With the U.S. ambulatory surgery market expected to reach $93 billion in 2024, hospitals and health systems are forced to strategically confront price cuts and new competition, according to an Advisory Board report.
Organizations can approach this industry shift in three ways. Here are the strategies and whether they're effective:
1. Resist the shift to the outpatient setting. Deploy tactics to keep cases in the inpatient setting and level out the reimbursement rates between ASCs and hospital-based settings.
Why it won't work: This approach will fall flat with patients, as well as payers who are actively relocating them.
2. Ignore the outpatient setting. Prioritize the inpatient setting and don't invest in migration toward the outpatient space.
Why it won't work: Inpatient care is growing at a slower rate than outpatient procedures, so organizations using this strategy will have trouble hitting revenue targets.
3. Proactively compete for outpatient cases. Embrace shifting procedures to the outpatient setting and make long-term investments in the space.
Why it will work: Demand for outpatient surgery is soaring; the outmigration of partial knee replacements has yielded over $100 billion in new revenue for providers since 2005.