An old challenge is quickly becoming the hospital C-suite buzzword for 2025.
It's "access to care." Last year we heard all about incorporating artificial intelligence smartly into healthcare. This year, C-suites are focused on access.
Health systems large and small need extra capacity as the demand for healthcare services rises and clinician shortages strain the current workforce. Most organizations are taking a multi-faceted approach to solving capacity issues by:
- Adopting technology to enhance the workforce
- Investing in care coordination platforms to improve efficiency
- Telehealth, hospital at home, remote patient monitoring and virtual care
- Embarking on new construction projects
- Adding ambulatory sites
- Creative community partnerships
Cleveland-based University Hospitals was recognized by U.S. News & World Report as one of the best regional hospitals for equitable access earlier this year, which CEO Cliff Megerian, MD, described as the system's "defining achievement" for the year. Last year, the health system invested $707 million in community health initiatives and Dr. Megerian has plans to keep growing in 2025.
Madison, Wis.-based UW Health also has it's eye on growth. The system has multiple projects underway totalling $900 million investments in additional outpatient facilities, a hospital tower and hospital emergency department expansion.
Patrice Weiss, MD, chief medical officer of Prisma Health Medical Group, Midlands, and chief academic officer of Prisma Health in Greenville, S.C., told Becker's she is proud to carry out the system's commitment to increasing access to care.
"Within the last year in Midlands alone, Prisma Health has opened a 24-hour freestanding pharmacy, retail imaging center, multiple new urgent care locations, a new pediatric rehab unit and broke ground on a comprehensive medical park that will include imaging, physician offices, therapies, surgery suites and procedure rooms," she said.
Houston Methodist has worked hard to develop a "hospital of the future," Houston Methodist Cypress Hospital, which will open in March of next year. The hospital is being constructed with AI technology and the future of virtual healthcare delivery to expand access looking large.
"Growing our virtual services and ensuring we have all the equipment needed and staff trained to use any new technology has been a priority and will continue to be top-of-mind for us so we can deliver the best care possible for our patients," said Michelle Stansbury, associate chief innovation officer and vice president of IT applications at Houston Methodist. "We’ve seen increasing value in some of our patient access initiatives and in some of the AI technology we have piloted, especially when it comes to technology that empowers our clinicians and employees by reducing administrative burdens and accelerating or scaling skill development."
Boston Medical Center is also thinking about how to increase access, but is tackling the challenge by becoming more efficient. The hospital was able to reduce the average length of stay by 0.4 days through a multidisciplinary effort to better coordinate care. Nurse leaders took ownership of daily multidisciplinary discharge rounds which had 90% daily attendance by inpatient physician care teams, which improved care management documentation and sped up discharge.
The team also had a daily huddle where they could review discharge numbers and challenges to resolve pending discharges.
"These efforts enabled sharing of real time data and performance feedback with front line staff and leaders on key performance indicators related to length of stay from our inpatient operations team," said Stephanie Martinez, BSN, RN, executive director and associate nursing officer of care continuum at Boston Medical Center. "To deliver lasting impact on the health and well-being of our patients, BMC providers took patients’ future care journeys into consideration throughout this multidisciplinary approach, ensuring that patients have equitable access to high-quality, coordinated care after discharge from inpatient units."
Systems will need to build on their momentum this year and get even more creative in 2025. Pradeep Kadambi, MD, president and CEO of University of Florida Jacksonville Physicians told Becker's expanding access to care was among the system's biggest achievements of the year.
"A joint effort between the practice and the clinical departments led us on a discovery path to identify barriers to access in our clinics, and how to eliminate those," he said. "The teams owned and operationalized the plans, and in the past 3 months, we have fared consistently better than national benchmarks. Our goal is to continuously improve."