As the average wait-time to see a family doctor in this country falls to just under three weeks, according to a survey by Merritt Hawkins, a medical consultancy, and the number of doctors leaving the field continues to grow, hospitals need to find solutions addressing the increased demand for care.
Where do patients go? When patients can’t find a primary care physician of their own, they typically seek treatment at an emergency room. However, hospital ER wait times can cause people to leave as well. As one 2007 study in the Annals of Emergency Medicine showed, only around 80% of patients who entered an emergency room actually stayed and saw a physician. Coupled with the immense overhead costs of treating patients in ERs, hospital executives need alternative methods to treat patients in their communities.
The demand is rising. Massachusetts, which enacted healthcare reform in 2006, has a wait of about two months according the same Merritt Hawkins survey. The physician attrition rate is part of the increase in demand, but baby boomers needing enhanced medical care and of course, healthcare reform, are the other big players spurring the need for convenient, cost-effective and quick treatment.
3 Ways Hospitals Can Provide Cost Effective & Quicker Care
1) Acquire Physician Groups: 65% of physicians who changed jobs in 2009 moved into a hospital employment model according to a 2009 poll by the Medical Group Management Association. Hospitals are continuing to compete for physician groups as the rate of solo practices, and simply physicians in the field, continues to drop. Not only is the acquisition and affiliation of physician groups a great way to increase referrals, but to increase the hospital’s geographic footprint.
2) Outpatient centers: According to a Healthcare Financial Management Association article, community hospitals gross outpatient revenues grew from 19 percent of all revenues to 38% of all revenues from 1987-2007. Outpatient surgery will especially see an uptick as Baby Boomers’ medical needs drive demand. As a method to extend access to care and provide a convenient treatment location for patients, outpatient centers will likely grow as well.
3) Retail locations: New types of commercial real estate are being created that otherwise would have been left to office and retail tenants. People are more likely to go to outpatient clinics in shopping areas for minor symptoms than emergency room where waiting lines and tensions are high. Parents can drop off their kids at a physician specialist while shopping around in the same vicinity. Medical retail outlets have been well received among communities, especially by the older population.
The demand for quality physicians and efficient care is only growing. Successful hospitals drive to be ahead of the curve; anticipating the change in direction before it’s too late.
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/