In recent years, changes to the U.S. economy have made strategic growth in healthcare more challenging than ever. With shrinking margins, rising expenses, and increasing financial pressures, healthcare organizations need to be more agile, informed, and data-driven to stay competitive.
So how can healthcare leaders pinpoint high-demand services, optimize patient utilization, and gain a competitive edge? These were the central themes of our latest webinar, “Revenue growth & patient impact: Expanding new services & market opportunities.”
Below, we recap the key insights shared during the session.
The 3-pillar approach to market intelligence
To successfully expand services and market opportunities, our expert speakers shared that healthcare leaders must base their strategies on three fundamental pillars:
- Measuring market size and share
- Assessing patient healthcare utilization
- Understanding the competitive landscape
Measuring market size and share
Understanding the size of a market is foundational to any strategic growth plan. Healthcare leaders need to evaluate how many patients require care, where they are receiving it, and which providers and facilities dominate the landscape.
A robust market analysis begins with patient volume and procedural trends. By identifying the total number of patients in a specific service line and analyzing historical patterns, organizations can determine whether a market is growing, stagnating, or declining.
Beyond raw patient counts, understanding patient migration patterns is crucial. If a significant portion of patients are leaving the network for care elsewhere, it signals potential gaps in service availability, quality, or accessibility.
For example, a neuroscience service line analyzed in the webinar served 24,000 unique patients, yet a significant portion were leaving the network for care elsewhere. By leveraging market intelligence, the organization identified opportunities to recapture lost patients, strengthen provider alignment, and expand in underserved areas—ensuring both financial sustainability and improved patient care.
A deeper dive into where patients are going—and why—can help health systems develop strategies to retain them, whether by expanding services, improving access, or enhancing patient experience.
Assessing patient healthcare utilization
Beyond market size, healthcare organizations must assess how patients are using services and whether they can access care when needed. A key question examined in the webinar was whether existing service lines align with patient demand and financial sustainability.
Analyzing procedural utilization helps healthcare leaders determine which services are in high demand, how frequently they are performed, and whether the current infrastructure can support them. Organizations can assess which service lines are over- or underutilized, helping guide investment in resources, facilities, and workforce planning.
Another critical aspect is patient access to care. If patients are experiencing delays, long travel distances, or difficulties scheduling appointments, they may seek care outside the network. By identifying bottlenecks in service availability, healthcare systems can optimize scheduling, expand provider capacity, or invest in telehealth and clinics to improve accessibility.
In the webinar case study, pain management emerged as the highest-volume neuroscience sub-service, representing a significant portion of total procedures. Despite strong demand, patient leakage indicated that access gaps existed. By addressing these gaps and increasing market share by just one percentage point, the health system stood to gain $1.5 million in additional revenue—demonstrating how small shifts in patient capture can have a major financial impact.
Understanding the competitive landscape
Obviously, no growth strategy is complete without a deep understanding of the competition. Healthcare organizations must evaluate who is gaining or losing market share, where patients are seeking care outside the network, and what strategies competitors are using to attract patients.
A competitive market assessment begins with an analysis of market share trends over time. By tracking changes in procedural volume and patient migration, organizations can pinpoint which competitors are expanding, which are losing ground, and how their own facilities compare.
Beyond overall market share, service line-specific insights can reveal critical opportunities. If a competitor is increasing its patient volume in a high-value specialty, it may indicate strong referral networks, superior patient access, or investments in innovative treatment options. Healthcare systems can use this intelligence to refine their own strategies—whether by enhancing service offerings, improving patient outreach, or forming strategic partnerships.
Geographic positioning also plays a key role in competitive analysis. By mapping patient flows, organizations can identify regions where competitors are drawing patients away and determine whether factors like convenience, provider availability, or cost disparities are influencing migration patterns.
In the case study, the health system’s leadership analyzed the competition and these trends in the market to find new opportunities to strengthen their service offerings. By grounding your strategic decision-making in data, the health system’s second location was able to double patient volume.
Learn more
No matter what healthcare challenges your organization faces, having the right data at your fingertips is essential to overcoming them. Check out the full recording of the webinar for more details on the insights our experts shared. And to learn how you can best use our data to analyze your market and expand into new service lines, start a free trial with Definitive Healthcare today.
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