
Keystone also provides clients with support for CON-related litigation, including defense of approved applications, advocacy of disapproved applications, and opposition to competitor applications. Keystone’s Principal has been designated many times by Administrative Law Judges as an expert witness in health planning and certificate of need preparation.
Keystone understands that the healthcare marketplace is dynamic, and requires that providers engage in proactive and thoughtful organizational planning to effectively compete. We offer strategic planning services to assist our clients in determining whether their organization is going long term, and how it’s going to get there. There is no standardized strategic planning model for organizations. Keystone has the experience and flexibility to guide every client in developing the most appropriate model of strategic planning, whether traditional planning, issue, or goal-based planning or scenario planning.
Keystone assists our clients with strategic planning in ways that support their organizations, including:
-Board-level update of the strategic plan.
-Evaluation of the organization’s Mission, Vision, and Values.
-Assessment of the external environment, including service area and competitive marketplace.
-Internal review of the organization, including service lines, market share, and capacity.
-Financial planning to evaluate long-term feasibility and impact of a strategic vision.
-Communicating organizational goals and objectives to constituents to foster a sense of ownership of the plan.
Strategic planning can be daunting to some organizations. The process of examining Mission, Vision, and Values, competing in the healthcare marketplace, and assessing the future requires knowledge, experience, skill, and fortitude. Keystone is adept at assisting our clients in casting a critical eye upon the organization, understanding the marketplace and industry trends, collecting and interpreting data, challenging assumptions, creating a plan, and then organizing a structured implementation. Keystone also recognizes that communication is essential, and can assist in ensuring that the Mission and Vision are understood by all organization stakeholders.
As important as the strategic plan document is the strategic planning process itself. We provide analysis based upon reasonable assumptions to assist in strategic guidance. Keystone collects and analyzes population and demographic data, and evaluates industry trends in the regulatory environment.
With our 30 years of healthcare experience integral to any organization’s success is effective business and financial planning. Keystone’s Principal has acquired a diverse skill set that has proven to be highly successful for clients. This acumen includes market analysis, need assessment, demand forecasting, competitive analysis, and proforma financial statements. Our clients look to Keystone to provide thorough and creative solutions to multifaceted challenges. Therefore, Keystone’s business planning services are tailored to each provider based on their unique needs. This process can lead to both quantitative and qualitative justification for development or expansion of a provider’s health services. Keystone also considers the relationship the proposed program has with the organization’s Mission and strategic objectives. With Keystone’s business planning expertise, clients can more successfully plan, implement and manage new or expanded healthcare services and facilities.
Effective service line planning requires a healthcare organization to develop a business plan for each of its service lines. Successful service line planning should be aligned with the organization’s overall strategic direction. Ultimately, your organization must prioritize and select the right strategies for the right services at the right time. Keystone can work with your organization to assess the feasibility of existing service lines, develop tactics for expanding existing services, or establish new service lines. Our process is data-driven with a foundation of objective information. Our experience has found that organizations appreciate our constructive method which challenges the status quo and motivates participants to contemplate and develop new opportunities.
