Many executives point an accusing finger at the Balanced Budget Act as the reason for it all.
But another explanation can be health care providers failure to respond to the changing expectations and opportunities of the marketplace. This lack of adequate adaptation is often the result of organizations with too inward a focus and too few mechanisms for marketplace scanning, intelligence gathering, and analysis. They have acknowledged the impossibility of shrinking to greatness, and instead have chosen growth-focused strategies as the underpinning of their future. These growth-focused health care organizations are uncovering and acting on identified needs and opportunities in their markets, even in the face of a sometimes tighter, more financially restrictive health care environment. In the process, they are often redefining both the depth and scope of their services and marketplace.