The 2024 Best Firms to Work For: Impact Advisors

CLIENT INDUSTRIES SERVED: Hospitals, Health Systems, Physician Practices and Payers

CONSULTING SERVICE LINES: Strategy, Operations Management, HR, IT, Financial Consulting

Impact Advisors is a leading healthcare management consulting firm committed to solving the industry's emerging and evolving challenges. Our high-performing team of clinical, financial, operations and technology experts collaborate to architect quality solutions and deliver measurable value for our clients. We are the most awarded consulting firm in healthcare, with services recognized among Best in KLAS® for 17 consecutive years and a culture designated "Best Place to Work" by Modern Healthcare for 15 years.

CMAG: What characteristics and elements would you attribute to your firm's inclusion as a Best Firm to Work For?

Since our founding, Impact Advisors has been committed to our people. We've crafted an environment where smart, passionate people with a shared desire to improve healthcare work hard, collaborate, and thrive. We live by our mission to "Create a Positive Impact" and hire colleagues who are committed to our values of I (Integrity) M (Motivation), P (Passion), A (Agile), C (Caring), and T (Talent). Our culture is reinforced in many ways. We ask our team members to reflect on how they've demonstrated our values during performance reviews and ask their colleagues for the same feedback. We actively encourage our Winners to recognize – and celebrate – each other's accomplishments through our High Impact Awards. The firm strives to ensure our staff is supported and happy, so they are more engaged.

CMAG: Are there any specific programs or initiatives that contributed to you being included as a Best Firm?

Several programs have led to our successful and unique culture. A dedicated Happiness team fosters and maintains a positive workplace through ongoing "Happy Checks" with the team, various health and wellness events, and the annual Pet Supermodel Contest. Unlimited PTO encourages work-life balance, and each associate is assigned a dedicated coach to help with professional development. The firm also brings team members together for Impact Palooza, an annual celebration to review future initiatives and celebrate past accomplishments.

CMAG: In describing your firm, what would you say sets it apart from other consulting firms?

We blend our deep expertise in healthcare technology, upon which our firm was founded, with our extensive knowledge of healthcare operations. With this powerful combination and technology underpinning our performance improvement services, we provide scalable, impactful and sustainable results for our clients. Healthcare is our focus, and our consultants understand how its processes, workflows, and platforms can work together, as many of them have served in our clients' shoes. Impact Advisors has been recognized as Best in KLAS® for our technology and improvement services. Being privately-held and founder-led enables us to make the right decisions on behalf of our clients.

CMAG: Where your workforce is concerned, what would you say your priorities look like for the upcoming year and beyond?

We want to retain the strong culture we've created while continuing to grow and expand our teams. We will continue to add services and competencies to meet the evolving needs of our clients.

CMAG: What opportunities do you see as the most promising?

AI holds significant promise for improving healthcare quality, efficiency, and accessibility. Impact Advisors is focused on helping our clients implement real-life uses of the technology. With our AI engineering and UX Design capabilities, we architect use-case-specific solutions that build on existing enterprise capabilities and pull data from multiple sources. Additionally, with increased merger and acquisition activity in healthcare, there is a heightened need to bring technology platforms together. Hospitals and health systems involved in a merger or acquisition often continue to operate as separate organizations long after the event has been finalized, making it impossible to realize the intended efficiency gains and expected economies of scale.

CMAG: What market forces do you see as the most challenging?

Financial pressures will continue, exacerbated by the rising cost of outsourced labor, operational talent not confined by geography, and the aging of the healthcare workforce. Access is an issue and plays on both ends of the spectrum. Some clients struggle to align capacity with their patient demand and lose revenue as a result. Other clients have not been able to bring volumes up to pre-COVID levels. Cybersecurity incidents are increasing and should be viewed as a "when" not "if" scenario. Many organizations focus solely on prevention when they should be rehearsing how to respond to an attack, which can impact finances and access.

CMAG: What impact do you think Best Firm to Work For honors will have on your employees? The firm overall? Clients?

The Best Firm to Work For honor will signify to our employees that they've not only chosen a great firm, but that we rely on their expertise to continue our success as they are the heart of our business. This award also helps us continue to attract prospective consultants. Our clients can be assured that by taking care of our team members, we're creating a workplace that attracts and retains the best and brightest who want to provide high-quality service to them.