LOS ANGELES, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 09/17/09 -- The Camden Group, one of the nation's leading healthcare business advisory firms, today announced that it has expanded its hospital operations improvement division to help providers effectively manage both the challenges and opportunities that are expected to emerge as a result of healthcare reform initiatives now being debated in Congress.

As part of this expansion, The Camden Group has hired two new vice presidents for the firm's Chicago office: Frank Flosman, MBA, and Bonnie Barndt-Maglio, R.N., Ph.D. These experienced executives join a multi-disciplinary team consisting of clinical and financial operations experts that counsel hospitals and health systems on finding innovative ways to reduce costs, improve efficiency and streamline processes across the care continuum.

"Hospitals want to thrive, not just survive, in what we expect will continue to be a no-growth environment, where reimbursement rates just match today's Medicare rates," said Steve Valentine, president of The Camden Group. "Given these circumstances, hospitals will need to do more than just eke out incremental performance improvements by managing costs in-house. Ultimately, they'll need to find smart and innovative ways to take significant costs out of the process of delivering care to patients. Frank and Bonnie have a proven track record of success of in helping hospitals and health systems to do exactly that."

In light of the healthcare reform proposals now being considered, Flosman and Barndt-Maglio expect to be advising hospitals on incorporating clinical integration components as a key part of their operations redesign efforts. "Hospitals will simply have to 'do more with less,'" said Flosman. "Integrating clinical operations, especially better alignment between hospitals and physicians, will be a critical part of lowering costs and improving outcomes."

Prior to joining The Camden Group, Flosman was a director for Wellspring Partners, where he led operations improvement projects as well as internal initiatives to develop and implement best practice methodologies and tools. Barndt-Maglio also served as a director at Wellspring Partners. Previously, she held administrative and clinical positions in numerous healthcare organizations.

About The Camden Group

With offices in Los Angeles and Chicago, The Camden Group is one of the nation's leading healthcare advisory firms. The firm provides a broad array of healthcare consulting services in areas ranging from strategic and business planning and financial advisory and compliance, to hospital operations improvement and hospital/physician alignment. Since its founding in 1970, The Camden Group has advised more than 1,000 hospitals, medical groups, outpatient facilities, and other healthcare organizations nationwide. For more information, visit us online at www.TheCamdenGroup.com.