The future of healthcare is decentralized, data-driven, and focused on the patient experience. As systems evolve to meet new expectations and financial pressures, many organizations are adopting a hub-and-spoke model. This network-based framework helps healthcare systems balance high-quality specialized care with broad, equitable access.
In this blog, we’ll explore what the hub-and-spoke model is, why it's gaining traction, and how it is shaping healthcare strategy today.
What Is a Hub-and-Spoke Model?
The hub-and-spoke model is a strategic framework that organizes resources around a central point (the hub) supported by secondary locations (the spokes). This structure is commonly used in industries like transportation and logistics, but it has gained increasing relevance in healthcare for its ability to centralize expertise while extending care access to broader communities.
This model is not the only way to structure a healthcare system. Alternatives include fully connected or decentralized networks, where all facilities are interconnected without a central hub. However, the hub-and-spoke model has proven especially efficient for balancing service delivery and cost containment across large geographic areas.
How a Hub-and-Spoke Model Works
In the healthcare sector, the hub-and-spoke model typically consists of a central hospital or advanced medical facility—the hub—that delivers high-acuity care, complex diagnostics, and specialty services. This hub is supported by a network of smaller, more accessible clinics, urgent care centers, or outpatient facilities—the spokes—that provide routine check-ups, preventive care, chronic disease management, and triage.
Patients often begin their care journey at a spoke location, where general practitioners can address basic health needs and refer patients to the hub for more specialized treatment when needed. This tiered approach improves care coordination, reduces the strain on emergency departments, and ensures that patients are directed to the appropriate level of care.
Advantages of the Hub-and-Spoke Model
Healthcare systems benefit from the hub-and-spoke model in several significant ways:
- Centralized Consistency: Policies, training, and compliance are driven from the hub, ensuring uniform care standards across the network.
- Expanded Market Reach: Spoke locations can be added with lower overhead, enabling rapid and scalable expansion.
- Improved Agility: With flexible operations, systems can adapt to shifting healthcare demands, from seasonal surges to demographic changes.
- Streamlined Patient Journey: With well-coordinated referrals and continuity of care, patients experience smoother care transitions between providers.
These combined benefits create a compelling case for using the model to improve both clinical effectiveness and financial sustainability.
What’s Causing Increasing Interest in Hub-and-Spoke Models?
The hub-and-spoke framework isn’t new, but it’s gaining renewed interest as a solution to several modern challenges in healthcare delivery. Trends in consumer behavior, reimbursement structures, and technology are creating conditions that make this model more relevant than ever.
1. The Push Towards Population Health Initiatives
Healthcare is shifting from fee-for-service to value-based models, where reimbursement depends on patient outcomes rather than the volume of services provided. Under these models, providers are incentivized to keep patients well, emphasizing preventive care over emergency interventions.
This makes frequent, low-cost touchpoints—often delivered via spokes—an essential part of the strategy. Outpatient clinics and community health centers enable early intervention and routine monitoring, helping avoid more costly treatments at the hub.
2. The Consumer Mentality Among Patients
Today’s patients behave more like retail consumers. They want choices. They expect care on their schedule and near their home or workplace—not just during office hours at a central hospital campus.
Spokes now frequently take the form of walk-in clinics in shopping centers, urgent care sites in suburban corridors, or even primary care locations within grocery stores. The hub-and-spoke model supports this consumer-first mindset by placing routine care in accessible locations while keeping high-acuity care centralized.
This retailization of healthcare is especially important in rural and underserved areas. By opening spokes in hard-to-reach communities and equipping them with telehealth capabilities, health systems can close gaps in equity and access.
3. The Rise of Telemedicine and Digital Health
The rise of telemedicine has added another layer to the hub-and-spoke strategy. Rather than thinking only in terms of physical proximity, systems can now extend the expertise of the hub digitally to remote spokes. For example, telestroke networks allow specialists at the hub to guide treatment for patients presenting at spoke emergency rooms, reducing mortality and increasing cost-effectiveness.
Additionally, tools like remote patient monitoring and shared EHR platforms allow spokes to continuously send patient data to the hub, creating a unified, coordinated care experience.
Why Healthcare Systems Are Embracing Hub-and-Spoke Strategies
As the healthcare industry shifts toward prevention, personalization, and convenience, the hub-and-spoke model is proving to be a foundational framework for modern systems.
In this new paradigm:
- Outpatient centers are primary care delivery vehicles.
- Hospitals are reserved for complex, high-acuity services.
- Preventive care reduces demand for expensive central facilities.
For healthcare strategists and facility planners, this means moving away from building large, centralized hospitals. Instead, the focus is on opening multiple smaller facilities that are strategically placed to meet patients where they are.
Selecting the right locations and care offerings for each spoke requires sophisticated analysis. Key variables include:
- The healthcare demand of the local population.
- Demographic and psychographic traits of consumers.
- Competitive saturation from existing healthcare providers.
- Payer mix in the area and anticipated reimbursement profiles.
This is where data-driven tools and location analytics become essential.
The Bottom Line
The hub-and-spoke model is more than a trend; it’s a blueprint for the future of healthcare delivery. By combining centralized expertise with decentralized convenience, it allows healthcare systems to expand access, manage costs, and improve outcomes.
At Buxton, we understand how this model intersects with real estate strategy, consumer behavior, and operational planning. With extensive experience in healthcare analytics, we help providers design smarter, patient-centric networks.
From analyzing trade area dynamics to forecasting patient volumes, Buxton’s methodologies help healthcare leaders place facilities in the right locations and match service offerings to local needs. Whether you’re planning your next clinic opening or restructuring your care delivery network, our insights give you the confidence to move forward.
Learn more about how we support healthcare clients at buxtonco.com/industries/healthcare.
