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Healthcare Facility Planning Tools and Guidelines |
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In the News |
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SpaceMed Newsletter Spring 2008 Volume 1, Number 2 Hospital Leaders Predict Growth in Telemedicine OVERVIEW According to Futurescan 2008: Healthcare Trends and Implications 2008-2013, telemedicine (delivery of healthcare through the Internet) will be increasingly used to manage chronic and acute care conditions through continuous monitoring, real-time consultation, and delivery of pharmacologically-based treatments. The annual report from the Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development (www.shsmd.org) is written by an expert panel supported by data from a survey of over 1,400 healthcare leaders across the country. The report highlights eight important trends ranging from healthcare policy to physician employment and discusses their implications for hospital leaders and strategic planners. However, the section on technology titled “New Technologies Demand New Business Models” should be of particular interest to healthcare facility planners. SURVEY RESULTS REGARDING TECHNOLOGY Of the survey respondents, 89 percent predicted that telemedicine will be “very likely” or “somewhat likely” to be used in their communities by 2013. In addition, the Internet will reduce variations in clinical practice by allowing the rapid diffusion of best practices according to 77 percent of the respondents. Other technical innovations are expected by 2013, but by fewer respondents. For example, 54 percent predicted that remote surgery would allow advanced care to patients irrespective of where they live. Also, 59 percent predicted that gene-based treatments would replace many traditional treatments and 54 percent predicted that nanotechnology would be used to cure disease or disability. WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY According to authors Jason Hwang, M.D., and Clayton Christensen, D.B.A., medical technology offers a seemingly endless stream of technological enablers that ought to make healthcare delivery simpler, faster, cheaper, convenient, and accessible. However, the fact that healthcare often seems to be moving in the opposite direction indicates a lack of innovative business models that incorporate the advantages of these new technologies. They cite examples of how hospitals have been intimately involved with the development of new delivery models over the years to separate standardized, rules-based care from the rest of the hospital. Examples include the creation of outpatient clinics to manage patients with chronic conditions and separation of nonurgent patients from trauma patients in the emergency room. Ironically, hospitals now find themselves lobbying against some of the newest models of healthcare delivery such as retail health clinics and specialty hospitals. These new competitors are often accused of cherry-picking only the healthiest patients even though they are using innovative business models designed to improve quality and increase profitability. The experts suggest that hospitals view business model innovation as an opportunity rather than a threat, work to fix reimbursement so that prices accurately reflect value, and create autonomous business units with their own resources, processes, and profit formulas such as seeking out-of-pocket payments or by supporting physician-provided care with nurses and physician assistants. back to top News 1308.2.1 |
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