I’ve been thinking a lot about how much transparency can impact the success of a clinical program and how it transforms the way hospitals conduct strategic planning for a service line. It used to be that hospitals prioritized strategic initiatives based on clinical strength, community need, profitability, technical capability and volume forecasts. That approach used to make sense, but now that information about hospital outcomes, patient satisfaction and physician ratings are easily available online, strategic initiatives have to focus on providing value for patients. Think about it. Patients are starting to demand value. They are making decisions based on value, especially if they have a consumer driven health plan with high deductibles and co-payments.

You can ensure your strategic plan is centered on providing value by incorporating the principles of value-based competition into your service line development. Here they are:

• The focus should be on value for patients, not just lowering costs.
• Competition must be based on results.
• Competition should center on medical conditions over the full cycle of care.
• In the end, high-quality care should be less costly.
• Value must be driven by provider experience, scale, and learning at the medical condition level.
• Competition should be regional and national, not just local.
• Results information to support value-based competition must be widely available.
• Innovations that increase value must be strongly rewarded.

If anyone reading this has first-hand success using this approach, please share your experiences with our readers.