Hospitals Heading for the Cloud
Our second panel of experts from last week’s Healthcare Real Estate Summit at The Rittenhouse discussed managing hospitals and health systems —among other overlapping careers, as we learned. “We’re all in the data center business now,” says Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia VP Doug Carney, and only half-jokingly. Because of the ACA’s requirements for electronic health records, everything is digital (people used to use paper?) and health systems have to back up data off-site. Backup is just one part of CHOP’s strategy for emergency prep: Doug says they have drawn up a predictive impact model to mitigate flood risk.
On top of that, both Temple and CHOP are research hospitals bracing for higher healthcare costs and finding ways to operate at the same level while producing tomorrow’s doctors. Temple Health CEO Larry Keiser points out that 80% of physicians in the US are now employees or receiving compensation for hospitals—an unthinkably high number in the year 2000. (Though to be fair, in 2000 none of us thought we would ever live in a world without CD players or N*SYNC.) And in Philly, while the market is concentrated into two payers, no single provider network dominates, making it ripe for consolidation. As more inpatient facilities are shuttered, partly to deal with physician shortages and as part of the shift to outpatient, hospitals like Temple must tackle inefficiency in all directions to keep going.
Clinical integration is one solution to cost management, says Christiana Care Health Systems prez Patrick Grusenmeyer. Christiana’s first Pennsylvania facility, Concord Health Center follows the big box model with primary and OB-GYN care, specialty care including cardiology, full-service imagery and rehab services all under one roof. (All they need is a drive-thru therapist and they'll be at max efficiency.) Patrick also touches on healthcare’s heightened awareness of risk assessment, citing utilities redundancy, such as having water lines from multiple providers, as another crucial step in being prepared for emergencies.
Of course, smaller facilities and retail sites don’t have the same infrastructure capacities as traditional sites, as Aria Health COO Sandy Gomberg points out. She thinks it's time for healthcare systems to start thinking like entrepreneurs, acquiring real estate according to the fluctuating needs and presence of consumers, even if it means closing facilities that are under-performing. Aria has prioritized clinically integrated care through its membership in the Noble Health Alliance, a partnership with other independent systems including Abington and Crozer-Keystone, to increase access to care and coordinate services with more efficiency.
Special thanks to Stantec’s Tracey Graham who moderated our panel. A senior healthcare specialist out of Stantec’s DC office, Tracey’s consulting background and hospital admin experience made her the perfect fit to guide panelists through the pressing topics of care infrastructure, lean principles and risk mitigation.
