The Indian healthcare industry has traditionally been a slow adopter of digital technology mainly due to the fragmented and complex nature of the industry. The healthcare environment is becoming more distributed and complex. As digital technology becomes more affordable and more accessible, a change in mind set becomes more and more essential.
During tough economic times, some hospitals may benefit from outsourcing or partnering with other organizations for certain services, such as food and laundry services, and even, in some cases, clinical services.
"Some hospitals see these economic times as an opportunity to outsource unprofitable services," says Mr. Burchill.
By outsourcing certain services to more efficient providers, hospitals can share the savings with the service provider. However, hospitals must be sure to select truly efficient providers.
"Outsourcing is clearly a smart thing to do if an organization can gain greater efficiency through finding a larger-scale operation; however the provider must be more efficient than the hospital," says Kevin Haberl, executive vice president, HR capital, for Integrated Healthcare Strategies.
Oftentimes, hospitals outsource services such as laundry, food and nutrition, information technology or human resources because they do not have the capital to invest in the equipment upgrades or training that is needed to increase the efficiency of their internal service. In these cases, the decision to outsource may not directly be related to profitability but instead the "lacking of funds for the investment required to make current services viable," says Mr. Haberl. However, this decision can improve profitability in the long-run by allowing hospitals to use funds for more profitable services.
Some hospitals have also begun to outsource clinical services such as emergency room staffing and anaesthesiology in an attempt to become more efficient. Because these staffing groups employ a large number of specialty physicians, they may be able to provide more efficient services, especially in clinical areas that require around-the-clock coverage where the demand for services is high.
Mike Mikhail, MD, vice president of client services for Emergency Physicians Medical Group, says that hiring an emergency department management company can help to improve the profitability of hospitals whose demand for emergency services exceeds its emergency treatment capabilities. "An emergency management group can help make the emergency department more efficient by introducing management oversight and best practices, allowing more patients to be seen and keeping others from leaving to find another hospital," he says. "Because a majority of hospital admits come from emergency walk-ins, driving more patients through an ER will create more admits, and therefore more profit for the hospital."