A sort of Report The article published by St. Paul, Minnesota-based ABOUT Healthcare found that most health systems said moving patients to other health systems would keep them from meeting financial goals, and preventing such losses could increase revenue by 17%.
The report surveyed 138 healthcare leaders to assess the prevalence of patient loss to other healthcare systems — known as patient leakage — and explore what is being done to stop it.
27% of respondents said patient leakage has increased with the pandemic. While saying they suffered such losses, many respondents reported that their hospitals had no successful way to quantify leaks. Specifically, 90 percent said they did not have a high level of confidence in the insights hospitals have about patients referred to other systems, the report said.
Understanding why patients leave allows the healthcare system to prevent it, which can have a huge impact on their bottom line. In fact, according to the report, hospitals would receive $31.36 for every $1 spent to reduce patients leaving other systems, which could be as high as $500 for every $1 spent.
They do have some insight into why patients leave. For example, losing patients to competition from other systems was the No. 1 cause of missed diagnoses by 48%. Lack of talent (35%) and lack of appropriate services (32%) were the second most common reasons for patients to leave, the report said.
Only 57% of respondents said their hospitals use technology to quantify how many patients switch to other systems.
The idea of patient leakage is not unique to the pandemic. Hospitals have struggled with this problem for years. For example, 41 percent of health care systems have actively worked to reduce patient attrition in the past 5 years, the report said. 60% of those who actively worked to reduce leakage saw results after two years of implementing the change. Additionally, 62% reported that their hospitals actively train staff on how to retain patients rather than throwing them to other healthcare systems. 
Going forward, the report argues that hospitals should not only take practical steps to improve patient retention (considering the financial potential of $500 in savings for every $1 spent), but they should also take a systemic approach to care to do so at this point. In other words, it pays to make care within the system seamless, from providers to specialists to outpatient care outside the hospital.
Photos: FG Trade, Getty Images; Charts/Graphics: About Healthcare
