On April 14th, Dr. Thomas Royer will give a presentation at Becker’s Hospital Review 9th Annual Meeting. As part of an ongoing series, Becker’s is talking to healthcare leaders who plan to speak at the conference, which will take place April 11-14, 2018 in Chicago.
To learn more about the conference and Dr. Royer’s session, click here.
Question: Who or what are the disruptors that have your attention? Why?
Dr. Thomas Royer: The three major disruptors occurring in the healthcare industry today are: first, non-invasive technologies; second, much safer, less toxic and quickly-reversible anesthesia; and third, movement of services to the ambulatory setting. Clearly the combination of these three disruptors are moving the industry from being hospital-centric to consumer centric. Because the non-invasive technologies are safer and usually cause less serious side-effects, coupled with safer anesthesia, a majority of surgical procedures can now be performed in ambulatory surgical centers. The number of procedures in these outpatient surgery centers is increasing each day, including those in orthopedic and neurosurgical specialties. In addition, the ability to migrate significant care to the ambulatory setting has also resulted in a large number of free-standing urgent care and emergency centers, where “primary care” is often rendered by well-qualified nurse practitioners.
The cumulative effect of these disruptors, all of which are driving higher quality, safer and more cost-effective healthcare, begs the important question: What will the hospital of the future look like? For decades the success of a health system has been judged to be the size of its hospitals and the number of occupied beds. If the trends caused by these disruptors continue, health systems of the future may get paid more for empty beds than they do for full ones — a real disruptor for what was once a hospital-centric industry.
Q: What was the last time your organization responded to concerns or needs expressed by physicians? What unfolded?
TR: The question we are frequently asked by physicians as healthcare advisors is: “What do we need to do differently to be successful in the future?” Our answer is two-fold. First, you need to become partners of the hospital or health system in which you are employed, contracted, or credentialed as an independent practitioner. Second, you need to embrace the “value equation,” which is value = (clinical quality + service quality) / cost.
For decades, physicians have been treated as customers by health system CEOs. By trying to meet all the requests of physicians, including not only equipment and supplies, but also special parking and dining rooms, the leadership felt they were assuring the physicians’ loyalty, therefore resulting in more admissions. Because payment reform is now being driven by the value equation, all components of which are driven by the providers, physicians must partner with hospital leadership to help develop the organizations strategies and operational tactics. Physicians must participate as equal partners in the governance processes, assisting the board in monitoring on a regular basis medical outcomes, patient satisfaction scores and cost structures.
By pointing out to physicians that their performance will always be a critical success factor in healthcare, and that by partnering with leadership to formulate transformational solutions for the challenges facing the often volume-driven healthcare industry today, we are seeing more and more physicians become change-agents, rather than barriers-to-change.
Q: How do you see the barriers between competitors and collaborators changing?
TR: For decades, the healthcare industry has been driven by a competitive rather than collaborative model. If one hospital bought new equipment or opened a new service line, the competitor hospital would soon do the same. Consequently, this practice has led to the overuse and misuse of many medical modalities. It also contributes to medical errors, which are now the third leading cause of death in the U.S., behind heart disease and cancer. Because many providers and administrators are now recognizing that one-third of healthcare has little or no value, they are finally realizing that collaborating with their competitors is now a critical success factor.
To bring value to the community they are serving, health system leadership is slowly realizing only appropriate care with the best medical outcomes should be rendered, in the most accessible ways, at the most affordable costs. Hence, slowly, but surely, the competitor wall is being torn down and replaced by one that fosters collaboration. Collaboration is key to transforming to a patient-centric industry.
