It’s hard to imagine a more stressed industry than healthcare. All healthcare delivery organizations have been facing on-going pressures to raise quality, reduce costs, and increase revenues in an environment of reimbursement constraints, demographic shifts, and accelerating technological change. New types of competition are emerging, including physicians that used to be your best patient referral sources. And now patients are asserting themselves in decision-making, expecting more transparency to outcome and price data.

These rapidly changing market forces are challenging even the most successful hospitals to adapt their patient care models and re-think their go-to-market strategies. So far, physician-owned surgery centers, mini clinics, and other outpatient facilities have been more nimble and responsive in providing more attractive alternative care options than an in-patient hospital stay, skimming off the most attractive patient customers. Hospitals that expect to compete and win in this emerging new market competition must develop and operationalize a different business model … one that results in a clear and compelling reason for being the first choice for care needs.