Employ Clinicians or Forge a Strategic Partnership

As hospitals and health systems navigate a challenging post-pandemic operating environment, decisions impacting hospital-based clinical services have taken on greater importance. Specifically, the costs and benefits of employing key clinicians versus engaging a strategic partner to provide those services must be carefully evaluated. Often, employing emergency medicine and other important clinical providers might seem the more economical course, but doing so may entail a number of risks and considerations not readily apparent.

JC: ‘Insourcing’ and ‘outsourcing’ are terms used to characterize who controls the production activities within an organization. Insourcing is where tasks and workflow are delegated to employees who are supervised by internal company resources. Outsourcing is hiring another company or using an outside resource to provide services that the hospital may not have the expertise or capacity to perform on their own.

JC: Hospitals outsource clinical services in part due to the complex nature of the employment cycle for clinicians and because the revenue cycle and contracting elements of the services can be challenging to execute. There is a significant gap between these services and the services typically offered by hospitals. Rightly so, hospitals focus their service offerings, managed care agreements and revenue cycle efforts around their core service offerings. Physician services, on the other hand, require specific management and clinical expertise to operate effectively.

JC: A full cost analysis would begin by looking at the costs associated with recruiting, credentialing, onboarding, etc. Not to mention compensation models and structuring a model that contributes to the retention of high-quality clinicians. A hospital should also examine the costs associated with building the infrastructure required to advance the development of clinical protocols and best practices, the resources needed to clinically and operationally manage clinicians across multiple service lines and costs to establish and maintain operational excellence in managed care contracting and revenue cycle management without leaving money on the table. From there, hospital leaders should examine their risk management/patient safety infrastructure in order to drive initiatives that advance patient safety and reduce costly malpractice exposure.

JC: The benefits of an outsourced program with a strategic partner like TeamHealth would include our ability to effectively recruit and retain outstanding clinicians, our ability to leverage national clinical and management expertise, our focused approach to managed care contracting and revenue cycle oversight as well as a dedicated risk management program that may lead to lower claims per clinician and lower indemnity costs, ultimately driving down the cost of malpractice insurance. Our clinical expertise ensures high quality care delivery. With industry-leading recruitment and retention programs, we can provide a stable workforce that is empowered to provide best in class care. We align with our hospitals through our goals and progress meetings and ensure that our client hospitals and health systems receive all of the benefits of our partnership.

JC: Hospital-based physician practices in emergency medicine, hospital medicine and anesthesia services are complex to establish and can be challenging to maintain. The value of national experience and specific expertise should not be underestimated as it relates to consistently ensuring best in class physician services. A trusted partner like TeamHealth can provide a more effective service at a lower cost with better results, allowing you to focus on your core hospital service offerings and the myriad challenges a leadership team faces each day in providing outstanding community-focused care.

To learn more visit: www.teamhealth.com