3 Secrets to Becoming a Destination Hospital

Why Now? 

With healthcare costs growing around 5.8% annually, savvy employers and consumers are now looking for the most affordable ways to get high quality care. And according to a study conducted by Deloitte, 80% of people are willing to travel outside their community for outstanding medical care, especially if they can get it at a reasonable rate.

Looking to lower healthcare costs, employers are driving the domestic medical travel trend.  Fortune 500 companies like Lowe’s are sending employees to regional hospitals for healthcare. Their large insured groups are seeking the best outcomes for the best prices—which probably can’t be found in the health systems closest to their employees.

Destination hospitals attract patients from across the country by excelling in one core surgery service line and providing value-based pricing to businesses.

BridgeHealth, a surgery benefit management company, helps manage surgical costs for large insured groups. BridgeHealth looks at claims data to see which employees are headed towards surgery. Then they help educate the employee/patient on best treatment options and the right hospital for best outcomes.

BridgeHealth has a network of hospitals that rank top in the nation* for specialty surgeries. The growing importance of third-party care coordination is visible in the nation’s largest corporations: a major Fortune 100 company just signed a deal with BridgeHealth to manage all their employee surgical procedures.

Companies like BridgeHealth are filling a void by providing coordination services for the difficult-to-navigate sea of health systems, insurance companies and government regulations. And marketing to both patients and companies is getting results. Focusing on choices and first-class care, BridgeHealth’s latest campaign shows that more options is always better.

Becoming a Destination Hospital

It can be hard work—but it’s not a complicated process, and the benefits are many. Specializing is always a tough business choice as it seems to limit choices, but becoming an expert in one particular field can be worth it. When people know that your hospital is the place for (Insert your key service line here) care, you will experience increased volume—resulting in higher revenue, more experience for your staff, and better quality. And it just gets easier and easier as more patients roll in, creating a snowball effect, as your staff gets more experienced and your brand becomes more well-known.

So how do you become a destination hospital, making the most out of the increasing trend toward domestic medical tourism?

Here are our three steps for success:

1. Differentiate yourself. Choose a surgical service line that you can build a center of excellence around. Be a market leader in that area. The most sought-after hospitals are the ones with narrowly defined differentiation strategies.
2. Market yourself as a “destination hospital” emphasizing your core service line. Target businesses, insurance companies, TPAs and individuals.
3. Establish partnerships with businesses to offer their employees care in your core service line. The increased traffic from the partnership will give your staff more experience, leading to higher quality service.

Looking for more? Here are a few of our favorite articles on medical tourism and destination hospitals.
PepsiCo strikes a deal with Johns Hopkins
Surgery deals lead employers and consumers to destination hospitals
How one company is saving businesses big bucks on employee medical treatments

*CareChex is a medical quality rating service of The Delta Group — the nation’s largest privately held healthcare information service company. CareChex provides clinical, financial, and patient satisfaction findings to consumers, providers, and purchasers of U.S. medical care. Unlike other publicly available hospital quality ratings, CareChex provides a comprehensive evaluation of all components of medical quality including process of care, outcomes of care, and patient experiences.