The most common planned strategy among hospital CEOs to meet the demands of healthcare reform is to increase process efficiency, more so than delaying capital expenditures, according to a recent LEK Strategic Hospital Priorities Study.
The LEK Strategic Hospital Priorities Study has been conducted each year since 2009. The 2014 edition polled nearly 150 hospital CEOs and other senior decision-makers. Below are some of the key survey findings, along with some forecasts from LEK Consulting, a global management consulting firm based in Chicago.
What is your planned response to address the impact of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act?
• Increase process efficiency — 69 percent
• Reduce costs by renegotiating with suppliers — 51 percent
• Reduce redundant procedures in care — 45 percent
• Delay capital expenditures — 45 percent
• Increase utilization — 35 percent
• Lower costs at care centers — 30 percent
• Delay acquisitions — 18 percent
• Nothing — 5 percent
• LEK estimates a typical suburban hospital's margins are roughly 4 percent, but this is expected to decline to 0 percent due to shifts in payer mix.
• Given the continuation of hospital consolidation, LEK estimates that the top 100 hospital systems in the country will account for more than 60 percent of hospital spending by 2020, up from 40 percent in 2008.
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