Stroudwater Associates Further Increases Support for Rural & Community Healthcare

PORTLAND, Maine - Jan. 20, 2022 - PRLog -- Stroudwater Associates, the nation's leading source for strategic, operational, financial, and clinical strategy for rural and community healthcare, announced today that it has surpassed its impact goals for 2021 and anticipates growth in 2022.

Over 20 rural hospitals have closed since the start of the pandemic, making it the largest loss of rural hospitals since the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services and Research started keeping records in 2005. To support rural communities and remaining hospitals through this enormous loss, Stroudwater Associates continued to build on its mission to partner with healthcare leaders to positively impact community health across the United States through new service offerings and enhancements to cloud-based applications.

In 2021, the advisory firm's clinical team launched a prescription opioid management program to assist primary care clinics and provider practices in managing chronic-pain patients on long-term opioid therapy. The clinician-led team worked closely with the University of Washington Department of Family Medicine and Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute to become practice facilitators of the Six Building Blocks Program. Additionally, Stroudwater Associates' analytics team developed and launched two cloud-based applications to help hospital leaders improve revenue, increase efficiency, and maximize pricing integrity.

"We are proud that our partnership with healthcare systems continues to positively impact rural communities across the country," said Stroudwater Associates Managing Director Jeff Sommer. "It underscores our belief that by combining the power of our team with health system leaders, we can lift rural and community healthcare and transform it for the future needs of the 60 million Americans who depend on it."

Stroudwater Associates 2021 impact by the numbers:

• Advised hospital and healthcare systems that serve communities consisting of 22.9 million people
• Served hospitals, health systems, and physician groups through 478 engagements
• Worked with clients and communities in 45 states

Through its strategic partnership with StroudwaterGCL, the organization had a greater impact with the closing of a loan with a hospital in New Jersey that serves a population size of over one million, forty-five thousand people.

To continue to build on its mission, Stroudwater Associates hired five new team members,

• Wade Gallon (https://www.stroudwater.com/team/wade-gallon/), MPA, FHFMA, supports clients through financial and operational analysis and cost report review
• Kirsten Meisterling (https://www.stroudwater.com/team/kirsten-meisterling/), MS advises hospitals and healthcare providers on physician-hospital alignment, physician practice, and hospital performance improvement
• Megan Zook assists consultants and clients as project coordinator and oversees timelines and deliverables
• Macey Spears is the relationship officer for StroudwaterGCL and works with clients on funding rural health investments
• Jolene Robichaud assists  StroudwaterGCL on projects, timelines, and client deliverables

"Stroudwater is continuing to grow, and the expansion of our team allows us to continue to better serve existing clients and work with more healthcare leaders," says Stroudwater Board Chair Eric Shell. "The addition of new consultants speaks to our commitment to improving healthcare with the highest value of advisory services we can offer to clients and our team's expert approach."

To learn more about Stroudwater, visit www.stroudwater.com.

About Stroudwater Associates

Founded in 1985, Stroudwater Associates is a leading national healthcare consulting firm with offices in Atlanta, Nashville, and Portland, Maine. We focus on strategic, operational, and financial areas where our perspective offers the highest value for rural hospitals, community hospitals, healthcare systems, and large physician groups. Stroudwater's team includes clinicians, managers, corporate officers, investment bankers, financial analysts, and content specialists with deep domain expertise.

Sources

"Why rural hospital closures hit a record high in 2020." www.beckershospitalreview.com 16 March 2021. https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/why-rural-hospital-closures-hit-a-record-high-in-2020.html.

"How the pandemic killed a record number of rural hospitals." www.cnn.com 31 July 2021. https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/31/health/rural-hospital-closures-pandemic/index.html