Strategic Planning
Rising interest rates and regulatory oversight will be the top challenges confronting the senior care industry over the next year, according to a new survey of housing and care providers. But industry leaders feel good about a stronger business performance outlook.
While reducing reliance on expensive inpatient care is a sensible goal for hospitals, the transition away from a bricks-and-mortar, fee-for-service model is creating tremendous pressures on chief financial officers.
Health systems as well as independent providers have an opportunity to drive best practices in specialty care and secure sustainable revenue with a new business and care model.
The Cleveland Clinic and University of Texas Health are using the nation's first mobile stroke units to treat stroke patients sooner, and both show promise in preserving patients' quality of life and saving a great deal of money.
Some health systems see value in becoming part of branded health plan networks for limited provider plans, as other providers try to launch their very own plans.
The medical tourism industry must respond to the problems found in surrogacy tourism. The first is the need for medical tourism companies, brokers, clinics and even hospitals to hold patient funds in escrow. Abuse of patient trust by misappropriating funds should no longer be an issue.
Beginning in the 1970s, the conversion of nonprofit healthcare organizations to for-profit status created many new foundations. Soon, in the wake of the Affordable Care Act, even more "conversion" foundations will be created, resulting from what some have termed a "merger frenzy."
As healthcare's trade winds blow towards more consolidation, some nonprofit health systems are taking a new business turn, while trying to continue traditional charitable missions.
For those in the medical tourism industry, the issue of "surrogacy tourism" or commercial surrogacy is not an issue of morality. Whatever one believes, there is a need for surrogacy services and people will take chances with the law in order to have children.
Most hospitals fall well short of their cost reduction targets, in part because the ability of chief financial officers to meaningfully impact how operational and clinical leaders approach the issue is limited.