Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare has an average of 13 outpatient facilities for each hospital, CEO Sam Hazen said at recent healthcare conferences.
By the end of the decade, that average is expected to grow to between 17 and 20, Mr. Hazen said Sept. 5 at both the Morgan Stanley’s Global Healthcare Conference and the Wells Fargo Healthcare Conference.
Mr. Hazen said the for-profit system wants "to extend the reach of our network for our patients, make it more convenient for them to start their process of care somewhere in the HCA system." HCA's approach is to "take as many outpatient facilities as we possibly can and make it closer to the patient."
"That's convenient for the patient, different price points for the patient and so forth, very efficient for the patient, but for us as a system, what it does is it opens up the opportunity for us to interact with the patient upstream, and if they need acute care downstream, we can integrate them, hopefully by having the necessary programs, services or physicians in our network and receive them if they need acute care offerings," he said.