Value-based care and hospital expansion: 3 factors for success

Hospital leaders must consider several factors as they seek to expand their market reach and transition to value-based models of care

A number of factors in the changing healthcare market could impact hospital growth, including the move to value-based care, write Michael N. Abrams, managing partner for Numerof & Associates in St. Louis, and Gordon Phillips, a consultant at the same firm, in an article for Hospitals & Health Networks.

They write that much of the future industry growth will likely come from health centers that currently offer value-based care and plan to expand to reach untapped areas.

“It’s never too early, though, for hospital executives with high-performing centers of excellence and strengths...to start thinking about how to use them beyond their existing market footprint,” they write.

The authors offer hospital leaders several suggestions to ensure success, including:

  • Ensure your brand is credible. Reputations matter. It's much easier for big-name hospitals, like the Cleveland Clinic, to form partnerships to expand geographically. 
  • Find your target audience and define what they need. Bring new services to market that people want, Abrams and Phillips write, and don’t just expand for expansion’s sake. Set a defined price and tie it to the quality of the healthcare service, and make sure all stakeholders--including patients--are made aware of the service.
  • Measure outcomes that matter to patients. Infection rates and mortality rates are important, but so are measures like length of hospital stay and how quickly a patient can return to work after an illness. Hospitals that can provide positive statistics in these areas will attract loyal consumers.