The Challenge: To help a prominent national medical organization determine whether to invest in rural trauma programming when faced with documented outcome disparities and uncertain stakeholder demand.
The Background:
Our client was a leading national medical organization with over 93,000 members worldwide. While the organization has historically focused on urban trauma environments, research revealed significant disparities, with injury mortality rates substantially higher in rural settings. These gaps stemmed from interconnected challenges including limited access to specialized care, infrequent trauma exposure for rural clinicians, and barriers to performance improvement participation.
The organization had built strong credibility through decades of leadership in trauma care standards and verification processes. However, their existing programs were designed primarily for high-volume urban trauma centers, creating significant barriers for resource-constrained rural facilities that couldn't realistically meet urban-centered requirements.
With clear evidence of disparate outcomes but uncertainty about program demand, design preferences, and sustainable financing models, the organization engaged Ascendient to conduct a comprehensive needs assessment that would provide the foundation for confident investment decisions.
Our Work:
This project offered an opportunity to apply our experience in conducting needs assessments and our rural health expertise, applied to a business opportunity. The engagement drew on three core Ascendient competencies:
We designed a multi-faceted stakeholder engagement strategy that captured perspectives across the entire rural trauma care ecosystem to get reliable findings the organization could use to make strategic decisions.
We conducted extensive focus groups with dozens of participants from different parts of rural trauma care, bringing together voices from major trauma centers to small rural hospitals across the country. Through the client's network and our own industry connections, we secured broad geographic representation nationwide. Focus groups included rural advanced practice providers, clinicians, rural surgeons, hospital leaders, and state trauma system leaders.
We complemented focus groups with strategic interviews involving key decision-makers, including hospital executives, state trauma system leaders, and commercial payor representatives. This approach ensured we captured both operational perspectives and policy-level insights from potential program supporters and funders.
To validate our qualitative findings at scale, we deployed a comprehensive national survey that generated substantial response rates from rural hospital leaders to direct care providers, creating a comprehensive view of rural trauma care needs and priorities. Survey instruments were tailored to different stakeholder groups to ensure we captured relevant perspectives from across the rural trauma ecosystem.
In addition to primary data collection, we completed targeted secondary research to evaluate potential funding mechanisms that could support rural trauma program implementation. Early findings revealed program financing as a primary obstacle to program adoption. We identified specific programs across federal, state, and private sectors that aligned with both immediate funding needs and longer-term reimbursement mechanisms.
Our analysis culminated in a structured strategic assessment with the client's steering committee, examining internal organizational assets while assessing the rural trauma care landscape's existing strengths and critical gaps using a SWAN (Strengths, Weaknesses, Assets, Needs) framework.
Our Findings:
The stakeholder engagement revealed remarkable consensus around rural trauma care challenges and desired solutions across all geographic regions and provider types. Survey participants consistently identified specific program elements as highest impact, with clear operational and educational priorities emerging.
However, our research also uncovered significant implementation barriers that required strategic solutions. We developed a comprehensive framework addressing both immediate participation challenges and longer-term sustainability concerns, identifying pathways that could position program participation as a strategic investment.
Our strategic assessment confirmed that the client possessed essential organizational assets to lead rural trauma improvement: established credibility, proven educational infrastructure, and recognized standards development expertise. The analysis also revealed specific adaptation needs for translating urban-centered approaches to resource-constrained rural environments.
Multiple strategic recommendations emerged from our comprehensive analysis, supported by detailed implementation components. The steering committee's impact-feasibility assessment identified immediate high-priority initiatives alongside longer-term development opportunities, creating a clear roadmap for program launch and sustainable growth.
The Outcome:
Armed with definitive evidence of stakeholder demand and clear program design direction, the client moved forward confidently with rural trauma program development. The assessment demonstrated remarkable consensus across all regions and provider types about both the need for specialized rural programming and readiness to participate.
We helped the client identify immediate opportunities that were both high-impact and feasible to implement, giving leadership clear starting points for program launch. With input from hundreds of participants and actionable strategies for overcoming key barriers, the client had the evidence needed to make informed decisions about addressing documented disparities in rural trauma outcomes.
The comprehensive needs assessment provided the client with:
- Validated market demand from 270+ stakeholders nationwide
- Prioritized program components based on impact and feasibility
- Implementation roadmap with immediate and longer-term initiatives
- Funding mechanism options for sustainable program development
- Strategic framework addressing organizational strengths and market needs
The Takeaway:
When organizations face complex programmatic decisions with uncertain demand, comprehensive stakeholder engagement provides the evidence foundation necessary for confident investment. By identifying implementation barriers early and developing practical solutions, assessment work can address the full spectrum of challenges that affect program success, ensuring sustainable adoption alongside authentic stakeholder buy-in.
