During the 1960s, people could go to Sears Roebuck and Co. and buy almost anything that crossed their minds. However, specialty niche stores such as Best Buy and Home Depot popped up, where people could choose from a wide range of high-quality items. Because of this trend, many large department stores lost business or closed, realizing they could not be all things to all people.
In a similar way, the same evolution is happening with general hospitals and cardiovascular care, says Paul J. Pearson, MD, chief of the division of cardiovascular surgery at NorthShore University HealthSystem in Evanston, Ill. "Very few general hospitals will have the capital resources, physician expertise and patient demographic to be competitive in all medical specialties," he adds. "To survive, hospitals will need to focus on a few specialty programs into which all organizational resources can be concentrated."
With cardiovascular care, he says this will require significant program development and collaboration with diverse specialties, such as cardiology, cardiovascular surgery, vascular surgery, critical care medicine, radiology and anesthesiology. "In the future, patients will look at the number of therapeutic options a hospital offers for a medical condition as a surrogate for quality," Dr. Pearson says.
However, patients are also getting used to different hospital marketing techniques and are researching the substance behind hospital advertising. "Patients will know if a hospital's so-called 'cardiovascular institute' is a real, substantive, integrated program, or just a billboard," he adds.
Dr. Pearson, trained as a surgeon at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., says the complexity of cardiac surgery patients and surgical procedures has increased since the 1970s. Unfortunately, he says most community hospital heart surgery programs are designed to serve a patient population that existed 20 years ago — a patient population that no longer exists. "Ultimately, the success of a hospital's specialty program will be physician-driven," Dr. Pearson says. "While administrative support and financing are essential, the hospital administration needs to choose the right clinical leaders who will take the raw materials and build a successful program."
"Clinical excellence, vision, a passion for the specialty area and the ability to execute a strategy should be the key metrics that hospital administration uses to choose their clinical leaders," he adds. "If all of these are present, anything is possible."
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In a similar way, the same evolution is happening with general hospitals and cardiovascular care, says Paul J. Pearson, MD, chief of the division of cardiovascular surgery at NorthShore University HealthSystem in Evanston, Ill. "Very few general hospitals will have the capital resources, physician expertise and patient demographic to be competitive in all medical specialties," he adds. "To survive, hospitals will need to focus on a few specialty programs into which all organizational resources can be concentrated."
With cardiovascular care, he says this will require significant program development and collaboration with diverse specialties, such as cardiology, cardiovascular surgery, vascular surgery, critical care medicine, radiology and anesthesiology. "In the future, patients will look at the number of therapeutic options a hospital offers for a medical condition as a surrogate for quality," Dr. Pearson says.
However, patients are also getting used to different hospital marketing techniques and are researching the substance behind hospital advertising. "Patients will know if a hospital's so-called 'cardiovascular institute' is a real, substantive, integrated program, or just a billboard," he adds.
Dr. Pearson, trained as a surgeon at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., says the complexity of cardiac surgery patients and surgical procedures has increased since the 1970s. Unfortunately, he says most community hospital heart surgery programs are designed to serve a patient population that existed 20 years ago — a patient population that no longer exists. "Ultimately, the success of a hospital's specialty program will be physician-driven," Dr. Pearson says. "While administrative support and financing are essential, the hospital administration needs to choose the right clinical leaders who will take the raw materials and build a successful program."
"Clinical excellence, vision, a passion for the specialty area and the ability to execute a strategy should be the key metrics that hospital administration uses to choose their clinical leaders," he adds. "If all of these are present, anything is possible."
Related Articles on Cardiac Care:
$227M UCSD Cardiovascular Center Begins Outpatient Services
Cardiologist Employment: What Does it Mean?
Study Suggests Cardiac Surgery Programs Duplicated Services