Healthcare is in the midst of legislative and regulatory change; however the need to get better health outcomes is not a trend but the new reality. To be successful, healthcare organizations need to make the critical move to taking on risk and ultimately manage the health of populations. Stoltenberg Consulting, a leading healthcare technology consulting firm, solves bigger business problems than just implementing software. They understand the process not just the system. Stoltenberg’s healthcare IT consulting team provides strategic, comprehensive, tailor-made guidance and on-site support to maximize your systems, applying application and process redesign expertise. They are flexible, results-based contracts focus on the client and several organizational goals – providing maximum productivity to increase revenue and improve patient care.
The Initiator
Sheri Stoltenberg, CEO & Founder of Sheri Stoltenberg is one of the few people in the field with implementation and project management experience from the vendor side, as well as software beta management, hospital analyst, trainer and manager experience from the provider side, along with consulting practice expertise. She understands the industry from various angles. Sheri stands behind Stoltenberg’s 23+ years of quality service as an HIT industry leader. Prior to establishing Stoltenberg Consulting, she served as a consultant in an advisory service capacity for major software vendor, managing the roll-out of its new flagship product. She then went on to serve as the first woman on the management team of one of Pittsburgh’s largest hospitals. As Director of Ancillary Systems, she was responsible for vendor selection, contract negotiation, budgeting, personnel management and systems implementation for the hospital’s cardiology, laboratory, pharmacy and radiology support systems, among others.
The Foundation Story
Headquartered in Bethel Park, PA, Stoltenberg Consulting was founded in 1995. As an effective HIT consulting firm, one needs to know how to hire outstanding people– people who continually learn and have a willingness and drive to help others achieve success. Stoltenberg Consulting was created because Sheri saw a need in the marketplace. She witnessed firsthand on more than one occasion multiple consulting firms failing to deliver for the hospitals that she worked for. She attributed this to poor hiring practices from firms who overburdened their most talented staff. She also saw an opportunity for talented people who wanted to grow their knowledge and provide outstanding service but needed a work/life balance. She saw too many talented people get burned out because they were passionate, but constant workload took a toll on their time with family.
The Core Principles
The core principles of the company include:
- Treat people the way you want to be treated
- Flexibility requires responsibility
- There is more than one way to achieve outstanding results
- Providing great value does not have to be cost prohibitive
- Always use honest business practices
- Listen and act after understanding fully
Services offered by Stoltenberg
Stoltenberg Consulting delivers information technology and business consulting services, including system selection, project management, implementation, legacy and Tier 1+ Service Desk support, optimization and integration between systems, to healthcare provider organizations. With over 15 years of experience, Stoltenberg consultants hold skills in both financial and clinical systems, offering expertise for Cerner Millennium, Cerner Soarian, Epic, MEDITECH, NextGen, Allscripts and McKesson customers. They make it a priority to ensure all decisions embrace patients across the continuum of care. Stoltenberg understands that all organizations are not created equally. Therefore, they approach clients’ unique challenges with customized support to back each organization’s culture and strategic goals.
Obstacles in the Path of Success
The most difficult obstacle in business is keeping your team at optimal performance. For companies to perform to their highest potential, they go through continual change and improvement processes– forming, norming, storming then performing. Each time a new member joins the team, this process starts over or is revisited. Sheri has realized that each team member has his or her own personality and passion for work. So, she has to nurture a productive team allowing creativity yet expecting near flawless execution and team work with maximization of members’ strengths and weaknesses. This takes time and patience, but they are better for it. Honestly, it is not that different from establishing a solid client relationship.
Success over the Years
Through the past twenty-three years of success, Sheri has seen how the industry has evolved. She said that she is proud of how they are redefining healthcare technology and their managed services support works in healthcare IT. Through their Flex sourcing model, healthcare organizations can get support they need when they need it, without paying for something they do not utilize. This eliminates wasteful spending, drives down costs and improves the health organizations’ clinician and patient satisfaction scores. Stoltenberg is focused on the multifaceted end user, covering the physician, the nurse, the business office and the patient.
Additionally, they have figured out a way to give meaningful careers to young healthcare trained professionals and military veterans alike while focusing on their customers’ needs. They do so with the Consultant Development Program, which provides industry newcomers with focus on project management principles, hospital workflow and clinical transformation with vendor-specific education and technology training in a controlled setting. This addresses healthcare providers’ continuous need for qualified IT resources.
Advice for Practice Management
Within the healthcare industry, reporting and government regulation requirements constantly change with added pressure in the transition to value-based care. As more and more practices struggle to compete independently, leaders need to stay on top of their patient community needs and evolving expectations. Also, practices really need to be strategic with reporting requirements for programs like the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA). Through thorough documentation, better EHR utilization and program category maximization, strategic participation will become a more habitual process.
Future Perspective
As healthcare providers continue to take on risk and move to value-based care, Stoltenberg Consulting has anticipated their needs and helped them to innovate and implement accordingly. Their clients appreciate having a partner like Stoltenberg to drive and enable sustainable change. Stoltenberg is focused on doing what’s best not only for their healthcare provider clients, but also for communities in need.
