News and briefs: Service lines in line with future of healthcare

The new model of healthcare can be summed up as such: increase in quality, decrease in cost, and integration of care. According to Peggy Crabtree, RN, MBA, a vice president, and Robert Minkin, a senior vice president of The Camden Group, a healthcare consulting company, the service line medical staff model better facilitates these goals.

The traditional clinical department medical staff model promotes silos, while the service line model promotes collaboration and coordination. It is this coordination that is key to integrated care, and integrated care is what payers are now looking for.

"We're starting to see a significant increase in hospitals embracing the service line structure because the market is demanding demonstrable value at a fixed price," says Minkin, in an article in Becker’s Hospital Review. "For current value-based initiatives, such as bundling, hospitals have to demonstrate specific clinical outcomes that the buyer or payor can depend upon. The service line structure facilitates those outcomes."

Because service line models often utilize report cards to monitor quality metrics, Crabtree advises adding in metrics that will be of particular interest to payers.