Transforming Financial Planning Across Nearly 100 Oncology Locations
Industry:
Solution:
Client:
Specialty Clinics
Workday Adaptive Planning
Regional Oncology Network
The Challenge
A complex, multi-site operation was relying on manual financial planning.
For a regional oncology network with nearly 100 locations, financial planning had become increasingly difficult to manage through spreadsheets.
Revenue depended on procedure volume and mix. Physician compensation was tied to productivity and RVUs. Payer mix and reimbursement rates varied by location. High-cost equipment required long-term capital planning. And corporate finance needed visibility across the network without losing the detail required at the individual location level.
The result was a budgeting process that was slow, manual, and difficult to scale.
Aggregating budget data location by location took weeks. Comparing actual performance to budget was difficult. And rolling up headcount costs across the network required finance teams to manually stitch together data from dozens of spreadsheets.
The organization needed a more connected way to plan, forecast, and understand performance across its locations.
Our Approach
Connecting operational drivers to the financial plan
Ascend worked with the oncology network to build a planning environment in Workday Adaptive Planning that connected the operational data driving the organization's financial performance. Rather than relying on historical trends and manually updated spreadsheets, the new model incorporated the business drivers behind revenue and expenses, giving finance leaders a more dynamic view of the organization.
This approach allowed the network to connect financial planning with the operational activity happening across its locations.
The Solution
Building a connected planning process around the data the organization already had. Ascend integrated the systems and data sources the finance team relied on to create a more automated and scalable planning process.
Procedure and Patient Volume
Location-level patient and procedure volume data was integrated into Adaptive Planning to drive revenue and expense models directly from operational activity.
Workforce Planning
Headcount data from Workday HCM was connected to Adaptive Planning, allowing personnel expenses to be modeled automatically and eliminating manual reconciliation.
Automated Reporting
Monthly reporting packages were automated, removing the need for finance teams to manually compile location-level reports and giving stakeholders access to consistent, timely information.
Role-Based Dashboards
Dynamic dashboards were developed for both location managers and executive leadership, giving each audience the level of detail they needed to monitor performance and make informed decisions.
The Results
A faster budget cycle and continuous visibility into performance
The new planning environment transformed how the oncology network manages its financial planning process.
More than 3 weeks
Shortened budget cycle
Nearly 100 locations
Connected through a centralized planning model
Real-time visibility
Access to KPIs and budget-versus-actuals by location
Instead of spending weeks consolidating spreadsheets and preparing reports, the finance team gained continuous access to the information needed to understand performance across the network.
The Impact
From manual consolidation to connected, driver-based planning
Workday Adaptive Planning gave the organization a more scalable way to manage the financial complexity of a growing specialty healthcare network.
By connecting procedure volumes, workforce data, and location-level financial information, finance leaders can forecast based on the operational drivers that actually affect the business.
The result is a planning process that is faster, more connected, and better equipped to support decisions across the organization.