Differentiating microhospitals from other care facilities

Being at the forefront of a fast-moving trend can be a double-edged sword for microhospital operators, which get to differentiate themselves as care innovators but must pave the way with little formal guidance.

One challenge, according to experts, is distinguishing microhospitals among the growing array of scaled- down, access-oriented healthcare models, which include established players like critical access hospitals (CAH) and ambulatory care centers, as well as newer models like freestanding EDs and urgent care clinics.

“It’s a very unique animal,” says Patrick Horine, MHA, CEO of hospital accreditor DNV GL’s Business Assurance and Healthcare Accreditation Services. “It’s not an ambulatory surgery center, it’s not your typical acute care hospital, it certainly doesn’t apply as a critical access hospital, so what is it?”

Part of the confusion stems from the descriptor’s origins in the field and uneven application. “Microhospital” is an industry-coined term, not a formal regulatory or reimbursement designation—an important distinction, says Lyndean Lenhoff Brick, JD, president and CEO of Murer Consultants, a healthcare management consulting firm in Mokena, Illinois, that has guided client health systems, including SETX, through microhospital builds. “People may mean different things when they talk about microhospitals.”

There are, however, some widely acknowledged commonalities, says Brick, most notably the model’s “compact nature.” Typically, microhospitals have fewer than 30 beds and offer a slim portfolio of lower-acuity services tailored to a specific community need. Common focuses include emergency services, psychiatry, women and children, and orthopedics, says Brick.

Some facilities also offer selected ancillary support and outpatient services, such as imaging, dietary consultation, and therapy. When a case requires inpatient care, the length of stay is typically two or fewer days, Horine adds.

Given their scale, microhospitals also have much smaller ecological and economic footprints. Typically, they range in size from 15,000 to 75,000 square feet and, according to Kansas City Business Journal, cost $7 million to $30 million. They’re also faster to build than larger hospitals, says Brick.

In terms of oversight, microhospitals are typically part of health systems, or offshoots of large independent hospitals, which grants them access to valuable resources they might not otherwise be able to afford, including, in many cases, a dedicated credentialing team.

Source: News & Analysis