Short-term necessities are hindering any vital longer-term strategic planning for hospitals as they continue to soldier on against a backdrop of continuing financial challenges, according to The Keckley Report July 10.
Hospital executives across the country, however, must consider five questions and priorities beyond just surviving in 2023, and as they make "guarded bets" about 2024, the report said.
- Is the status quo sustainable?
- Are social determinants a core strategy or distraction?
- How should the health system of the future be funded?
- How will innovations in therapeutics and information technology change how individuals engage with the system?
- How will regulators and court decisions enact fair competition, consumer choices and antitrust protections?
Such questions, which come ahead of an AHA leadership summit July 16-17, must be addressed as well as facing more immediate challenges, which have led to an industry "nearing meltdown," according to the report.
"To that end, the questions above deserve urgent discussion in every hospital board room and C suite," the report says. "Trade-offs aren't clear, potential future state hospital scenarios are not discreet and winners and losers unknown. But a fact-driven process recognizing a widening array of players with deep pockets and fresh approaches is necessary."