Hybrid model captures out-migration and generates millions for rural hospital
Challenge:
A rural hospital’s inpatient volume declined for consecutive years due to patient out-migration through the Emergency Department (ED), resulting in decreasing revenues. Many of the Primary Care Physicians (PCPs) in the community were committed to their office practice rather than caring for inpatients at the hospital. As a result, many patients were being transferred to another facility with a Hospitalist service. The PCPs expressed their desire to support the hospital if an alternative to caring for inpatients could be found. The hospital could not afford a traditional Hospitalist service, but also couldn’t afford to continue to lose inpatient revenue.
Solution:
The hospital implemented HospitalMD’s Hybrid medicine program. This program allows one physicianto handle all ED patients and inpatients throughout the day.This physician became the “house doc”. It allowed the hospitalto offer a 24-hr ED and Hospitalist service without the expenseof a traditional Hospitalist service. The inpatient service was voluntary, so each primary care physician in the community had the option of rounding on their inpatients or turning the care over to our physicians.
Result:
“The additional revenue HospitalMD’s Hybrid model generated has been instrumental to our survival, and I believe it is the answer to rural hospitals future success.” – Rural Hospital CEO
The hospital administration, staff, and medical community embraced the opportunity and showed tremendous commitment to capturing patient out-migration through the Hybrid service. The results exceeded the hospital’s expectations!
The first year saw an increase of 306 acute admissions through the ED over the previous 12 months (base year), resulting in over $1.5 million in additional revenue. The second-year saw an increase of 397 acute admissions over the base year with over $2 million in additional revenue.
