As value-based care continues to drive efficiency, many hospitals are developing robust ambulatory strategies to support expanded and improved outpatient care.
“The move to value-based care is forcing healthcare leaders to reconsider their entire patient care model, including where procedures are performed,” says Regent Surgical Health CDO Thomas Crossen. “While a hospital is best at taking care of society’s sickest patients, adding ambulatory care facilities allows physicians to serve patients with less severe healthcare needs in more convenient, more efficient, and cost-effective venues while referring inpatient needs back to the hospital.”
Regent has developed a guide to help healthcare facilities create an ambulatory strategy by examining their existing assets, goals, and needs while assessing the steps they still need to take to reach their objective. Take a look inside the five-step guide:
Step 1: Define the transition time
Timing is key to your ambulatory strategy. Start by asking: How fast does your organization need to move toward value-based care? If your goal is to generate a significant percentage of revenue from value-based care in the short term, you will need to build a strong ambulatory platform more rapidly. If your goal is to retain a balance between value-based care and fee-for-service, you will need a more measured strategy.
Step 2: Determine your focus
The next step is to decide which service lines you want to grow over time. What are the demands of the marketplace, among both patients and payer? What are your organizational goals? And how do they align with current market data? For example, if your health system has a current 18% market share in orthopedics, but you want to expand that share to 35%, that’s an aggressive goal to focus on. Possible solutions include adding a musculoskeletal ASC or partnering with a respected orthopedics practice to establish an ASC joint venture.
Click here to download the guide and learn the five steps to conducting an ambulatory strategy self-assessment.