Hospital Systems and Healthcare Reform

Abstract

In this chapter, the author addresses the degree of involvement of large hospital systems in convenient care models. These systems are not known for being nimble and innovative, as many are inhibited by fixed budgets and low tolerance for risk. However, they have recently joined the trends and developed their own retail clinics, urgent care centers, and online clinics. In fact, several hospital systems now have a “convenient care strategy” to reduce demand on their overwhelmed emergency rooms and better serve their patients. These strategies also help the systems better position themselves to deal with recent regulatory provisions. Implications of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), such as value-based purchasing and bundled payments are discussed in depth. The authors propose that hospital-based convenient care models that are appropriately aligned and integrated with the new arrangements will embody excellent opportunities for hospital systems to provide easy-access entry-points for new patients, to substitute expensive traditional care settings with less costly alternatives, and to deliver high quality and expedient care that will keep patients in their network.