Hospitals and Care Systems of the Future

Hospitals and health systems in the United States are facing an unparalleled force to change. Industry experts have projected that multiple, intersecting pressures will drive the transformation of health care delivery and financing from volume- to value-based payments over the next decade. In the current regulatory and economic environment, hospitals must focus their efforts on performance initiatives that are essential in the short term and that will also remain critical for long-term success.

The inaugural report of the AHA Committee on Performance Improvement details “Hospitals and Care Systems of the Future.” The team conducted exploratory interviews and analyzed the results to identify must-do, priority strategies and core organizational competencies organizations should establish to remain successful in this time of sweeping change.

Must-Do Strategies to Succeed in the Future

1. Aligning hospitals, physicians and other providers across the care continuum
2. Utilizing evidence-based practices to improve quality and patient safety
3. Improving efficiency through productivity and financial management
4. Developing integrated information systems
5. Joining and growing integrated provider networks and care systems
6. Educating and engaging employees and physicians to create leaders
7. Strengthening finances to facilitate reinvestment and innovation
8. Partnering with payers
9. Advancing through scenario-based strategic, financial and operational planning
10. Seeking population health improvement through pursuit of the “triple aim”

Organizations on path to implement the above must-do strategies should achieve competency in several areas of care delivery and organizational management. Similar to the strategies, these competencies are intrinsically connected and aligned.

Organizational Core Competencies

1. Design and implementation of patient-centered, integrated care
2. Creation of accountable governance and leadership
3. Strategic planning in an unstable environment
4. Internal and external collaboration
5. Financial stewardship and enterprise risk management
6. Engagement of full employee potential
7. Collection and utilization of electronic data for performance improvement

This report will mobilize hospital senior leadership teams to consider the strategies they must deploy to adapt and succeed in the future. Change is happening. It is up to each organization to plan its unique path to embrace the opportunities ahead.