Mainstream Mindfulness

Last week, members of the Croixstone Consulting crew attended an educational seminar hosted by HopeWay Foundation, a Charlotte-based 501(c)(3) that supports mental health wellness.  The guest speaker was Dan Harris, ABC News anchor and author of 10% Happier and Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics.

Dan Harris has become a huge advocate of mental health wellness, and meditation, following his personal experience with a nationally televised panic attack.

Meditation has become fully mainstream, and companies like Google, Nike, and Apple are proponents of mindfulness training.  Learn more here.


The Booming US Healthcare Consulting Market

Valued at $45 billion last year, the US management consulting market relating to healthcare is booming.  How so?  Well, the healthcare consulting sector is expected to break the $60 billion mark by the end of next year.

The main drivers of growth in the US healthcare management consulting market include:

  • Healthcare IT
  • Adoption of cloud technology
  • Digitalization
  • Value-based care
  • Compliance
  • Big data and analytics

Charlotte Region By the Numbers

In June, the Charlotte Regional Partnership announced that it was launching a new quarterly economic activity report to capture an overarching look at capital investment, job growth and other important business data across the 16-county Charlotte region.  We read the published report and learned that the vast majority of companies that located or expanded in the region are manufacturers.  The report also reinforced that financial services is not the largest employer among the region’s industry sectors (it is healthcare by a large margin).  Read the new report here.


Top Health Industry Issues

There is no shortage of challenges facing the USA’s healthcare industry.  The USA spends more on healthcare per capita than other developed nations yet lags in outcomes.The misuse of and addiction to opioids—including prescription pain relievers, heroin, and synthetic opioids such as fentanyl—is a serious national crisis that affects public health as well as social and economic welfare. Learn about the 12 dominant forces that will have the most impact on the healthcare industry in 2018 courtesy of PwC Health Research Institute’s annual report.


Industry Profile: Healthcare

Did you know that healthcare accounts for 1 in 10 jobs in the Charlotte region? That represents more than 137,000 diverse workers offering varied skill sets and education levels.  And did you know that the Charlotte region has the largest concentration of medical device manufacturers in the Carolinas?  With a total impact estimated at $13.4 billion, the healthcare sector has a significant, and rapidly-growing, impact on the Charlotte region’s economy.  Learn more about our local healthcare sector via industry reports published by the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce and the Charlotte Regional Partnership.


Gaining a Competitive Advantage Through Predictive Analytics

Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to predict the future? According to a recent Harvard Business Review webinar, companies, governments, law enforcement agencies, hospitals, and universities are using the power of big data, new technologies, and analytics to predict whether we’re going to “click, buy, lie, or die.”
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So, what is the difference between forecasting and predictive analytics? Forecasting provides an estimate to anticipate trends for a large group over time, while predictive analytics goes much further and is focused on predicting the behavior of a single individual. For example, forecasting might provide an estimate of the total sales for a particular product line next quarter, while predictive analytics tells which customer will likely buy the product. Major industries such as Banking and Finance, Retail, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Oil and Gas Utilities, Government, E-commerce and Travel and Hospitality embrace predictive analytics to boost sales, improve operations, reduce risks, and gain a competitive advantage.
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  • What is Predictive Analytics? Learn the about the process, applications, software and more here.
  • Read how to convert analytics into action here.