Intermountain opens its digital front door

Intermountain Healthcare is launching a new “virtual hospital” to speed dual aims of transitioning to digital health and tackling population health issues, but it’s not ready to put the hospital industry out of business just yet.

“My guess is that hospitals aren’t going to be irrelevant for a very long time,” CEO Dr. Marc Harrison told Healthcare Dive in an interview.

Still, he envisions inpatient facilities could be repurposed for outpatient services while high-performing organizations that demonstrate quality and cost-effectiveness could become destinations for patients or payers seeking value.