Once again, the healthcare industry faces further transformations and growing margin pressure, conveys the Advisory Board, a healthcare industry research firm, in an executive research briefing. Supporting unconventional partnerships and ensuring the physician enterprise stays in step with changes is vital. In fact, never has determining new opportunities for growth been more important.
Here, Optimum is pleased to share five critical insights from the Advisory Board on what you need to know to drive your health system’s growth and success this year.
- The challenge to decrease healthcare spending will persist. While the Affordable Care Act (ACA) helped reduce the number of uninsured adults in the U.S. by at least seven percent since the third quarter of 2013, national health expenditures have continued to climb since 2010. By 2025, they are projected to be between $5 and $7 trillion. As a result, policymakers will remain dedicated to lowering healthcare spending through various measures.
- While healthcare reform is cutting the price of care, it does not lower its cost. Consequently, there is a continual squeeze on provider margins. Health system executives need to concentrate on several areas, such as input costs and utilization patterns, to experience significant improvement. If possible, leaders should consider adopting a cost-focused strategy as opposed to one that is centered on price.
- A shift from privately reimbursed procedure care to publicly reimbursed medical care is a certainty. Our nation’s health system is geared to providing a sizeable, working-age population with healthcare insurance through their employers. As demographics change, those in the Medicare and millennial sectors—which have extremely dissimilar care needs—are on the rise.
- Uncompromising cost control and radical growth are necessary to remain competitive. Healthcare decision makers, from administrators to CFOs, must maintain a sufficient level of oversight regarding the speed and control of events at their health systems.
- Effective cost strategies engage physicians as part of the solution. If not already in place at your health system, a cost-management game plan that includes physician collaboration must be developed. Payment reform, revenue exposure, and other market trends lend themselves to partnering with providers to plan and regulate the budget. By working as a team, health system leaders and clinicians can produce a dependable, low-cost clinical product as well as a viable, more cost-effective workforce.
For additional perceptions on achieving success at your health system this year, read the Advisory Board’s “12 Things CEOs Need to Know in 2018.”
Contact Optimum Permanent Placement Services at 603.816.9070 for assistance with your permanent staffing needs, and read our blog for helpful information and insights.
