I love to see healthcare take a page from business, so the other day I was feeling pretty good after I read a post from Becker’s Hospital Review written by Rachel Fields entitled New Jersey Hospitals Advertise Wait Times to Draw Patient.
The post talks about how several New Jersey hospitals are touting low wait times in an effort to attract patients to their Emergency Departments, according to a Wall Street Journal report (how entrepreneurial !!)
It reads Bayonne (N.J.) Medical Center recently unveiled two billboards in Jersey City that advertise the hospital’s emergency room wait times. The billboards are updated with current wait times several times a day. While Christ Hospital in Jersey City plans to display its wait times on its website.
I am proud of these healthcare institutions for acting on the need in the market to better serve patients (i.e. customers) by streamlining their ED operations, then creating a product to market in an advertising campaign. I am sure a smart phone application is on the way!
Well to the contrary, I had to go and read Branwen Jeffreys’ blog in the BBC health news Kings Fund: Waiting times in England at three-year high. The King’s Fund is an English charity that seeks to understand how the health system in England can be improved. The Kings Fund statistics for February show 15% of patients waited over 18 weeks for treatment, the longest time since April 2008. It argues the shift is due to the financial pressures on the NHS.
So now, I am wondering if Obamacare could stifle the competitive spirit. And could long wait times become a trend in the U.S one day?
Kings Fund chief economist Professor John Appleby said the health service was now operating in a different climate.
“In the past the two things that kept waiting down were targets and extra money. Managers got sacked for not meeting targets. And of course in the future there won’t be the same amount of extra money.”
The official waiting figures are only part of the picture. As the BBC recently found, some parts of the NHS in England have introduced new restrictions on treatment or put routine operations on hold for several months. None of this appears in the statistics as it occurs before the clock starts.
For me this is the frustration of healthcare reform, there is still not enough firm information out there to get our arms around to understand what direction we need to focus on. What I do believe is that solid business ideals are going to make it shine!
I just hope there won’t be too many rules around it to prevent it from doing what is intended to do. Cut costs and deliver excellence in healthcare. What’s your take?
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