The survey asked that very question of CEOs at large hospitals and health systems (greater than $1 billion in revenue). Unsurprisingly, the CEOs anticipate that value-based care (VBC) will reshape the future of healthcare. As hospitals are paid differently, profitability will be harder to achieve.
The other future key consideration for the CEOs is “consumerism” and the need for hospitals to be more customer-friendly. This too is a point that comes up more and more as we see healthcare becoming more hospitality-oriented and care move beyond the hospital walls.
With margins so tight, CEOs see their biggest challenges as finding the resources to invest in both VBC and consumerism. They aren’t sure when to shift the business model or who their partners should be. However, they see the benefits of investing in “developing a clinically integrated network, partnering with others, changing practice patterns and developing and analyzing data.”
Some systems are still on the sidelines but many are experimenting with VBC, consumerism and enabling capabilities such as analytics. There isn’t just one “right” way because different market situations call for different solutions. However, since the healthcare leaders anticipate even greater consolidation, “the sheer size of new organizations may also make implementing change complicated.”
I will certainly pay close attention to watch how this all unfolds and to see how all of us in the industry adapt accordingly.