Dive Brief:
- Expect to see more independent hospitals form alliances as 2014 gears up, observers say.
- According to FierceHealthcare, one example of an alliance of this kind took place in Georgia's Stratus Healthcare, which has grown from 23 hospitals to 29, many of them rural hospitals.
- A similar effort is underway in Nebraska, where Lincoln's St. Elizabeth Regional Medical Center just joined the UniNet Healthcare Network, a group of hospitals concentrated in the Omaha area; there's also another alliance, the Regional Provider Network, bringing together eight hospitals throughout the state.
Dive Insight:
Given the economics of the hospital business, it's inevitable that independent hospitals will seek to at least affiliate with their peers. These are clearly the first, tentative steps towards more integrated arrangements such as joint ventures or even joint operating agreements. If hospitals hope to compete with any ACOs this way, however, they'd better move quickly. Insurance companies are already getting into the ACO game, and with nowhere near the capital costs to support. If t hey don't watch out, hospitals might find themselves dancing alone once the music stops.