NOVEMBER - 20208In My OpinionThe COVID-19 pandemic is the global challenge of a lifetime for healthcare organizations, stressing their economic, strategic, and human dynamics in every way imaginable.Through August 2020 year-to-date, the median operating margin at U.S. hospitals dropped 89 percent compared to the prior year. Inpatient and outpatient volumes were down 20 percent and 35 percent respectively from the year before, while expenses were rising. At the same time, patient, provider, and payor behaviors were rapidly changing. Seemingly overnight, for example, telemedicine moved from an interesting option to a reimbursable patient service that may permanently alter care delivery.The task ahead for healthcare leaders is immense: to simultaneously solve for rebuilding revenue and business operations while radically reducing costs and reimagining the patient care portfolio to meet new expectations around safety and access--all at speed.The potential to emerge stronger through transformative change is real. With a structured framework, an agile approach to change, and intense execution, healthcare leaders will advance their organizations to a new future.The Path Forward: Protect, Secure, AdvanceThe rebuild process is well underway and it will continue to span many months in a non-linear fashion for most healthcare organizations. An end-to-end plan will help to continuously guide the leadership team with the critical steps needed to adapt to a new future.Our leading clients have accelerated their virtual care strategies across the care continuum in response to COVID-19. One health system has increased ambulatory telemedicine visits by more than 500 percent and scaled its virtual ICU beyond the health system to an ecosystem of participating regional hospitals. The system is also investing in virtual care at home to free up hospital capacity and reduce hospitalizations at a time when bed capacity is scarce. The key to a successful virtual care journey lies in an intentional, evolving approach that leverages and connects new virtual care focus areas to support enterprise strategies--all supported by an operating model and governance structure to ensure new value is created and strategic priorities are met. Charting your virtual care path forwardWe have outlined a nine-step approach for providers to navigate the path forward. The first step--one that can deliver swift returns--is to hardwire the successful, rapid virtual care initiatives your organization implemented during the pandemic. The immediate changes made by provider organizations in response to COVID-19 prioritized convenience, access, and affordability for consumers to avoid becoming commoditized parts of the healthcare continuum. Leading providers are making these practices the new norm.The next step is to broaden and scale virtual care to support your enterprise strategies.Enterprise Strategy & Rebuild PlanVirtual care will play an important role as leaders embrace the challenge to ramp-up revenue while at the same time significantly reducing costs and reimagining the patient care delivery model. Key steps in the planning process will include important integrations of virtual care into the broader enterprise strategy. Providers should start by completing a virtual care market study. Evaluate emerging competitive BEYOND REBUILD: REIMAGINE YOUR VIRTUAL CARE DELIVERY MODELEric Kammer, Managing Partner, USCAN Lead, GE Healthcare Consulting and Matt Antush, Managing Director, GE Healthcare ConsultingBy
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