May 13, 2002—Reimbursement pressures and significant staffing shortages top the list of trends identified by national hospital executives, according to a report released today by the health experts at Cap Gemini Ernst & Young. The “CGE&Y 2002 Hospital Executive Survey” is based on research conducted by Gartner Consulting. CGE&Y commissioned Gartner to conduct in-depth telephone interviews of hospital chief executives across the United States.
Rising costs, changing patient demands, escalating regulatory requirements, and an aging population were also cited by the executives surveyed in the “CGE&Y 2002 Hospital Executive Survey,” many of whom are struggling to keep their institutions financially viable.
The survey also found that urban and rural hospitals face three common pressures—dwindling margins, a burgeoning underinsured patient population, and competition from specialty providers. Where they differ is that urban hospitals are losing patients to specialty clinics across town while their rural and border state counterparts lose patients to specialty operations in big cities. While the genesis is different, the results are the same—the loss of revenue from higher-margin specialty services which compounds the financial squeeze faced by local hospitals.
The Gartner Consulting survey posed a series of in-depth questions to 45 hospital CEOs and other high-level executives. These represented a broad cross-section of the nation’s academic, private, and not-for-profit hospitals. The survey backgrounder and executive summary are immediately available, with complete survey results available by contacting Hindy Shaman at 703/453-6161.
