• E-mail
• Print
• RSS

From the CRC Blog: What is in your hospital’s future?

Credentialing & Verification Update, September 8, 2008

A recent MedScape article by Emily Friedman entitled Hospitals We Can't Afford to Lose stated that the United States once had more than 7,000 hospitals and today there are only 5,800. Mr. Hugh Greeley gave a presentation in Chicago a few weeks ago in which he predicted that approximately 1,000 more hospitals will be closing. This certainly looks like a bleak picture for access to healthcare.

If Greely's prediction comes true, we have a major healthcare crisis on the horizon. Here's some information that adds to the problem:

• 47 million Americans lack basic healthcare coverage
• There will be an acute shortage of physicians
• Almost 1/3 of our physicians are 55 and older
• U.S. healthcare costs are the highest in the world (20% of our gross national product)

Wonder if your hospital will be one to survive this crisis? It will if its profit margin is between 10-14%, is well managed, and can invest in technology. It won't survive if it is non-profit and struggling in a poor economic environment. But what if your hospital is at a break-even or small profit margin? This group represents 60% of our health care facilities.

I wish I had that crystal ball to help predict what the future holds.

Carole La Pine, MSA, CPMSM, CPCS is the Manager for Physician Services, Trinity Health in Novi, MI. Carole has more than 30 years of experience in the medical staff services profession and is the immediate past president of National Association Medical Staff Services (NAMSS). Read more from Carol at the Credentialing Resource Center Blog.

• Comment
• E-mail to a Colleague
• Print
• RSS
• Archive

Comments