In this issue, we continue our look at 2025 Themes: Health System’s at Liminal Moment, THMA’s annual analysis of the healthcare provider market.
Improving patient access to care is the #1 strategic priority across health system C-Suites in 2025, according to The Health Management Academy’s annual survey of executives. Further, access is the #3 area for improvement among the same group of CXOs.
As the gateway to both mission and growth, the focus is unsurprising. Appointment wait times continue to bottleneck access to care and affordability challenges add additional barriers, with negative repercussions for volumes, patient experience and loyalty.
There is still low-hanging fruit: our audit of over 50 organizations found that only 10% of health systems offer primary care appointments on weekends, and less than 20% allow a callback option for patients trying to schedule via the call center. While many of the disruptors from 2-3 years ago have largely been acquired or folded altogether, their focus on convenience and instant access have trained patients to expect more from all providers.
In many ways, access is the synecdoche of healthcare– a part that represents the whole. A health system can’t deliver value—community value, health system’s mission, and economic strength— if it can’t meet reduce barriers to care.
How systems improve access is marked by the two-sided cost challenge: systems must manage their costs, while also becoming more affordable to purchasers of health systems.
Strategy, operational, and clinical leaders see optimizing sites of service as a key imperative. It’s also part of the "how" health system achieves other objectives – like growth strategy, affordable care, operational efficiency, optimal clinical setting, all the while tackling the access problem head-on.
We’ve seen health system members pursue several tactics:
Hybrid/digital models: Post covid, virtual care has settled at around 5% of total volumes. Instead of a 1x1 replacement, organizations that do this well treat virtual services as wrap-around care, and ask themselves the question, "what portion of this care journey must be delivered in person, and what can be shifted to other modalities?"
Site/care adjacent models: ED/Urgent care hybrids are again emerging, as demonstrated by Intuitive Health 's partnership model with several health systems. Flexibility of physical assets is becoming an integral part of any strategic conversation on ambulatory expansion.
Joint Ventures and Partnerships: Health systems are pursuing non-M&A methods of expanding their footprint, working with industry partners to expand the ambulatory footprint, or even affiliating with nearby health systems to help balance volumes for specific services across a region.
For more details on the above tactics, access the full presentation here. Our next issue will delve into the promise of and progress on AI.