Historically, hospitals have struggled blindly to understand the referral patterns of physicians they work with, whether of their own employed physicians or others in their market. But by leveraging the power of newly developed physician network analytics—part of the new Crimson Market Advantage performance platform—hospitals are uncovering the high-value physicians in their local markets and using those surprising insights to support key elements of their strategic growth plans.

Insight #1: Employed PCPs not always as loyal as you might expect
Many hospital leaders assume that an employed PCP equals a loyal PCP. Yet, a closer inspection of the overall activity levels of employed PCPs and the providers and physicians they are connected to in the local market reveals huge variability in the loyalty of employed PCPs, with some referring as much as 50% of their business outside the hospital’s network. Leveraging the power of physician network analysis, organizations are targeting outreach to key PCPs to ensure referrals stay within their network.

Insight #2: Physicians’ own networks are broader and more complex than imagined
Traditionally, physicians have been seen as “independent operators,” but most physicians work within large complex professional networks that stretch much farther geographically than previously known. For example, one organization discovered that their 223 member-affiliated physicians were part of a network of more than 2,000 physicians—much larger than the 500+ total physicians in the market previously assumed. Using a proprietary analytical algorithm, this organization was then able to identify the most important physicians in that network for outreach—including physicians with whom they had not previously worked.

Insights #3: Service line leaders can discover hidden high-value referrers
Service line and physician relations executives have typically believed they know who the most important physicians are for their key service lines. However, by providing critical intelligence, physician network analytics reveals a much clearer picture of who the most active physicians are in a given local market. Thus, organizations considering physician alignment and acquisition now have data and strategies to drive growth in key areas.

In sum, the power of this new analysis, which taps a previously unavailable source of data to reveal links among physicians in local markets, sheds light on several areas of potentially overlooked referral growth and helps drive development of highly impactful physician relations strategy:

• Employed physicians: Ensuring referral patterns are staying within network, and targeting employed PCPs and specialists who are “leaking referrals” for outreach
• Secondary market growth: Identifying growth potential in secondary service areas by looking at the most active PCPs in defined networks (e.g., cardiovascular, oncology)
• Highly active PCPs: Targeting outreach to physicians who dominate business within networks and markets
• Curbing outmigration: Identifying physicians in the market who are currently referring cases to out-of-area specialists

Learn more
Daily Briefing readers may register now for the complimentary webinar, “Uncover Hidden Growth Opportunities through Physician Network Analytics,” on August 11 at 11 a.m. ET. Daily Briefing readers with questions about Crimson Market Advantage may contact Emily Carmichael at carmiche@advisory.com.

Already a Market Advantage member?
Contact Lindsay Curry at curryl@advisory.com to connect with more member resources.