Huron Consulting Group Releases Huron Healthcare CEO Forum Report Providing Perspectives from Hospital Executives on Industry Issues for 2014

Huron Consulting Group Releases Huron Healthcare CEO Forum Report Providing Perspectives from Hospital Executives on Industry Issues for 2014

Huron Consulting Group (NASDAQ: HURN), a leading provider of business consulting services, today announced the release of a new report which indicates that even healthy hospitals will need to reduce cost by 20-40 percent. In addition, the report notes that this year hospital and health system CEOs will be addressing transformative changes to the way care is delivered and striving to integrate this change across the enterprise.

The report, “Achieving Healthcare Transformation: Insights from the Huron Healthcare CEO Forum,” provides perspectives from nearly 25 executives from healthcare organizations around the country who participated in the fourth annual .

“To successfully implement this magnitude of change, healthcare leaders are examining key aspects of their business, and determining their path forward,” said , executive vice president, . “Clinical transformation, revenue transition, scale and integration, and operational excellence are the four levers they will need to pull – in varying combinations – to achieve quality and financial goals, and advance their missions.”

In the Huron Healthcare report the CEOs discussed their visions for the future, and three key themes for creating a foundation for success in 2014 emerged:

Transitioning revenue streams. Organizations have begun to commit resources toward the fee-for-value model, but the majority of revenue is still tied to the fee-for-service model. Executives are bridging the two models through traditional cost-cutting and revenue-enhancement approaches, as well as exploring alternative revenue streams.

Achieving clinical integration. Clinical integration is essential to lowering the total cost of care and achieving success in the post-reform environment. Healthcare leaders are creating new organizational and governance structures that support clinical integration – as well as high-value, more affordable care.

Developing talent for the future. New payment and care delivery models require new leadership competencies, many of which may need to come from outside traditional healthcare paradigms and roles.

“Achieving transformation of the healthcare enterprise – improving performance by 20 to 40 percent while transforming care delivery and incorporating new payment models – continues to be a major leadership challenge for healthcare executives,” said , managing director and Clinical solutions leader, . “As CEOs lead their organizations through this evolution and its many challenges, the benefits of success are becoming a reality: higher quality care that is more affordable, innovative, and accessible.”

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is the premier provider of performance improvement and clinical transformation solutions for hospitals and health systems. By partnering with clients, Huron delivers strategy and solutions that improve quality, increase revenue, reduce expenses, and enhance physician, patient, and employee satisfaction across the healthcare enterprise. Clients include leading national and regional integrated healthcare systems, academic medical centers, community hospitals and physician practices. ranked Huron Healthcare third on its 2013 list of the largest healthcare management consulting firms. Learn more at or follow us on Twitter: .

Huron Consulting Group helps clients in diverse industries improve performance, reduce costs, leverage technology, process and review large amounts of complex data, address regulatory changes, recover from distress and stimulate growth. Our professionals employ their expertise in administration, management, finance, operations, strategy and technology to provide our clients with specialized analyses and customized advice and solutions that are tailored to address each client's particular challenges and opportunities to deliver sustainable and measurable results. The Company provides consulting services to a wide variety of both financially sound and distressed organizations, including healthcare organizations, leading academic institutions, Fortune 500 companies, governmental entities and law firms. Huron has worked with more than 90 of the top 100 research universities, more than 400 corporate general counsel, and more than 385 hospitals and academic medical centers. Learn more at .