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Developing a Regional Strategy for a Tertiary Care Hospital of Oregon Health and Science University

Client/Profile

As part of Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU), a 500+ bed academic health center, Doernbecher Children’s Hospital (DCH) offers advanced tertiary care treatment. Many of their treatments – such as bone marrow/stem cell transplant, epilepsy surgery, phase I clinical trials for new cancer therapies– are only available to Oregon’s pediatric patients through DCH.

Challenge/Situation

To develop a regional market strategy to advance systems of care for children, including maternal/child and neonatal care.

Process

A comprehensive market assessment was conducted to examine DCH’s service area and determine DCH’s competitive position, future demand for services, and any issues and opportunities in each geographic region.

Veralon worked collaboratively with a steering committee comprised of key physicians for maternal and child services, DCH administration, and key stakeholders from the system.

Results

DCH’s desired future role in each region and priority strategies to help DCH achieve these desired roles were outlined with some degree of specificity. For example, a targeted metro region role of market leader for high risk maternity, neonatal and specialty pediatric care was supported by a strategy of enhancing accessibility through decompression to high-volume regional sites.

The process resulted in clear and focused recommendations that will guide DCH’s future presence and relationships in each section of the Portland geographic region.