Health systems play a big role in the growth of health care in the U.S. When health systems thrive, they can offer capital and resources to bring more services, technologies,providers and models of care to communities that may be limited or underserved in the care they receive.
It might be convenient to see a health system’s name pop up in new places in your community and to think of it as just another corporate entity, planting flags to try to dominate a marketplace. While that might aptly describe some health systems, it is far from the case with others that have a need-based model of growth.
Stated simply, responsible systems want to grow based on the needs of the communities they serve.
Think about it. If a health system builds a new facility and offers only services that are already widely offered and easily utilized in a community, patients will continue to go where they’ve always gone for care, and the building will effectively be a giant billboard.
If, however, the same facility provides services that are either not offered or not offered widely enough to meet the demand of the community, patients will use the facility to get care for which they previously either had to travel or wait longer.
It all starts with research. Forward looking health systems rely on data to tell the story of the communities they serve, and market research can tell us a lot about the people we care for.
For instance, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, the swath of Americans age 65 and older has grown rapidly since 2011 when the first of the Baby Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) turned 65.
Patients in this age bracket tend to utilize more of certain services than younger groups. Some examples are orthopaedics, general surgery, vascular surgery, endoscopy, urology and ophthalmology.
Knowing that, it makes sense to expand these services, hire new providers, develop facilities that can foster this growth, and make more appointments available in these disciplines.
Research can also tell us what diseases are most prevalent in our communities. If we have data that tells us the people we serve are diagnosed with cancer at a higher rate than the rest of the country, it makes sense to broaden our cancer services.
It’s also important to note whether patients are leaving our community for specific procedures or treatments within that specialty. If we provide cancer care, but our neighbors are leaving the area for treatments in New York City or Philadelphia, we need to find a way to offer those treatments closer to where they live.
We know when patients get the care they need close to home, they experience better outcomes, so that’s always the driving motivator in bringing new and expanded services to our community.
This need-based model of growth can be seen in some of the recent projects Geisinger has cultivated in northeastern Pennsylvania. The Frank M. and Dorothea Henry Cancer Center expansion and construction of the new Medical Office Building at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center, and Geisinger Healthplex CenterPoint in Pittston Township, are good examples.
They provide the services detailed above, and that’s a direct result of market research and growing to meet community need.