Hospital executives identified improving ambulatory access as the top area of extreme interest for 2019, according to Advisory Board’s annual healthcare CEO survey.
The nationwide survey of 90 hospital executives conducted between January and March asked respondents to indicate their level of interest in 29 topics. Respondents could pick multiple topics.
Improving ambulatory access (57 percent) was identified as the top area of extreme interest to them.
Advisory Board said this topic — meaning adjusting facilities, staffing, hours or throughput to improve access for patients to the organization's outpatient locations, physician offices and clinics — can help organizations increase patient volume and revenue.
The next four areas of extreme interest to respondents were:
- Minimizing unwarranted clinical variation (53 percent)
- Strengthening primary care alignment (53 percent)
- Redesigning health system services for population health (52 percent)
- Innovative approaches to expense reduction (51 percent)
"Executives are more interested in moving upstream to capture revenue growth through ambulatory access and primary care, rather than traditional strategies of boosting hospital market share," Yulan Egan, practice manager of research at best practices firm Advisory Board, said in a news release.
More articles on healthcare finance:
AMA calls for payment models that reward care of vulnerable, high-risk patients
5 tips from hospital CFOs
Americans' challenges with healthcare costs: 5 poll findings