Study: Health Systems May Need to Partner With Competitors on Complex, Low-Volume Procedures

A study published in the September issue of Health Affairs found that health systems within local and regional markets have taken measurable efforts since the 1990s to improve care quality by concentrating, low-volume, complex procedures within the most advanced facilities within the system. However, the study suggests that for the lowest volume complex procedures, partnerships with rival systems may be required to meaningfully impact quality of care.

The study, which refers to the regional systems as “clusters,” examined high-risk cases for seven surgical procedures and discovered that lead facilities within the clusters performed 59 percent (for esophagectomy) to 87 percent (for aortic valve replacement) of high risk cases.

The authors suggest that while clusters have been successful at moving higher-volume, complex procedures to a lead facility, care coordination among competing systems may be required to meaningful shift lower-volume, complex cases (such as as esophagectomies) to a single facility.

Study: Health Systems May Need to Partner With Competitors on Complex, Low-Volume Procedures

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