New Business Models Key to Cost-Effective Emergency and Hospital Care with Superior Patient Outcomes
Newest issue of Health Management, Policy and Innovation features these and other prescriptions for US and global health sector challenges
DURHAM, N.C., September 26, 2017 – Innovative business practices can transform overcrowded hospital emergency rooms into efficient, patient-centric operations, while disruptive technologies will keep more patients out of hospitals and streamline their care, according to two new articles published in the latest issue of Health Management, Policy and Innovation (HMPI).
In “Strategies to Improve Care in the Emergency Department—the De Facto Multispecialty Clinic of the 21st Century,” Yale University scholars offer operational, payment and insurance solutions to not only ease overcrowding, but to improve both cost-effectiveness and clinical care.
“In addition to trauma and acute care, emergency departments are centers for screening, diagnostic and therapeutic services that can lead to faster care and improved patient outcomes,” Dr. Howard Forman, professor of management, radiology, economics and public health at Yale. “Yet hospitals are struggling to effectively manage multi-faceted emergency room care. We propose supply-side solutions to decrease patient intake, increase patient discharge, and improve throughput, including moving patients from the emergency room to inpatient beds, and creating the right payment incentives to make this all work.”
HMPI is a quarterly online journal reintroduced in May 2017 to examine U.S. and global health sector challenges from a business perspective. The journal is sponsored by the Business School Alliance for Health Management (BAHM), an international consortium of 16 top MBA programs with a health sector focus.
Health care delivery is poised for a digital transformation through artificial intelligence, robotics, telehealth and other technologies, according to “A Vision of the Future: Organization and Delivery of Healthcare in the Digital Age.” The HMPI article was co-authored by Dr. Christopher Gibbons, founder and CEO of The Greystone Group, Inc., a health technology company that works with federal and industry clients, and Dr. Yahya Shaikh, Greystone’s chief data officer. Drs. Gibbons and Shaikh are also adjunct assistant professors at Johns Hopkins University, as well as senior advisers on health innovation and connected care, respectively, at the Federal Communications Commission in Washington, D.C.
The authors predict that over the next few years, only a minority of healthcare services will be delivered in hospitals as cost pressures, patient preferences and emerging technologies foster the development of home-based care and so-called geographic ecosystems, virtual health systems that serve as a care network without walls. For example, in some cases, patients who 20 years ago required stays in intensive care units followed by lengthy hospitalizations, can now go home with small portable devices that perform the work of previous ICU-based machines.
“Looking ahead, hospitals will focus on patients who have the highest acuity and are the most critically ill and medically complex, likely representing only 10 to 15 percent of the market,” Gibbons said. “In addition, with advances in and increased availability of 5G broadband, healthcare services will increasingly happen at the patient’s demand, regardless of location.”
Building on the journal’s initial 2012 launch by an editorial team led by David Dranove at Northwestern University, HMPI seeks to provide business leaders with actionable insights with content based on academic research and submissions from industry thought leaders. The journal contains short essays and research pieces curated by HMPI’s editors and editorial board.
Among contributors to the current issue are Regina Herzlinger, Harvard Business School; Dr. Kevin A. Schulman, Duke University; Will Mitchell, University of Toronto; Kristiana Raube, University of California Berkeley; and Steve Bonner, former CEO, Cancer Treatment Centers of America.
About the Business School Alliance for Health Management (BAHM)
Formed in 2010, BAHM supports business school health management programs and their faculty, students, and graduates in educating the next generation of leaders and advancing thought leadership in the field. BAHM initiatives include a dedicated annual case competition for students attending BAHM institutions, doctoral student webinars, and the BAHM-sponsored Health Management Policy and Innovation (HMPI).
BAHM member schools are Arizona State University W. P. Carey School of Business; Baylor University’s Hankamer School of Business; Boston University Questrom School of Business; Georgia State University J. Mack Robinson College of Business; Harvard Business School; IESE Business School, University of Navarra; Indian School of Business; Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management; University of California Berkeley – Haas School of Business; University of Colorado – Denver; University of Miami School of Business Administration; University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management; University of Toronto Rotman School of Management; University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business; Vanderbilt University Owen School of Business; and Yale School of Management.