As the healthcare industry moves toward taking on more risk for the cost of care, two drivers are emerging that will be critical for competition in the future, Scott Cullen, MD, principal at ECG Management Consultants, said at the Becker's Hospital Review 9th Annual Meeting April 11 to April 14 in Chicago.
During the session, Dr. Cullen discussed the ways in which health systems would evolve over the next decade. "CMS has made it clear that more risk is coming in Medicare in 2024 than we have seen since the 90s," he said. "Combine that with an economy that will spend 20 percent of GDP on healthcare and [we will find] very few places that won't be dealing with competitive drivers."
The two key competitive drivers are: real patient centricity and value or cost transparency. With regard to patient centricity, Dr. Cullen said research is starting to defy the long-held belief that providers know what patients value and the hard reality is physician offices are focused on the provider and not the patient.
"There are many historical reasons for this, but the systems that get nimble are already demonstrating significant advantage with better patient experience," he said. "Real patient centricity is more than valet service. It is more than absence of rudeness. It is about anticipating [patients'] needs, almost like our business depends on them."
In terms of value transparency, Dr. Cullen noted it is becoming increasingly important for patients to understand the cost of care upfront. While there will always be variability, there is space to improve as productivity matters greatly in health plan selection today.
Dr. Cullen also listed some strategies health systems can put into place today to help them transform for the future. These include focusing on community convenience, being nimble about change management and figuring out a solid digital strategy.