Identification of Potential Markets – The Sanford Opportunity Score

The Sanford Opportunity Score (or SOS) is a county-level assessment and scoring of inpatient, outpatient, and clinic encounters originating from the county inside the Sanford Health footprint. The ultimate goal of this score is to aid strategic planning at Sanford Health in the rapid identification of key areas where Sanford has a large potential gain in patient volume and care delivery. This phenomenological model and score takes into account and places varying weights on several quantities, namely, the volume of inpatient encounters, the current and historical market share, the density of physicians, the potential to transform clinic visits to inpatient or outpatient encounters, the payor mix and average reimbursement rate, and the bulk demographics of the market. The SOS has been utilized for two years by the office of Strategic Planning as the cornerstone of the Strategic Briefcase for use across 10+ service lines within Sanford Health.