The University of Chicago Medicine (UCM) effectively grew its market share in a suburban market from one to two percent through an integrated ambulatory network.
The UCM had a minimal market presence in the attractive southwestern suburbs - located ten miles from the medical center's main campus. The University of Chicago Medicine leveraged a network of family care centers (FCC’s) developed by UChicago Medicine - Ingalls Memorial - to bring its services to this attractive market where it originally had less than one percent market share. The foundation of the integrated ambulatory network (IAN) was an urgent aid facility. The urgent aid facility provides non-life-threatening services to the community on a walk-in basis. The urgent aid facility serves as a marketing channel to support the integrated network.
The urgent aid facility referred patients without a physician to primary care physicians (PCP’s) with offices on the main campus. As the PCP practices grew, they were able to support specialists whose referral supported additional services including CT, MRI, ambulatory surgery, an infusion center, and radiation oncology.
The comprehensive array of services and the commitment to quality by UChicago Medicine has positioned the family care center as the provider of choice for health services and has grown the medical center's market share from one percent to 25% over time.
The lessons learned from this successful strategy are:
- In nationally recognized academic medical centers - successes bolstered by a focus on primary care development.
- Comprehensive ambulatory facilities, with an array of primary and secondary services, are more effective market growth strategies than stand-alone urgent aid facilities and primary care offices.
- Effective market growth strategies require significant capital to establish a market presence.
- Successful quaternary medical enterprises understand how to manage and develop primary and secondary health services.
If you want to learn more, reach out via email at jpeters@luminahp.com, connect on LinkedIn, or visit www.luminahp.com/medical-group-strategy.