WILLMAR -- Rice Home Medical will become more sales-driven and market-focused under a new strategic plan endorsed Wednesday by the Rice Memorial Hospital Board of Directors.
Rice officials say it will help position the durable medical equipment operation for increased growth.
"This is a three-years-plus plan," said Bill Fenske, Rice's chief financial officer. "The idea is that as we grow, we grow profitably, not just grow for the sake of growing."
Strengthening Rice Home Medical is among the goals of an overall strategic plan adopted by the city-owned hospital nearly two years ago.
The business has been profitable and is expected to end 2011 with $7.3 million in net revenue. It has retail operations in Willmar, Madison, Redwood Falls and Alexandria.
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But it belongs to an industry that's competitive and changing rapidly. Increasing sales while operating efficiently and finding ways to differentiate itself in the market will be critical to continued success, said Mike Schramm, hospital CEO.
"That's a big part of what our focus is," he said. "We've had a number of meetings to ultimately get to where the plan is. We're looking to make a number of different changes."
Among the components of the newly adopted strategic plan:
- Evaluating pricing to determine the best value.
- Increasing inventory turnover.
- Creating two new management positions -- a sales director and a business development director, who can focus more closely on increasing sales and widening Rice Home Medical's market.
- Upgrading the computer system to enhance the ability to gather and analyze data.
- Exploring unmet needs and identifying opportunities for new markets.
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- Exploring opportunities for specialty and niche markets.
- Examining services and products to determine which ones might be expanded, which could be added or which ought to be dropped.
As the result of a corporate restructuring last year that brought Rice Home Medical under the direct umbrella of Rice Hospital, several internal functions such as billing and payroll are now being shared, said Lisa Ziehl, operations manager of Rice Home Medical.
Efforts will continue to identify opportunities for this type of streamlining, she said. "We'll look at combining services where it makes sense and where it doesn't."
Rice officials also want to develop a marketing plan that brands Rice Home Medical and sets it apart from its competitors.
Social networking can be one way to reach out, especially to adult children who live outside the area and are caring for aging parents in west central Minnesota, Fenske said.
"This I think is a really big opportunity for us," he said. "If we can get ahead of that and have a very effective presence, I think that's going to be very positive for us."
Many of the initiatives in the strategic plan are already under way, he said. Some of the largest goals, however, likely won't be accomplished until 2014.
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Schramm said "a lot of work" went into developing the plan this past year. "We think we've got a good plan," he said.
