Delnor-Community Hospital in Geneva, Ill., wanted to become a national leader in patient satisfaction, as well as the first choice in its primary market. In achieving its goal, Delnor was challenged by the same issues many healthcare organizations are experiencing today, including staff retention and patient/customer satisfaction.

HeartMath LLC, a researched-based solutions provider to the healthcare and corporate markets, assisted Delnor in enhancing its organizational coherence, which was a critical element needed to give Delnor the competitive intelligence edge it was looking for. Delnor initially provided Inner Quality Management workshops, designed by HeartMath, as a vital part of executive training. HeartMath workshops later were offered to all leaders in February 2000, and subsequently, one-day workshops were made available for the entire workforce. Participation was voluntary, but staff members were strongly urged to attend.

Delnor identified a number of successes:

According to Joe Smith, healthcare consultant for HeartMath, "A growing number of healthcare organizations are including a more non-traditional approach to competitive intelligence, which includes organizational coherence-the effectiveness and functioning of the people that make up the organization, as well as the traditional approaches of gathering information and assessing competitive strategies."

One large, well-known MCO wanted to know where it should be focusing its efforts to improve its overall operations. Ernst & Young Health Actuarial Services recommended a managed care assessment by market to compare its performance in five key areas to that of its competitors, says David Axene, partner, Ernst & Young Health Actuarial Services.

"This helped management focus efforts in concrete areas where they could improve with respect to their competitors," Axene says. "They were not able to gather the information themselves and relied on an independent third-party organization to help them complete the analysis. They have continued the basic structure internally and use it regularly to assess where they are positioned in the market."

Due to intense competition, price pressures and rapid consolidation, it is important to gather information on a consistent basis.

Competitive intelligence is information about the target market(s), competition, and employer, member and provider communities, that is specifically relevant to an organization, says Joseph Paduda, principal, Health Strategy Associates, a national consulting firm based in Madison, Conn.

"Examples include provider inter-relationships, market demographics and buying patterns and contracting strategies of health plans," he says.

Competitive intelligence is a vital activity for healthcare, says LuAnne Farrah, president and co-founder of Mark Farrah Associates, consultants in Kennebunk, Maine, specializing in healthcare business intelligence. "Competitive intelligence will help determine which health plans survive and prosper, and which flounder and perish," she says. "Many health plans realize they must gain and maintain a competitive advantage in some market or niche. Yet very few companies know how to launch a successful competitive intelligence initiative."

From Plan to action In order to implement a successful competitive intelligence operation, health plans must have an action plan that directly supports their corporate strategic plans, Farrah says. "It is absolutely essential that the function have buy-in from senior management. The function must be resourced with high-level staff and an adequate budget. Too often, health plan executives expect inexperienced analysts to handle competitive intelligence, and a full commitment to the function is lacking."

In managed care, evolving interests and capabilities of purchasers, consumers, government, providers and other entities are constantly impacting the market and any one player's position in it, says Walt Meyers, director, competitive assessment, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan. "Competitive intelligence offers information that enables an MCO to develop a strategy that meets the requirements of the dynamic market."

At CIGNA HealthCare, competitive intelligence is a professional discipline involving the gathering and detailed analysis of a wide range of information to support fact-based decisions in the company, says Dennis Hickey, assistant vice president, research and intelligence at CIGNA. "This analysis typically includes not just understanding the strengths, weaknesses, tactics and strategies of traditional competitors and new entrants, but also includes assessing trends in medical care and costs, industry regulation, and changing employer benefits needs, among other areas."

Plans also have to know how or why they are not competitive, as the individual becomes more of the consumer/purchaser in the newer products, Axene says. "It's not enough to rely on the brokers and the employers since they less often will be the purchasers in the future," he says.