Several hospitals are looking for
well-insured patients beyond traditional market boundaries, both in
prosperous suburbs and in nearby areas with growing, well-insured
populations. According to a study by the Center for Studying Health
System Change (HSC) hospitals seeking a competitive edge in the
marketplace are targeting geographic expansion into new markets which
are well-insured.
The study based on HSC’s visits to 12
nationally representative metropolitan communities, depicted that
hospitals are expanding despite the pressures of the healthcare reform.
Hospital strategies mainly include – building full-service hospitals,
establishing freestanding emergency departments and other outpatient
services, acquiring physician practices, and operating medical transport
systems with several hospitals building near major highways to be
accessible.
Hospitals expansions survey findings
- In all 12 markets surveyed results depicted that hospitals are looking for full-service hospitals or freestanding emergency departments, buying or establishing physician practices and developing a regional presence through emergency medical transport systems
- Recession rather than diminishing has heightened the drive among hospitals to pursue well-insured patients beyond traditional hospital market boundaries
- Expansion appears more frequent where large hospital systems were pursuing significant employment of physicians and where service-line strategies, such as cardiac or cancer care, were well entrenched
Impact on Hospitals & Independent physicians
The overall impact of hospitals’
geographic expansions is still to be observed, there are conflicting
views within the industry regarding these new hospital competitive
strategies, if they will increase costs, improve care or both. Hospitals
are of the view that the expansions will increase efficiency, increase
access and improve the quality of patient care, while payers and
competitors argue such strategies will lead to elevated costs.
Also Independent Physicians in most
markets due to health reforms who are faced with financial pressures
along with difficulty in hiring younger physicians, who often prefer
employment in larger organizations, are actively seeking the stability
and security of employment in larger physician-owned or hospital-owned
groups. According to the HSC study in fast growing and well insured
Greer, SC, there are no more independent primary-care practices left.
Revenue cycle management amidst hospital expansion and reforms
Hospitals backing expansions as
necessary countering that even though there are costs increases, their
efforts provide increased high-quality care; will need to cater to
higher patient influx and increased medical billing.
Hence in this scenario along with the growing pressure of health care
reforms, services of skilled service providers possessing the requisite
credentials can be availed by hospitals and practitioners to maintain
favorable revenue cycles management.
Medicalbillersandcoders.com the largest
‘Consortium of Medical Billers and Coders, servicing over 50 specialty
US physicians, are constantly updated with the requisites of the
industry and healthcare reforms are the right choice for hospitals and
practices. Medicalbillersandcoders.com has in-depth knowledge and
expertise in the delivering the best quality services to hospitalists.
Hospital employment will affect patients, hospitals and doctors – as
healthcare will require greater coordination, greater use of clinical
data and collaborative provider teams — which MBC is best positioned to
deliver.
For more information visit: hospitalist billing
