One third of U.S. hospitals preparing to undertake construction projects already on the drawing board admit ignorance and uncertainty according to a 2011 ASHE survey, when asked, "Have plans changed for construction projects due to healthcare reform?" Additionally, 49% of hospitals in the U.S. are choosing to do nothing in a "wait and see" position until the fine print of healthcare reform becomes clearer. The remainder intend to move forward, but are reacting cautiously and fluidly to everyday currents of legislation.
What makes these 18% of hospitals confident that they can safely navigate the turbulent waters of healthcare reform?
Several considerations I have seen as an outsider looking in include:
1. Emergency Room Dilemma: Health reform will have the unintended consequence of increased on-campus admissions for hospital emergency departments. Hospital emergency departments, by and large, are a financial drain. The trend for the future is the less costly satellite ER. Satellites are a progressive front line defense against patients not requiring hospital admission. The public needs to systematically be trained to this inevitability.
2. Growth of Outpatient Services: The in vogue economic proficiency model is the emergence of outpatient centers. Insured patients need ultimately be conditioned to seek out primary care physicians in place of emergency care. Much of this theoretical practice is demonstrated by the ACO model. The unintended repercussion of current reimbursement structures is that primary physicians may potentially need to double their volume of patient visits to recognize an equivalent economic gain.
3. Emerging Technologies: Electronic health records portend a great advantage for streamlining healthcare processes and increasing quality of care. Internal technology may soon be as common as internal medicine. Data housing, cloud storage, and the immediacy of mobile connectivity are integral to the economic capability of healthcare management. The learning curve is steep, but imperative.
Healthcare reform is by far the most dissected, discussed and debated topic in the medical industry. Federally mandated healthcare legislation, and the yet to be determined detailed fine print, influence every decision a hospital executive considers on a daily basis. Will your health system be trying to keep up with healthcare reform policies or is it already implementing the needed changes for successful projects?
James Ellis, CEO, Health Care Realty Development Company, is a nationally recognized successful real estate investor and developer of medical office properties with a comprehensive knowledge of sophisticated real estate transactions, cost effective designs, and efficient property management.
Aaron Razavi is Associate Marketing Director at Health Care Realty Development.
Visit their blog at http://www.hcrealty.com/medicalrealestatedevelopment/