The future of wellness care.
The current restructuring of the US healthcare system will result in a new emphasis on wellness services. Hospitals are challenged to define the wellness role they will play within managed care. This article reports on interviews with wellness experts and hospital CEOs, who reflect on these challenges and define strategic priorities. The interviews highlight the need to understand that this challenge requires a powerful paradigm shift from illness to preventive services, and a major rethinking of how hospitals operate to offer cost-effective preventive services. The interviewees see great opportunity, but also great need for thorough planning, careful design, and implementation. Hospital leaders must understand clearly what wellness means, and how best to position their hospital for strategic advantage. In the final analysis, wellness emerges as an integral strategy in the overall process of managing change.
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Wilson Banwell & Associates Ltd., Vancouver, Canada.
Lovato
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Learmonth
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Williams
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D002170:Canada; D016542:Chief Executive Officers, Hospital / Q000592:standards; D018672:Community Health Planning / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000639:trends; D006751:Hospital Information Systems / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards; D006754:Hospital Restructuring / Q000639:trends*; D008329:Managed Care Programs / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000639:trends; D010934:Planning Techniques; D011314:Preventive Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration; D014481:United States