In Premier Inc.’s spring Economic Outlook, hospital leaders predict that  that high-value post-acute-care networks and innovative approaches to care delivery will be  their most important areas  to focus on.

They say that’s because of the impact  of the Affordable Care Act and population-health management.

About 95 percent of the 82 respondents, mostly  CEOs, chief financial officers and chief operating officers, said expanding high-value post-acute care networks is crucial to population-health efforts and 94 percent said such networks are one of their greatest challenges.

Respondents also cited the challenge of  integrating data across systems. Sixty-eight percent said they could currently access ambulatory-care data from physician networks, but only 38 percent could get data from affiliated or non-employed physician networks

Other highlights from the survey include:

• 84 percent see  IT as the area that will have the most capital investment.
• 66 percent  see their organizations owning or operating their own retail pharmacies in the next three years.
• 98 percent of rural-hospital executives cite drug shortages as a major concern.