The Chartis Group Releases Point-of-View on Next-Generation Ambulatory Strategy

CHICAGO, Nov. 19, 2018 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The Chartis Group released a paper today "Avoiding Disintermediation: Next-Generation Ambulatory Strategy." The framework presented recommends that healthcare executives should consider four critical dimensions to advance their ambulatory care strategy. The paper also provides recommended questions health-system leaders should address to determine the right time to accelerate action across these dimensions.

The emergence of technology-enabled healthcare and non-traditional market entrants, coupled with evolving consumer expectations and reimbursement changes, is fundamentally altering how care is delivered and financed, and how health is managed, both within and outside of the physical sites of care owned by most health systems. Health systems need to adapt to this evolving marketplace or risk disintermediation and loss of consumer and patient relationships.

Peter Shorett, Director for The Chartis Group and co-author of the paper noted, "Ambulatory strategy is, and will remain, synonymous with access strategy. Creating a fully integrated, rational and financially viable system of convenient access points, both physical and virtual, through ownership and partnership, can unlock the potential for competitive differentiation and will be required for long-term sustainability."

The paper outlines the following four strategic dimensions that healthcare executives should evaluate:

Broaden the Ambulatory Lens
To more effectively engage consumers, health systems must provide multimodal access to health services and information when, where and how consumers want it - and in many cases, do so at a lower cost. For many organizations, this requires fundamentally reimagining the ambulatory network as an integrated system of services, providers and access points designed around the consumer rather than the provider.

Embrace Partnerships
Potential partners include new and non-traditional healthcare services organizations, such as those within the crowded and ever-changing field of digital health. The sheer number of technology solution options, plus a lack of familiarity with players and services, requires that health systems devote more time to clarifying partnership objectives, identifying potential partners and completing appropriate due diligence.

Rethink Ambulatory Care Economics
Health systems should develop a holistic picture of ambulatory care financial performance to identify margin opportunities and inform strategic positioning and future investment. Organizations must enhance their understanding of the existing cost structure and profitability mix for the full portfolio of ambulatory care. For many, this requires establishing more consistent ambulatory care accounting methodologies, enterprise-specific data sources and dashboards to quantify current performance within and across care sites and modalities.

Optimize the Existing Ambulatory Care Network
Many health systems' ambulatory networks include a mix of capabilities, services and sites they have purposefully built and those that they have acquired, through the purchase of independent physician practices or mergers with other health systems. In many instances, even years after coming together, organizations may have done little to make sense of their combined ambulatory capacity, resulting in limited network integration and a lack of common clinical operating and financial standards. As a result, there is often significant opportunity to optimize performance within the legacy asset base.

About The Chartis Group
The Chartis Group (Chartis) provides comprehensive advisory services and analytics to the healthcare industry. With an unparalleled depth of expertise in strategic planning, performance excellence, informatics and technology, and health analytics, Chartis helps leading academic medical centers, integrated delivery networks, children's hospitals and healthcare service organizations achieve transformative results. Chartis has offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, New York, Minneapolis, Portland and San Francisco. For more information, visit http://www.chartis.com.

Contact:
Jim Brown
National Marketing Director
The Chartis Group
jbrown@chartis.com
+1 312 932 3051

SOURCE The Chartis Group