AHFSA 2021 Annual Conference: How HMS Helps State Survey Agencies

As the Association of Health Facility Survey Agencies (AHFSA) returns to in-person events, Healthcare Management Solutions, LLC (HMS) will be the Platinum Sponsor at the AHFSA 2021 Annual Conference in Chicago, September 27–29, which provides a valuable opportunity to show how our expertise is helping state agencies cope with today’s unprecedented crises.

“We are proud and honored to support AHFSA as the sole company in this highest of its sponsorship categories, celebrating the pivotal role of this conference for State Agency members and their personnel,” said HMS President & Owner Leah Heimbach. “The entire survey workforce has been through an incredibly difficult time during the pandemic, making AHFSA’s 51st Annual Conference an important opportunity to reconnect.”

Addressing Challenges through Training

Retention and recruitment were ongoing challenges for state agencies even before the pandemic, but the advent of COVID-19 significantly increased those challenges for many states. HMS’ extensive nationwide network of ready-to-deploy expert surveyors can help relieve state agencies’ staffing pressures.

Those recruitment and retention challenges also increased state agencies’ need for accelerated training. The AHFSA 2021 Annual Conference offers State Agencies a great place to bring their people for immediate in-depth education and peer connections. The 2021 program enables attendees to engage with one another in a collaborative setting designed for problem solving during the era of COVID.

“This year’s conference theme — ​​‘Honoring the Past, Resilience in the Present, Shaping the Future’ — is especially meaningful for everyone in this field working together to incorporate lessons learned during the pandemic, rebuild capacity and move forward out of this historic global crisis,” added Heimbach.

Partnering for Success

HMS has been a vital resource for State Agencies during the pandemic, and is working with them to help accelerate their recovery as much as possible amid ongoing public health challenges throughout the nation.

• Recovery: We have collaborated hand-in-hand with a number of State Agencies, engaging in ongoing dialogues about what their recovery plan should look like and what data they should be looking at to formulate that recovery plan. Many State Agency directors are talking about recovery being a years-long process. Returning to pre-pandemic performance and staffing levels is not something they can do overnight.
• Reprioritizing: We have been helping State Agencies take a step back and look at their workload, analyzing not only what needs to be done but also how it can be done differently, helping them reassess and reprioritize their work. In some instances, good ideas they were considering or even implementing before have to be delayed so their people can focus on more crucial work that needs to be done sooner. HMS brings fresh eyes to what had been standard operating procedures at a State Agency, assisting them in that reprioritization process. We’re able to bring dispassionate analysis to the table.

A Must-Attend Conference

Chicago is truly the place to be for everyone in the state survey field September 27–29, as the AHFSA 2021 Annual Conference offers a time to look at how the pandemic impacted the entire state-survey ecosystem and develop new resilience strategies for the future. HMS will be one of 10 exhibitors, offering attendees even more information they can take home and put to use immediately.

For more information and to register, visit http://www.ahfsa.org/AHFSA-2021-Annual-Conference.