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Where the (Aging) Consumer Is King
Consumerism is another business driver that hospitals can’t ignore. Individuals are increasingly willing to push their physicians to send them to the hospitals the consumers prefer, according to Solucient, a healthcare market intelligence firm in Evanston, Ill. In a survey of nearly 20,000 households Solucient identified a group of “responsive consumers,” (i.e., those proactive about managing their healthcare). Slightly older than the average consumer surveyed, the respondents have between 20% and 80% higher incidence of chronic diseases, and increasingly choose where they’re hospitalized rather than accept their physician’s recommendation:
Solucient’s data also show that responsive consumers heavily research and utilize hospital and physician ratings.
Homegrown Effort
While consultants are oracles of healthcare trends, some physician administrators rely on themselves instead. Akram Boutrous, MD, executive vice-president and CMO of South Nassau Community Hospital (Oceanside, N.Y.), turned the hospital around with an eight-year business improvement program based on understanding business trends. Some achievements: a 73% increase in patient revenues, 57% jump in outpatient services, and 27% increase in inpatient discharges.
Dr. Boutros considered using consultants, but disliked their high fees and lack of ongoing involvement. Instead he read stacks of books and articles on business drivers and strategies before selecting General Electric’s Accelerated Action Approach to Success. The method uses teams to solve problems that make organizations non-competitive.
“Hospitals face incredibly complex problems and competing demands from different departments,” says Dr. Boutros. “As a physician administrator I felt I could translate for all sides.”
He cites consumer-directed care as a key trend blindsiding most doctors. “They are completely unprepared for the changing market dynamics of consumer choice,” he says.
Consultants, administrators, and physicians agree: Hospitalists need to avoid the tunnel vision when it comes to their own metrics and pay attention to the business drivers changing healthcare. If they learn to spot key trends, they’re perfectly situated to work with hospital administrators and their office-based colleagues on using that knowledge to increase market share, and to have better and more profitable hospitals. TH
Writer Marlene Piturro covered SHM’s Leadership Conference in Vail for The Hospitalist.