While the Republicans' ACA repeal and replacement initiatives paint an uncertain image of the future healthcare ecosystem, hospitals and health systems are continuing to direct their energy toward managing costs and data usage, a recent Premier study found.
Premier surveyed nearly 65 healthcare C-suite leaders between Jan. 3 and Feb. 6 on how the current political climate is affecting business decisions and investment strategies for hospitals and health systems.
Here are nine report findings.
1. Amid uncertainty involving the future of the ACA, healthcare leaders are focused on the following five areas, listed by priority:
- Managing costs, particularly drug spending
- Moving from meaningful use to meaningful insights
- Engaging and satisfying consumers
- Shifting toward population health, risk and scale
- Continuing differentiation on quality and costs
Managing costs
2. Sixty-five percent of healthcare executives surveyed said they plan to increase their cost control initiatives despite possible ACA reform.
3. Sixty-one percent of respondents said they will increase their management of pharmaceutical costs.
Moving from use to insights
4. Despite potential changes to the ACA, 53 percent of healthcare leaders said they will increase their data integration efforts and/or invest in analytics.
5. Forty-seven percent of respondents said they will increase technology use when addressing risk-based contracts.
Engaging and satisfying consumers
6. Over half (56 percent) of healthcare leaders said they will increase their use of telehealth.
7. Forty-five percent of respondents will invest in patient engagement initiatives, regardless of the future of the ACA.
Shifting toward population health, risk and scale
8. Nearly half (45 percent) of healthcare executives said they will increase their pursuit of partnerships to expand post-acute care services.
Continuing differentiation on clinical quality and costs
9. Forty-six percent of respondents said their health systems will increasingly use quality reporting systems for government payers and clinicians, such as the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act's Merit-Based Incentive Payment System. Thirty-six percent said they will do the same for commercial payers.
For the full report, click here.