Consultant Spotlight

Daniel J. Marino: Identifying Opportunities

Every health care organization wants to improve its performance. The hard part is identifying concrete opportunities and solutions for sustained success. Even where an organization's problems are obvious, it is not always easy to spot the points where change will yield results. That's where Daniel J. Marino makes a difference.

Dan, a vice president with Health Directions, has an exceptional background in health care operations and information systems. He specializes in using this expertise to not only understand an organization's problems, but zero in on its specific opportunities to enhance performance and increase revenue.

This strong operational perspective, Dan believes, is one thing that sets Health Directions apart. “The people at Health Directions understand the intricate details of how hospitals and group practices run,” he says. “That gives us a unique ability to uncover weaknesses, turn them around into strengths and achieve excellent outcomes.”

Digging into the Details

Dan has been a member of the Health Directions team for the last seven years. Clients are impressed by his ability to use financial information as a diagnostic tool. They also appreciate his willingness to dig in and learn their unique situation. “It is important for a consultant to learn all about the client's physicians, patients and community,” says Dan. “Understanding these details is the only way to truly understand the client's strengths and opportunities.”

As the leader of several major engagements, Dan has helped clients discover powerful strategies for improving performance. His accomplishments include:

•  Helping a large academic faculty plan in the South identify and address a variety of clinical, operational and technological challenges to achieve improved financial outcomes, patient access and physician satisfaction. Improvements in business processes alone represented increased annual revenue of $13 million.

•  Working with an East Coast multispecialty group to optimize revenue cycle processes across the group's operations. Implementation of new patient-focused revenue cycle processes and procedures ultimately yielded more than $10 million in additional yearly revenue.

•  Assisting several medical groups throughout the Midwest improve practice operations, physician relations, managed care contracting and technology deployment, resulting in superior bottom line performance.

Hitting the Target

As a frequent speaker at IDX user conferences, Dan brings a practical perspective to the technology dialogue. He believes one piece of the IT puzzle that organizations frequently overlook is the need to efficiently integrate revenue cycle processes with information technology. “Without strong front-end and back-end processes, a client's investment in practice management information systems just doesn't pay off.”

In addition to his participation at information system forums, Dan speaks regularly at events such as Medical Group Management Association conferences. He is an active member of the MGMA and the Chicago Health Executive Forum, and his background includes both an MBA and an MHA from Xavier University in Cincinnati.

Dan believes one of the most important aspects of a successful engagement is communicating with the medical staff. “The key to working with physicians is gaining their trust,” he says. “I concentrate on presenting financials in a way that allows physicians to understand where their opportunities lie in improving their business.”

In the right hands, opportunities lead to results. “For most engagements, we are able to identify specific performance opportunities and goals,” says Dan. “Whenever clients have embraced those goals, we have always been able to hit our targets.”

Click here to learn how Daniel J. Marino and the Health Directions team can help you get Fiscally Fit.