Business Model Creation - ACE Hospital Unit

Company Overview

The University of Utah Hospital is the state’s only academic medical center and the primary teaching hospital in the Mountain West. It serves as a quaternary medical center drawing patients from throughout Utah and surrounding states including Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, and Nevada. It is also a Tier 1 research institution and serves as the training ground for scientists and the majority of the state’s physicians, nurses, therapists, dentists, and other health care professionals. 

Project Description

Students on this project will work with key individuals at the University of Utah Hospital to develop a business model defining the business and potential launch of an Acute Care for Elders (“ACE”) unit.  The audience for the business model is the executive leadership at the University of Utah hospital.

An ACE unit is a specialized unit of the hospital aimed at preventing functional decline in hospitalized older adults. It includes Geriatric-trained staff, a modified physical environment, and interdisciplinary model of care to address the unique needs of older adults.

The business model will outline anticipated capital and operational costs, required environmental adaptations, and integration with hospital services such as rehabilitation, pharmacy, case management, and geriatrics. It should also highlight how these units can aid in avoiding CMS penalties for their new age friendly measures (https://www.johnahartford.org/resources/view/cms-guidance-on-the-age-friendly-hospital-measure).

Students will review various research outlining the evidence supporting ACE units, including papers demonstrating reductions in hospital length of stay, inpatient costs, delirium, falls, functional decline, and readmissions among older adults. Multiple studies have shown that ACE models can lower overall inpatient costs while maintaining or improving quality outcomes, making them a financially and clinically valuable investment for hospitals caring for an aging population. The business model will include a strong case for launching the ACE unit.

This hospital unit will be proposed to be created at one of the University of Utah’s affiliated hospitals, Common Spirit Holy Cross Salt Lake. This hospital struggles with a low volume of patients & empty hospital units. Having the only Geriatric-specialized unit in the state of Utah would draw patients to the hospital and potentially address the capacity issues currently burdening the University of Utah hospital. The business proposal should highlight this mutual benefit to both hospital systems.