Population health and fee-for-service are not a rigid dichotomy. Treating them as such misses a major opportunity for healthcare executives looking to advance strategies to protect fee-for-service payments and volumes from eroding while preparing for the eventuality of a greater share of revenue coming from risk.
I should know. At my organization, I am the executive who is saying both “I’m your revenue source” and “I’m your future,” in reference to a quote from Dr. Mai Pham in the recent Modern Healthcare feature “Population health still at odds with fee-for-service.” This is despite my organization having less than 30% of revenue tied to risk. At Memorial Health System, a $1.4 billion net revenue system in central Illinois, we have tried to steer our strategy and approach away from “either/or” thinking and toward a “both/and” focus when it comes to investing in infrastructure for our risk-based future while protecting current revenue drivers. The key has been to look at the various payment models that we participate in on a gradient scale of both value and volume incentives while building common competencies and infrastructure that can be tailored to suit both.