Outsourcing vs. Insourcing
Should your hospital outsource its OB hospitalist program?
Hospitals nationwide are investing in 24/7 OB hospitalist coverage to improve safety, strengthen clinical support, and enhance the patient experience in labor and delivery.
As demand for continuous OB coverage grows, healthcare leaders must determine whether to build an internal program or partner with a specialized OB hospitalist organization.
An outsourced model can provide immediate access to experienced clinicians, operational expertise, staffing support, and a proven framework for improving quality and reducing risk.
Making the best decision for your hospital
Whether your goal is to improve performance across a network of hospital programs or you’re focused on rural hospital challenges, any hospital leader considering an OB hospitalist program should compare the pros and cons of outsourcing versus developing your own in-house laborist or OB hospitalist program.
There are many important aspects to consider when making this critical decision. OB hospitalist programs increase hospital labor & delivery performance in many areas:
- Enhance patient safety
- Support community clinicians
- Ensure consistent coverage
- Increase delivery volume
- Prevent physician and nurse burnout
Download our free guide to learn questions to ask and steps to take as you go through the process.
Developing an OB hospitalist program yourself
Time and responsibilities are important considerations if you insource your own OB hospitalist program.
When considering whether to develop and self-manage your OB hospitalist program you should account for:
- Recruiting physicians
- Purchasing malpractice insurance
- Assuming all malpractice liability risk
- Accounting for premium labor costs
- Assuming financial risk
- Managing physician burnout
- Overseeing physician management and training
- Managing professional fee billing, coding, and compliance
- Undertaking the administrative burden of filling shifts
Additionally, you should consider the importance of growth, quality assurance, and reporting.
You’ll be responsible for driving strategic clinical, operational, or financial objectives and the additional complexity of incorporating:
- Strong clinical program leadership
- Data reporting, benchmarking, and analysis
- Clinical management and process standardization
- Development and implementation of best practices and protocols
- Volume and throughput optimization
- Financial analysis and benchmarking
- Private practice engagement
- Ensuring patient satisfaction and quality assurance
Advantages of building an OB hospitalist program with OBHG
When you invest in a comprehensive OB hospitalist program from OBHG, OB clinicians and support staff are at the forefront. We work with you to create programs to improve maternal health, improve patient safety, mitigate the challenging workforce issues facing OB/GYNs today, improve hospital labor productivity, reduce maternal mortality, and create better outcomes.
Active on-site coverage
- Physician-led triage for every patient coming to labor and delivery
- Non-competitive support for local OB/GYN providers
- Backup support for medical staff
- Training expertise
- OB clinicians skilled in emergent care
- Clinicians who embrace hospital initiatives and goals
- Participation in department leadership, committees, and medical staff meetings
- A partner for MFMs for transports and patient care management
- Residency program support, training, and coverage
- Increased obstetrics support 24/7
- Standard clinical care from the entire clinician team
Clinical leadership
- Dedicated clinical site director with additional oversight and support provided by regional and national leadership
- Clinical protocol implementation and management
- Physician training, simulation drills, and continuing medical education
- Backed by a robust network of physicians to leverage national and regional best practices
- Data reporting and benchmarking
- Support for hospital growth initiatives
- Managing physician burnout
- Hospital operations improvement
Labor and Delivery/OB hospitalist management
- OB emergency room implementation and management
- Candidate identification and recruitment, supported by OBHG’s large national recruiting team
- Physician schedule management
- Billing and coding
- Community provider outreach
- Premium labor costs
Quality management
- Risk data reporting
- Internal processes and compliance reviews
- Quality data and outcomes metrics tracking and analysis
- Medical malpractice coverage
- Improving patient satisfaction
Ongoing program customization
- Customized solutions to fit the size and needs of each hospital
- Ability to scale with hospitals
- Clinical, operational and compliance expertise
- Operational and financial benchmarking to optimize program performance
Although initial costs of an outsourced program may be higher, revenue-generating opportunities continue to increase throughout the program and hidden costs of running your own program can further impact the comparative analysis.
The realities of managing on-site Labor & Delivery coverage
Many hospital leaders aren’t aware of the daily challenges and demands of developing and managing their own OB hospitalist program. Listen in as Dr. Mark Olszyk, Chief Medical Officer and Vice President at Carroll Hospital in Maryland talks about the downfalls of trying to manage your own in-house OB coverage program with community and employed OB/GYNs on OBHG’s The Obstetrics Podcast:
Listen now:
Improve obstetric operations with Ob Hospitalist Group
As the nation’s largest and only dedicated OB hospitalist provider, OBHG helps hospitals strengthen labor and delivery operations through proven 24/7 OB hospitalist programs.
OBHG partners with your physicians, nurses, and leadership team to improve patient safety, support staff, and drive better outcomes across labor and delivery. Hospitals that implement an OBHG program often see improvements in key quality metrics, including C-section rates, VBAC rates, NQF scores, and patient satisfaction.
Is it time to outsource your OB hospitalist program?
Our OB coverage sustainability downloadable checklist can help you evaluate your current program.
Download a sample OB hospitalist program RFP to help guide your decision-making process and ensure you’re asking the right questions when evaluating potential partners.
Need more details? Contact us to learn more.
