Published July 2003

Consulting firm aims to help health-care providers

By Kimberly Hilden
SCBJ Assistant Editor

An unsettled economy hasn’t stopped Barbara Derry or Crystal Nolan from following a longtime passion: caring for health-care organizations.

In March, the two health-care administrators formerly with Virginia Mason struck out on their own to form Derry, Nolan & Associates LLC, an Edmonds-based consulting firm specializing in financial and operational improvement strategies for health-care organizations.

Organizations are struggling under the weight of surging malpractice premiums, declining reimbursements and cost-incurring governmental regulations, Nolan said.

“Many groups are struggling — and it’s big and small. It’s not limited,” she said. “There are solo practitioners that are in every bit as much trouble as a 100-physician practice group.”

To those groups, Derry, a certified medical practice executive and nurse, and Nolan, a Fellow in the American College of Medical Practice Executives, offer a number of services, including consulting and implementation strategies for:

• Waste reduction — whether in labor, inventory or processes.
• Workflow and operational assessment strategies.
• Business planning and marketing.
• Financial analysis and cash-flow management.
• Medicare compliance for medical practices.
• Interim management as well as staff recruitment.

“Because these physicians are in challenging financial times, they’re not in the position to lay out a lot of cash for health-care consultants to come in, do an assessment and write a 40-page report, so we provide a couple of things,” Nolan said.

First, there is a one-hour complimentary meeting in which clients discuss their needs and Derry and Nolan begin to formulate solutions.

Second, there is a monthly maintenance program in which a client can retain the firm’s services for five to 10 hours a month to work on “the need of the day,” whether that’s an issue with staffing, accounts receivable or patient complaints, Nolan said.

And with the consultants’ 60-plus years of combined experience in the health-care industry, they can assess situations and give clients direction quickly, Derry said.

Since starting the company, Derry and Nolan have helped physicians with career planning as well as a family medical clinic with financial and operational improvement plans. In the coming months, Derry will be providing education and training on Medicare compliance for a third-party billing company.

The two partners, who helped develop and design the Virginia Mason Lynnwood facility, also have met with contractors and architects of medical office projects to lend their expertise on space-flow efficiency for patients and staff.

Whatever the project, both Derry and Nolan agree that personal connection with the client is key.

“We don’t want to be ‘those consultant types’ who go in and write a report, drop some industry standards on somebody’s desk and walk out,” Nolan said. “We want to be there to truly help a group or a doctor through the change process.

“We want to leave them better off than when we found them, just like a doctor wants the patient to be better after they see them,” she said.

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